- M365 Security Plus is security-focused auditing, distinct from M365 Manager Plus's broader management/reporting scope
- Around-the-clock monitoring with real-time alerting on critical activities is the core value — catching suspicious changes as they happen, not in a weekly report
- Overlaps somewhat with Microsoft's own native M365 security tooling, so the comparison against Purview specifically matters most
What It Does
ManageEngine M365 Security Plus provides granular auditing of user activities, around-the-clock monitoring, real-time alerting of critical activities and changes, automated content search, help desk delegation, and Exchange Online backup.
Who It's For
M365 admins and security teams that want dedicated, real-time security auditing and alerting for Microsoft 365 activity without building custom detection logic on top of native audit logs.
How It Compares
ManageEngine M365 Security Plus
Real-time M365 security auditing and alerting with automated content search, priced accessibly for mid-size IT/security teams that want dedicated M365 security monitoring without a full XDR platform.
Microsoft Purview (Audit + Compliance Manager)
Native to Microsoft 365, with the deepest integration and no separate tool to deploy — but meaningful capability (long-term audit retention, advanced eDiscovery, insider risk management) is gated behind higher-tier M365/E5 licensing.
CoreView
Enterprise M365 management and security governance platform, similar positioning to its appearance under M365 Manager Plus's comparison — broader and pricier, aimed at large enterprises managing M365 at significant scale.
Vectra AI (Microsoft 365 detection)
A specialized threat-detection platform with M365-specific attack detection built on behavioral analytics, aimed at security operations teams wanting deeper detection than audit-log alerting alone provides. Enterprise-tier pricing and positioning.
Bottom Line
- Already paying for M365 E5 with Purview's advanced auditing included? Start there before adding a third-party tool.
- Want dedicated, real-time M365 security auditing/alerting at accessible pricing? M365 Security Plus.
- Large enterprise needing broad M365 governance across many tenants? CoreView.
- Security operations team wanting deep behavioral threat detection specifically for M365? Vectra AI.