Microsoft Purview Audit
Audit management software
GRC tools
Digital forensics software
System security software
- Features
- Ease of use
- Ease of management
- Quality of support
- Affordability
- Market presence
Take the quiz to check if Microsoft Purview Audit and its alternatives fit your requirements.
Pay-as-you-go
Free Trial
Free version unavailable
Small
Medium
Large
-
What is Microsoft Purview Audit
Microsoft Purview Audit is an audit logging and search capability within the Microsoft Purview compliance portal that records and helps investigate user and administrator activities across Microsoft 365 services. It is used by security, compliance, and IT teams to support incident investigations, internal controls, and regulatory or eDiscovery-related inquiries. The product focuses on centralized access to audit events, retention policies, and alerting/investigation workflows tied to Microsoft identities and workloads.
Deep Microsoft 365 coverage
It captures and surfaces audit events across core Microsoft 365 workloads such as Exchange, SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams, and Entra ID (Azure AD) activities. This reduces the need to stitch together logs from multiple admin centers for common investigations. For organizations standardized on Microsoft 365, it provides a consistent event model and access path through the Purview portal.
Centralized search and export
It provides a unified audit search experience with filtering by activity, user, date range, and workload. Results can be reviewed in the portal and exported for offline analysis or case documentation. This supports common compliance evidence requests and security triage workflows without requiring a separate audit management system for log retrieval.
Retention and compliance alignment
It supports audit log retention configurations (subject to licensing and workload) to help meet internal control and regulatory requirements. Audit data integrates with broader Microsoft Purview compliance features, enabling coordinated workflows with eDiscovery and insider risk scenarios. This can simplify governance for organizations already using Microsoft’s compliance stack.
Microsoft-centric scope
It primarily audits Microsoft 365 and related Microsoft cloud services, with limited native coverage for non-Microsoft SaaS and on-prem systems. Organizations with heterogeneous environments often need additional SIEM/log management or GRC tooling to achieve enterprise-wide audit visibility. This can create gaps when auditors require evidence across multiple business applications.
Not full audit management
It focuses on event logging and investigation rather than end-to-end audit program management (planning, scoping, control testing, issue remediation tracking, and audit workpapers). Teams running formal internal audit or GRC programs may still require dedicated audit/GRC platforms for workflows and reporting. Purview Audit is better positioned as an evidence source than a complete audit management solution.
Licensing and retention complexity
Audit capabilities, retention durations, and advanced features vary by Microsoft 365 and Purview licensing tiers. This can make it difficult to standardize audit coverage across business units with different subscriptions. Organizations may need careful license mapping and policy design to ensure required retention and access for investigations.
Plan & Pricing
Pricing model: Pay-as-you-go (consumption-based) Free tier/trial: Free trial available for Microsoft Purview Suite (Purview Suite trial includes Purview Audit in the suite; see notes) Example costs: Audit Standard – $15 USD per 1,000,000 records ingested (billing by records ingested; audit logs retained for 180 days). Retention / notes: User/admin interaction audit logs retained for 180 days. The pay-as-you-go pricing for Audit Standard does not apply to Microsoft applications (Microsoft apps include Audit Standard). Discount / purchase notes: Pricing may vary by agreement; contact Azure sales or use the Azure pricing calculator for customized quotes.
Seller details
Microsoft Corporation
Redmond, Washington, United States
1975
Public
https://www.microsoft.com/
https://x.com/Microsoft
https://www.linkedin.com/company/microsoft/
