We performed a comparison between Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks and Symantec Endpoint Security based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Features: Cortex XDR presents an intuitive interface, advanced identification of risks, expandability, and compatibility with various other solutions. Users praised Symantec Endpoint Security for its regular virus signature updates and comprehensive administrator's console. Cortex XDR could use enhancements in hard disk encryption, security integration, and customer education. Reviewers said Symantec Endpoint Security could improve its graphical interface, Linux support, and scanning capabilities.
Service and Support: Some customers were impressed with Palo Alto’s support, while others reported mixed experiences. Some users said Symantec customer service was helpful but slow, while others have expressed general dissatisfaction with support.
Ease of Deployment: Some users thought Cortex XDR’s deployment was fast and straightforward, while others consider it to be a complex and time-consuming task that requires thorough planning. Some users said Symantec Endpoint Security was easy to set up, while others struggled with the installation. Deployment time varies depending on the customer’s environment.
Pricing: Some reviewers said Cortex XDR is expensive, but others said it was reasonable for the robust feature set Cortex offers. The cost of Symantec Endpoint Security depends on the licensing terms and necessary security components. While some users find the price acceptable, others believe it could be more affordable.
ROI: Cortex XDR creates value by ensuring system and data security rather than a financial return on investment. Symantec Endpoint Security demonstrates strong stability and incident prevention, leading to reduced downtime. It offers a favorable return on investment.
"Ability to get forensics details and also memory exfiltration."
"The ease of deployment and configuration is valuable. It's very easy compared to other vendors like Sophos. Sophos' configuration is complex. Fortinet is a lot easier to understand. You don't need a lot of admin knowledge to do the configuration."
"We have FortiEDR installed on all our systems. This protects them from any threats."
"I like FortiClient EMS. FortiEDR has a lot of great features like lockdown mode, remote wipes, and encryption. I can set malware outbreak policies and controls for detecting abnormalities. You can also simulate phishing attacks."
"Fortinet FortiEDR's firewalling, rule creation, monitoring, and inspection profiles are great."
"Fortinet FortiEDR made our clients feel secure and more at ease, knowing that they had an EDR solution that would close the gap in their security posture."
"he solution is an anti-malware product that integrates well with other vendor products such as firewalls, SIEM, etc. It captures threat intelligence and gives you better visibility. The product also has sandboxing features."
"The console is easy to read. I also like the scanning part and the ability to move assets from one to the other."
"They did what they said. This solution could apply to any scenario."
"Cortex XDR is a simple platform that's easy for administrators and users. You have a lot of flexibility to change or customize the features."
"It's a nice product that's stable and scalable."
"From a single pane of glass, you can easily manage all of your endpoints."
"The solution allows us to make investigations. Other XDR solutions also provide similar capabilities but for investigation, Cortex XDR is better."
"Cortex XDR is a very capable solution for protecting large networks and a lot of endpoints. It's very useful because the automation is very high, and if you combine it with the features on Palo Alto firewalls, it provides very strong protection."
"Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is easy to use and does not consume a lot of hardware resources."
"The information the dashboard provides is very clear."
"The solution detects malware very well."
"Symantec Endpoint Security is easy to use, fast, and good for small and medium-sized businesses."
"I think the key thing for me, is interoperability, in that you can deploy it to Windows, Mac, and Linux. That's been a really important feature in the last two years. Now there's one management console to cover all three OSs."
"It's good for large organizations. It's able to handle a lot of users."
"What I like most about Symantec is the intrusion detection module. If you are scanning the environment, it will flag a possible intruder and tell you the IP and where the attack is coming from. Traditional antivirus solutions will never flag that. If you have a traditional SIEM, you might be able to pick that up. Symantec is a holistic endpoint security solution, so when you scan an endpoint, Symantec will let you know that something is happening to it."
"This product is valuable for ransomware protection, general malware protection, and network exploitation protection."
"The performance of Symantec End-User Endpoint Security is very good. It does not slow down the computer like other solutions."
"I like the endpoint detection and response. That's the best feature. I also like the fact that we don't need to use a file on the computer, whereas some anti-malware solutions work with a file on the endpoint. Symantec is a very good option compared to solutions from other vendors."
"Cannot be used on mobile devices with a secure connection."
"I think cloud security and SASE are areas of concern in the product where improvements are required. The tool's cloud version has to be improved in terms of the security it offers."
"It takes about two business days for initial support, which is too slow in urgent situations."
"Once, we had an event that was locked and blocked, but information about it came to us two or three days later."
"Making the portal mobile friendly would be helpful when I am out of office."
"The dashboard isn't easy to access and manage."
"Everything with Fortinet having to do with their cloud services. They need to invest more in their internal infrastructure that they are running in the cloud. One of the things I find with their cloud environment compared to others' is that they go cheap on the equipment. So it causes some performance degradation."
"We've encountered challenges during API deployment, occasionally resulting in unstable environments."
"We have found that there are times Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks does not detect some of the viruses, we have to use another protection solution called Kaspersky."
"It is not easy to sell Cortex XDR, not because it isn't a good tool. Its marketing needs to be improved."
"Cortex does not offer an on-premises solution. However, some customers would prefer not to be on the cloud. It would be ideal if it could offer something on-prem as well."
"The price could be a little lower."
"It is not a suitable solution if you are looking for a single product with multiple features such as DLP, encryption, rollback, etc."
"Impact on system performance is horrible, adding a lot of delays for users."
"It's very time-consuming to log support issues and the people that answer the tickets aren't very knowledgeable."
"It's more focused on network communication. If a customer wants to increase the level of protection and start working with documents, it's impossible to integrate these features into the system. It's more of a communication-oriented system than a content security-oriented system."
"They lack the visibility you get in a heuristical, artificial, AI type of product, like a next-gen antivirus."
"The monitoring capabilities could be further developed."
"It would be nice to be able to manage the endpoints a bit further. A valuable attribute would be the management of software inventory, software deployment, and third-party software deployment. I would like to see the ability to deploy and delete unlicensed software. Many users try to install what they shouldn't, so that would be really useful."
"The detection and response can always be improved."
"I think the CPU dependence should be enhanced."
"The Symantec Endpoint Manager is very difficult to use and extremely old."
"Symantec's application security module needs some improvement. You need to create a lot of fingerprints for application security. For instance, let's say I have different brands of ATMs in my environment, like Wincor and NCR. I use GRG to deploy an application control to whitelist some applications. I have to get the exact image of the different models of ATMs. When I tested in the past, some machines would not connect to the server without that."
"Using the management console is a bit complex. There are many features that we cannot use and we could use some help. We need some assistance to make them work better. They need to add features to make it simpler."
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Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is ranked 4th in Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) with 80 reviews while Symantec Endpoint Security is ranked 5th in Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) with 140 reviews. Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is rated 8.4, while Symantec Endpoint Security is rated 7.6. The top reviewer of Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks writes "Perfect correlation and XDR capabilities for network traffic plus endpoint security". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Symantec Endpoint Security writes "The solution has given us visibility into compliance within our whole system and helped us ensure everything is updated". Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is most compared with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, CrowdStrike Falcon, Darktrace, Trellix Endpoint Security and Check Point Harmony Endpoint, whereas Symantec Endpoint Security is most compared with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, CrowdStrike Falcon, Trend Micro Deep Security and Kaspersky Endpoint Security for Business. See our Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks vs. Symantec Endpoint Security report.
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