Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs WatchGuard Threat Detection and Response comparison

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Fortinet Logo
9,848 views|7,301 comparisons
80% willing to recommend
Microsoft Logo
37,838 views|29,672 comparisons
94% willing to recommend
WatchGuard Logo
1,632 views|1,267 comparisons
100% willing to recommend
Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Microsoft Defender for Endpoint and WatchGuard Threat Detection and Response based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
To learn more, read our detailed Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs. WatchGuard Threat Detection and Response Report (Updated: March 2024).
772,679 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"I get alerts when scripts are detected in the environment.""Fortinet FortiEDR's scalability is quite good, and you can add licenses to the solution.""NGAV and EDR features are outstanding.""It notifies us if there's any suspicious file on any PC. If any execution or similar kind of thing is happening, it just alerts us. It doesn't only alert. It also blocks the execution until we allow it. We check whether the execution is legitimate or not, and then approve it or keep it blocked. This gives us a little bit of control over this mechanism. Fortinet FortiEDR is also very straightforward and easy to maintain.""The price is low and quite competitive with others.""The features that I have found most valuable are the ability to customize it and to reduce its size. It lets you run in a very small window in terms of memory and resources on legacy cash registers.""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.""The console is easy to read. I also like the scanning part and the ability to move assets from one to the other."

More Fortinet FortiEDR Pros →

"The EDR feature is most valuable.""The most valuable features are that it's easy to use and the updates are very simple.""The performance of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint has been good.""We can react to threats faster and stop them from spreading from one machine to another. It protects from suspicious email attachment downloads. It will lock down the SOC and the workstations.""The biggest benefit to Windows Defender is that it is built-in to the operating system by Microsoft.""I like that Defender is integrated and doesn't have a third-party payload trying to advertise subscription renewal.""Defender has very little impact on the end-user and the agent works quite well with a minimal impact on the client and server.""It is stable and easy to use. Everything is okay, and there are no performance issues."

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"When you download the executable file from the internet, it automatically sandboxes to make sure it's not doing anything incorrectly.""The basic functionality is fantastic. It has been performing well. I generated a report on one machine, using that as the deployment machine. When scanning the network, it discovered machines on the network and deployed the same endpoint protection from that one machine I have on my network.""The interface is very good.""The protection that it provides from ransomware is valuable. The awareness that it has is also valuable. It didn't have a central console earlier, but now it has a central console, which is pretty good.""WatchGuard Threat Detection and Response is a reliable solution.""The most valuable feature is the correlation of logs from different devices.""I like WatchGuard's network segmentation features. It's easy to configure user policies.""The tool provides automated responses."

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Cons
"It takes about two business days for initial support, which is too slow in urgent situations.""The SIEM could be improved.""FortiEDR can be improved by providing more detailed reporting.""The solution should address emerging threats like SQL injection.""The dashboard isn't easy to access and manage.""The amount of usage, the number of details we get, or the number of options that can be tweaked is limited in comparison to that with other EDR solutions""FortiEDR could add a separate scanning dashboard. In incident management, we prefer to remove the endpoint system from the environment and scan the system. We typically use Symantec for that, but if we want to use FortiEDR for that, then we need a scanning tab to clarify things.""The support needs improvement."

More Fortinet FortiEDR Cons →

"A single dashboard would be a significant improvement.""I wish they would extend the use of the Security Central portal, even for the free option of Defender. Because, as companies grow, it is labor intensive to manage the AV and detection part of it. For companies already subscribed to Office 365, I think this would be a good enhancement.""The application control feature requires improvement.""The profiling method currently in use is not very user-friendly and has ample scope for improvement.""There's scanning going on that occasionally topples the memory, causing everything to freeze. This should be fixed.""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.""In terms of improvement, they update the platform it seems quite a bit. Every month something is in a new spot or something changed somewhere. There should be less of that.""This solution is not secure, which is why I have moved to Linux."

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"The reporting isn't so good. If they worked to improve this aspect of the solution, it would be much stronger.""I'd like a few extra features, especially around threat severity assessment.""The solution is a bit confusing and there are unusual complications with setup.""It can have a couple of false positives, but after you add them to your allow list, it works fine. It could have better Mac support. I am pretty sure it doesn't have much support for Mac. It can be installed on a Mac, but it is not that good.""The interface is not the best.""The website must provide more information on the product.""When it comes to live-monitoring, the user-interface could be improved to make things easier.""This product needs to be fully integrated with the firewall. Currently, it only sends logs to the cloud and asks the firewall to correlate them."

More WatchGuard Threat Detection and Response Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "I know it is tough to get big budget additions up front, but I highly recommend deploying environment wide and adding the forensic service."
  • "There are no issues with the pricing."
  • "The price is comprable to other endpoint security solutions."
  • "The pricing is typical for enterprises and fairly priced."
  • "I'm not familiar with pricing, but it looks a bit costly compared to other vendors I think."
  • "The pricing is good."
  • "I would rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten."
  • "The hardware costs about €100,000 and about €20,000 annually for access."
  • More Fortinet FortiEDR Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "The product is free of charge and comes integrated into Windows."
  • "The solution is free."
  • "This product is included in the pricing for Windows."
  • "If you don't purchase the advanced threat protection then there is no additional charge."
  • "It is affordable and comes in the Office 365 bundle."
  • "Microsoft Defender ATP is expensive."
  • "I pay for it through the Windows Professional or Standard license. It is a one-time cost for me, and I use the same license."
  • "When compared with other vendors, the pricing is very high."
  • More Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "The pricing is competitive."
  • "There is a license required to use the solution and we pay annually. The price could be reduced because it is a bit expensive."
  • "The price of WatchGuard is very good."
  • "The solution is a bit more expensive than other options."
  • "The price is very good."
  • "The price is comparable."
  • "The solution is cheap."
  • More WatchGuard Threat Detection and Response Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:I suggest Fortinet’s FortiEDR over FortiClient for several reasons. For starters, FortiEDR guarantees solid protection… more »
    Top Answer:We have FortiEDR installed on all our systems. This protects them from any threats.
    Top Answer:We license it per employee, so as long as the employee count remains the same, the licensing won't change. We have it… more »
    Top Answer:Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is a cloud-delivered endpoint security solution. The tool reduces the attack surface… more »
    Top Answer:We use Symantec because we do not use MS Enterprise products, but in my opinion, Microsoft Defender is a superior… more »
    Top Answer:The CrowdStrike solution delivers a lot of information about incidents. It has a very light sensor that will never push… more »
    Top Answer:The interface is not the best. I do not like it. The reports must also be improved.
    Top Answer:We use the solution to protect our systems. We also use it for real-time detection.
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    enSilo, FortiEDR
    Microsoft Defender ATP, Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection, MS Defender for Endpoint, Microsoft Defender Antivirus
    WatchGuard TDR
    Learn More
    WatchGuard
    Video Not Available
    Interactive Demo
    Fortinet
    Demo Not Available
    WatchGuard
    Demo Not Available
    Overview

    Fortinet FortiEDR is a real-time endpoint protection, detection, and automated response solution. Its primary purpose is to detect advanced threats to stop breaches and ransomware damage. It is designed to do so in real time, even on an already compromised device, allowing you to respond and remediate incidents automatically so your data can remain protected.

    Fortinet FortiEDR Features

    Fortinet FortiEDR has many valuable key features, including:

    • Easily customizable
    • Real-time proactive risk mitigation & IoT security
    • Pre-infection protection
    • Post-infection protection
    • Track applications and ratings
    • Reduce the attack surface with risk-based proactive policies
    • Achieve analysis of entire log history
    • Optional managed detection and response (MDR) service

    Fortinet FortiEDR Benefits

    Some of the key benefits of using Fortinet FortiEDR include:

    • Protection: Fortinet FortiEDR provides proactive, real-time, automated endpoint protection with the orchestrated incident response across platforms. It stops the breach with real-time postinfection blocking to protect data from exfiltration and ransomware encryption.

    • Single unified console: Fortinet FortiEDR has a single unified console with an intuitive interface, which makes management easier. The solution automates mundane endpoint security tasks so your employees don’t need to do it.

    • Cost savings: With Fortinet FortiEDR you can eliminate post-breach operational expenses and breach damage costs.

    • Flexibility: Fortinet FortiEDR can be deployed on premises or on a secure cloud instance. With Fortinet FortiEDR, endpoints are protected both on- and off-line.

    • Scalability: Because Fortinet can be deployed quickly and has a small footprint, it is easy to scale up to protect hundreds of thousand endpoints.

    Reviews from Real Users

    Below are some reviews and helpful feedback written by Fortinet FortiEDR users.

    An Owner at a security firm says, "The features that I have found most valuable are the ability to customize it and to reduce its size. It lets you run in a very small window in terms of memory and resources on legacy cash registers. The customer has literally about 800 cash registers. That was the use case for Fortinet FortiEDR - to get that down into a tiny space. The only way to do that was to use this product because it had that ability to unbundle services that were a surplus.”

    Chandan M., Chief Technical Officer at Provision Technologies LLP, mentions, “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.” He also adds, “The security is also very good and the firewall response is good.”

    Harpreet S., Information Technology Support Specialist at Chemtrade Logistics, explains, "It notifies us if there's any suspicious file on any PC. If any execution or similar kind of thing is happening, it just alerts us. It doesn't only alert. It also blocks the execution until we allow it. We check whether the execution is legitimate or not, and then approve it or keep it blocked. This gives us a little bit of control over this mechanism. Fortinet FortiEDR is also very straightforward and easy to maintain."

    DeAndre V., Senior Network Administrator at a financial services firm, states, “The dashboard is easy to follow and use. The deployment and uninstalling were easy. I like the detailed information about the path of a file that might be suspicious. Being able to check that out was easy to follow. Exceptions are easy to create and the interface is easy to follow with a nice appearance.

    Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is a comprehensive security solution that provides advanced threat protection for organizations. It offers real-time protection against various types of cyber threats, including malware, viruses, ransomware, and phishing attacks.

    With its powerful machine-learning capabilities, it can detect and block sophisticated attacks before they can cause any harm. The solution also includes endpoint detection and response (EDR) capabilities, allowing organizations to quickly investigate and respond to security incidents. It provides detailed insights into the attack timeline, enabling security teams to understand the scope and impact of an incident.

    Microsoft Defender for Endpoint also offers proactive threat hunting, allowing organizations to proactively search for and identify potential threats within their network. It integrates seamlessly with other Microsoft security solutions, such as Microsoft Defender XDR, to provide a unified and holistic security approach. With its centralized management console, organizations can easily deploy, configure, and monitor the security solution across their entire network.

    Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is a robust and scalable security solution that helps organizations protect their endpoints and data from evolving cyber threats.

    Hackers are designing malware to be more sophisticated than ever. Through packing, encryption, and polymorphism, cyber criminals are able to disguise their attacks to avoid detection. Zero day threats and advanced malware easily slip by antivirus solutions that are simply too slow to respond to the constant stream of emerging threats. Organizations of all sizes need a solution that leverages a holistic approach to security from the network to the endpoint. WatchGuard Threat Detection and Response (TDR) is a powerful collection of advanced malware defense tools that correlate threat indicators from Firebox appliances and Host Sensors to stop known, unknown and evasive malware threats.

    Sample Customers
    Financial, Healthcare, Legal, Technology, Enterprise, Manufacturing ... 
    Petrofrac, Metro CSG, Christus Health
    Goodwill New York / New Jersey, F4 IT, Café Comunicação Integrada
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm21%
    Comms Service Provider11%
    Manufacturing Company11%
    Media Company5%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company16%
    Government8%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    Financial Services Firm8%
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm19%
    Computer Software Company16%
    Energy/Utilities Company7%
    Comms Service Provider7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization22%
    Computer Software Company13%
    Government8%
    Financial Services Firm7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company19%
    Financial Services Firm9%
    Comms Service Provider9%
    Construction Company8%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business53%
    Midsize Enterprise15%
    Large Enterprise32%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business31%
    Midsize Enterprise19%
    Large Enterprise50%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business40%
    Midsize Enterprise17%
    Large Enterprise43%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business22%
    Midsize Enterprise33%
    Large Enterprise45%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business75%
    Midsize Enterprise17%
    Large Enterprise8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business41%
    Midsize Enterprise20%
    Large Enterprise39%
    Buyer's Guide
    Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs. WatchGuard Threat Detection and Response
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs. WatchGuard Threat Detection and Response and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    772,679 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is ranked 1st in Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) with 182 reviews while WatchGuard Threat Detection and Response is ranked 26th in Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) with 12 reviews. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is rated 8.0, while WatchGuard Threat Detection and Response is rated 8.2. 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". On the other hand, the top reviewer of WatchGuard Threat Detection and Response writes "Offers deployment simplicity, especially for firewalls and firewall configuration and good documentation available ". Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is most compared with Symantec Endpoint Security, Intercept X Endpoint, Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks, Trellix Endpoint Security and Fortinet FortiClient, whereas WatchGuard Threat Detection and Response is most compared with CrowdStrike Falcon, Darktrace, Trend Vision One and SentinelOne Singularity Complete. See our Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs. WatchGuard Threat Detection and Response report.

    See our list of best Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) vendors.

    We monitor all Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.