We compared Check Point Antivirus and Microsoft Defender for Endpoint based on users' reviews in six categories. We reviewed all of the data and you can find the conclusion below.
Features: Check Point Antivirus impressed users with its diverse set of valuable features like sandboxing, real-time detection, and integration with analytics solutions and the cloud. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint excels in file protection, encryption, and ransomware defense. It integrates seamlessly with other Microsoft security products. Users appreciate its user-friendly interface and scalability.
Room for Improvement: Check Point Antivirus requires quicker customer assistance, better performance of the graphical user interface, enhanced defense against zero-day attacks, and more budget-friendly pricing options. Users say Microsoft Defender for Endpoint should improve its central console and auto-recovery feature. Users also requested better reporting capabilities and integration with third-party platforms.
Ease of Deployment: Some users found Check Point’s setup process to be uncomplicated and fast, while others noted that it required several engineers and took around a week to finish. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint's setup is straightforward, especially when it’s preloaded on Windows 10. While it can be more complex for larger organizations, it is generally considered simple, particularly for smaller companies or those familiar with Microsoft environments.
Pricing: The price of Check Point Antivirus may vary depending on partnerships and negotiations. Some users consider Check Point's pricing to be expensive but say it is cost-effective. However, it may not be affordable for small or medium-sized companies unless they have sufficient capital. Reviewers say Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is fairly priced, noting that it is typically included for free with Windows or Microsoft Office 365 subscriptions. However, some users believe that Microsoft's pricing could be more affordable, and others noted that their licensing models can be complex.
ROI: Check Point Antivirus provides added features like a sandbox and VPN licenses, enhancing its value. Users have experienced improved protection and promising growth with Check Point Antivirus, delivering a better ROI than other security options.
Service and Support: User reviews have provided no information about the customer service of Check Point Antivirus so far. Microsoft customer service garnered mixed feedback. Some praised the fast response times and expertise of the support engineers, while others were dissatisfied with slow replies and a lack of coordination among the support teams.
Comparison Results: Check Point Antivirus offers advanced features like sandboxing, real-time detection, and scalability. At the same time, some users say Check Point could be more affordable and improve its GUI performance. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint provides sophisticated protection against ransomware, easy deployment, and smooth integration with Microsoft solutions. However, Microsoft’s customer support has received middling reviews, and users would like better compatibility with third-party solutions.
"Check Point Antivirus goes in-depth and looks for threats and malware - including phishing attempts."
"This solution helps make sure that we can patch and keep security going without having to talk to everyone for change management."
"Check Point Antivirus ensures our organization's security posture by ensuring that everyone accessing the internet does so securely. It performs packet inspection, enabling all security blades to monitor and filter traffic constantly. This includes URL filtering to prevent access to unwanted sites and to protect against any attempts to compromise our network."
"There is a lot of documentation to be able to use this security feature in the best way using the best practices indicated by the manufacturer."
"We like the sandbox feature."
"They have a better endpoint catchment rate due to their reliability."
"The initial setup is easy."
"The feature that we find most valuable is the easy way of configuring it via the SmartConsole on Check Point. The configuration is very straightforward and although it has some impact on the firewall CPU and memory, it doesn't impact the IPS, for example. It allows for the scanning of downloaded files from the internet. Scanning files that our users have downloaded to check if they have any virus is the most important thing."
"It performs well. The stability is seamless."
"The main features of this solution are that it handles everything by itself and is well integrated."
"The antivirus is the most valuable feature."
"Real-time detection and cloud-based delivery of detections are highly efficient."
"It is easy to install and use requiring little maintenance but applying updates."
"There are a couple of features, such as isolating the devices or connecting the device and connecting live response."
"The folders and files protection are its most valuable features. These have been valuable because of the increase in ransomware attacks. With these two features, I can ensure that no changes have been made to our system or endpoint folders and files without the user being aware."
"Defender for Endpoint has one dashboard with security-related information, vulnerability-related information, and basic recommendations from Microsoft, all in different tabs. That's helpful because if we want to fix only the recommended ones, we can go fix all of them..."
"They can improve the customization features to the greatest extent possible and also help bring automation into system security in the most unified manner possible."
"Check Point Antivirus could be improved by having the gateway automatically run a packet capture on the traffic so that it can be easily uploaded to TAC in the event that there is a false positive or if the traffic is required for further investigation."
"The biggest thing would be the ability to update the SMO's and gateways through Gaia instead of always completing it through the command line."
"Currently, you can only have general reports of the threats removed and the behavior of the database. You cannot get separate reports of the Check Point service-linked devices."
"I would prefer it if this solution was cheaper for everybody to buy it and enjoy these wonderful and distinguished characteristics."
"There needs to be more internally connected systems in order to achieve real-time effectiveness."
"I would like to be able to see this integration of device analysis and verification - not just in native-integrated solutions - for Linux and iOS mobile devices, which are today a part of the larger group of devices and solutions that we have available."
"One aspect that could see enhancement is the user interface."
"Right now, there's a portal for Azure, portals for Microsoft Office, and portals for endpoints. It would be good to have only one portal and integrate everything."
"A challenge is that it is not a multi-tenant solution. Microsoft's tenant is a licensed tenant. I'm an MSSP. So, I have multiple customers. In Microsoft's world, that means that I can't just buy an E5 license and give that out to all my customers. That won't work because all of the customer data resides within a single tenant in Microsoft's world. Other products—such as SentinelOne, Palo Alto Cortex, CrowdStrike, et cetera—are multi-tenant. So, I can have it at the top of the pyramid for my analyst to look into it and see all the customers, but each customer's data is separate. If the customer wants to look at what we see, they would only see their data, whereas in the Microsoft world, if I've got multiple customers connected to the same Microsoft tenant, they would see everybody else's data, which is a privacy problem in Europe. It is not possible to share the data, and it is a breach of privacy."
"Microsoft Defender could be improved with features more like the McAfee ePO. It would be better if I had a console to get all the information for my endpoints. Maybe this is too much for it, but it would be better if it could handle those non-signature-based malicious codes or viruses."
"The detection of viruses could be a little bit better."
"Lacks some additional integration."
"Alerts need to be sent immediately because as it is now, you see some of them without delay and others arrive perhaps 30 minutes later, and it leaves important gaps in terms of information gathering."
"Cortex... has good investigation capabilities, out-of-the-box, in case there is an event that you'd like to investigate. It's quite convenient. Microsoft has those capabilities as well, but you need a bit more training on the product to get the basic information that you can get out-of-the-box with Cortex."
"The second major area for improvement involves enhanced capabilities for different operating systems or platforms. That is, even though we have coverage for different operating systems or platforms such as Linux, we don't get all of the controls and enhanced capabilities that are available with Windows devices."
More Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Pricing and Cost Advice →
Check Point Antivirus is ranked 6th in Anti-Malware Tools with 49 reviews while Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is ranked 1st in Anti-Malware Tools with 182 reviews. Check Point Antivirus is rated 8.6, while Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is rated 8.0. The top reviewer of Check Point Antivirus writes "Compatible, cost-effective, and highly customizable". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint writes "Eliminates the need to look at multiple dashboards by automatically providing one XDR dashboard to show the security score of each subscription". Check Point Antivirus is most compared with CrowdStrike Falcon, ESET Endpoint Protection Platform, VirusTotal and Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP), whereas Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is most compared with Symantec Endpoint Security, Intercept X Endpoint, SentinelOne Singularity Complete, CrowdStrike Falcon and Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks. See our Check Point Antivirus vs. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint report.
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