BigFix vs Microsoft Defender for Endpoint comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between BigFix and Microsoft Defender for Endpoint based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two EPP (Endpoint Protection for Business) solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
To learn more, read our detailed BigFix vs. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Report (Updated: March 2024).
765,386 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
"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 console is easy to read. I also like the scanning part and the ability to move assets from one to the other.""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 solution was relatively easy to deploy.""Fortinet FortiEDR's scalability is quite good, and you can add licenses to the solution.""The product's initial setup phase is very easy.""The stability is very good.""The main thing is that I feel safe. Because the processes that have been used to get a handle on the attackers are much better than other competitors"

More Fortinet FortiEDR Pros →

"The most valuable feature is patch management, a must have, even for Linux and iOS.""The most valuable feature for us is the ability to manage TWS, the relevance is really what sets it apart. Also, using it as a software deployment tool is the key for us.""We found the implementation partner to be very supportive in terms of explaining and training the in-house resources and deploying the solution.""It is a one-stop tool that allows you to do everything. It supports reporting, vulnerability management, patch management, and configuration. All things can be done in one tool.""It has plugins development options, which are great.""It's very straightforward.""BigFix can manage lost devices, so you can wipe them remotely to ensure the IP doesn't get out in public. Unified endpoint security is a new perspective. I know that HCL is also collaborating with IBM, but I'm not sure if there is any cooperation between them and MaaS360 or other endpoint components.""Patch management, because it very much improved the patch compliance and has the capability to manage Windows and non-Windows clients."

More BigFix Pros →

"Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is free and part of the licensing stack of other Microsoft products.""The most valuable feature of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is its ability to bring together all the data, providing more information than just antivirus hits.""Within its class I think, it has a high and decent detection rate.""Technical support is good.""Its simplicity is the most valuable. It also has very good integration. We like it.""Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is easy to load and it runs quietly in the background, unlike other solutions.""Coming from an organization where the EDR wasn't strong, it has always been a case of basically searching through the information you already have and looking for something. It was basically trying to find the needle in a haystack. What the Defender platform does is that it reduces the size of the haystack, and it'll say that the needle is over here. Minutes matter, and it certainly zeros you in on the events that are concerning. It also simplifies the effort of trying to get some kind of correlation of behaviors or actions you see in the environment and confirming if something is benign or a threat.""It's pretty easy to scale."

More Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Pros →

Cons
"I would like the solution to extend beyond endpoint protection and include other attack surfaces such as other network components.""The solution's installation from a central installation server could be improved because the engineers had a little bit of trouble getting it installed from a central location.""The dashboard isn't easy to access and manage.""Once, we had an event that was locked and blocked, but information about it came to us two or three days later.""There's room for improvement in the quick response time and technical support for integration issues, especially when dealing with multiple vendors.""The security should be strong for the cloud. Some applications are on-prem and some are on the cloud. Fortinet should also have strong security for the cloud. There should be more security for the cloud.""Integration with Azure and SaaS provisioning tools could improve Fortinet FortiEDR.""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."

More Fortinet FortiEDR Cons →

"I would like to see much better web reporting because as it is now, it's convoluted, basic, it's not modern, and there are limitations to it.""BigFix can improve the way machines report back to the console. In the external relay management environment, it has become more of a hybrid environment with most of the machines not being on-site. The need of having public-facing reporting items interconnected is becoming more and more crucial. In general, the reporting could use some enhancement.""In-place and OS upgrades can be improved.""The reporting structure could be a little more simplistic. Currently, it throws too many vulnerabilities. Some of them are not needed because they are only informational and limitations, and they are not of much help. It doesn't need to show us these things.""The new EDR (Endpoint Detection and Response) feature, Detect, is new and still needs a few updates.""It could use better integration with Hypervisor products like VMware.""In order to derive maximum benefit from BigFix, it is essential that we configure all of its features and implement them effectively. If the automation could be improved we would be able to mitigate the risks associated with zero-day threats.""The console interface is not friendly, and requires training before using it in production."

More BigFix Cons →

"Microsoft Defender for Endpoint can use more advertising to promote their features.""I want Microsoft Defender to have the ability to deal with some issues automatically, so I don't need to address that issue manually.""I would like to see improvements made to how it secures activities on web pages.""It would be helpful if they offered video tutorial guides.""Our team's knowledge of the solution needs to be improved, and Microsoft could do a better job conveying the necessary information to users. We could proactively use the tool more and explore capabilities we are not yet utilizing.""The solution could use improvement on the interface.""Features like device inventory continue to lack essential workstation drill-downs showing the entire device information with the least effort.""There's a lot of manual effort involved to configure what we need."

More Microsoft Defender for Endpoint 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 →

  • "I can estimate the reduced cost of servers maintenance to approximatively $500,000."
  • "When purchasing, buying with other IBM tools provided us with a very good discount in pricing."
  • "I would stay with the Managed Virtual Server license model, which is a 1-to-1 license per OS whether it is virtual or physical."
  • "The product is less costly when compared to other solutions, and this is a good solid solution for what we have paid."
  • "Compliance, inventory, and licensing are really pricey. They should lower the price. It discourages users from getting onboard."
  • "You get what we call the Platform Edition, which you get for free. The patch service is maybe $0.50 per workstation per month. Then there's the basic server cost, which is about $1.50 per server per month. You also get into Lifecycle which does power management, OSD remote control, and those types of things, and that might be about 10 times the price - which works out to about $13 per server and, maybe $5 per workstation per month."
  • "The price is very fair."
  • "The price is reasonable, but our customers find it expensive."
  • More BigFix 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 →

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    765,386 professionals have used our research since 2012.
    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:The product's initial setup phase is very easy.
    Top Answer:Fortinet FortiEDR is available at a very competitive price compared to the other products in the market. Customers also… more »
    Top Answer:I’ve found patching to be the most valuable feature of the solution.
    Top Answer:The product is affordable. I rate the solution’s pricing a three out of ten, where one is cheap, and ten is high.
    Top Answer:Some clients have adopted it but have expressed concerns about its flexibility. They have other tools that effectively… 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 »
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    enSilo, FortiEDR
    Tivoli Endpoint Manager
    Microsoft Defender ATP, Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection, MS Defender for Endpoint, Microsoft Defender Antivirus
    Learn More
    Interactive Demo
    Fortinet
    Demo Not Available
    HCLTech
    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.

    HCL BigFix is a powerful patch management tool that enables organizations to simply control their patch management operations. It is designed so that IT security and operations teams can collaborate in the most effective way possible. Users that employ BigFix can find and fix issues with their endpoints faster than those that employ its competitors. It comes with thousands of security checks that can be deployed quickly and easily. These enable users to safeguard themselves from a wide variety of digital threats.

    HCL BigFix Benefits

    Some of the ways that organizations can benefit by choosing to deploy HCL BigFix include:

    • Total visibility and simplified control. BigFix provides users with total system visibility while simultaneously enabling administrators to easily manage their networks. It enables organizations to run all of their patch management operations from a single user interface. This UI contains all of BigFix’s system controls. It also contains all of an organization’s network data. Users will never have to search for the features or information that they need as everything is centrally located.
    • Maximum benefit for reduced overhead. BigFix enables businesses to integrate with more than 100 different operating systems. Users can utilize the operating system of their choice without multiplying their overhead costs. They can keep costs down while still achieving their goals. 
    • Flexibility. BigFix is highly flexible. Users can integrate it with the top vulnerability management solutions on the market. This enables users to maximize their protective coverage and minimize the amount of time that they have to spend resolving issues. 

    BigFix Features

    • BigFix Insights. The BigFix insights feature gives users access to a powerful deep analysis tool. This tool enables organizations to gather data from all of their endpoints and compile them into reports that can aid administrators in their work. It can centralize an organization’s data and also enable it to import data from other sources so that it can make more informed decisions.
    • Task automation. BigFix has the ability to automate rudimentary tasks so that users can focus on tasks that require a greater level of attention. This can include tasks such as event remediation and data collection. This feature enables users to focus their attention on other more critical tasks.
    • Data loss prevention tool. This tool enables users to prevent critical data from being leaked or leaking accidentally. It creates policies that limit or prevent sensitive data from being transmitted. It also enforces the privacy protocols that are already in place. Organizations can leverage this tool to bolster the security protecting their data from malicious actors.
    • Web reputation tool. This tool proactively protects networks from malicious websites. It scans for potentially dangerous websites and opens a blocking page when one is detected. Users are also given the ability to set proxy server credentials for the system to recognize and authenticate. Users can use this to ensure that suspicious websites are unable to infect their networks.
    • Centralized UI. BigFix comes with a built-in UI that centralizes all of the solution’s features so that they can be accessed from a single location. It enables administrators to target specific portions of the network when issues arise without requiring them to take actions that will affect the entire network.

    Reviews from Real Users

    HCL BigFix is a highly effective solution that stands out when compared to most of its competitors. Two major advantages it offers are its auto-patching capability and its user-friendly tools.

    Santhosh K., the chief executive officer of Catnip Infotech Private Limited, writes, “The second valuable feature is, BigFix also has an auto patch updating feature, where the latest patches, and what is required for my system are automatically downloaded and kept ready for me. The solution applies the patch and notifies me after applying the patch. BigFix also gives me a ping saying that I should reset my system within a certain period of time, while the patch is being applied. Let's say, the patch is being applied and if there's an issue, the solution can revoke the applied patch, and revert back to the old state.”


    Benedikt S., an application administrator, says, “It's very straightforward. The usability is very close to everyday technical tools that you use as a systems administrator. So it's quite user-friendly.”

    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.

    Sample Customers
    Financial, Healthcare, Legal, Technology, Enterprise, Manufacturing ... 
    US Foods, Penn State, St Vincent's Health US Foods, Sabadell Bank, SunTrust, Australia Sydney, Stemac, Capgemini, WNS Global Services, Jebsen & Jessen, CenterBeam, Strauss, Christian Hospital Centre, Brit Insurance, Career Education Corporation
    Petrofrac, Metro CSG, Christus Health
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm21%
    Comms Service Provider11%
    Manufacturing Company11%
    Hospitality Company5%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company16%
    Government8%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    Financial Services Firm8%
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company16%
    Retailer12%
    Healthcare Company10%
    Manufacturing Company10%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization43%
    Financial Services Firm9%
    Government8%
    Computer Software Company7%
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm19%
    Computer Software Company16%
    Comms Service Provider7%
    Energy/Utilities Company7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization21%
    Computer Software Company13%
    Government8%
    Financial Services Firm7%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business50%
    Midsize Enterprise16%
    Large Enterprise34%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business31%
    Midsize Enterprise19%
    Large Enterprise50%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business25%
    Midsize Enterprise11%
    Large Enterprise64%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business11%
    Midsize Enterprise49%
    Large Enterprise40%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business40%
    Midsize Enterprise17%
    Large Enterprise43%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business23%
    Midsize Enterprise32%
    Large Enterprise46%
    Buyer's Guide
    BigFix vs. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about BigFix vs. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    765,386 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    BigFix is ranked 16th in EPP (Endpoint Protection for Business) with 91 reviews while Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is ranked 1st in EPP (Endpoint Protection for Business) with 182 reviews. BigFix is rated 8.6, while Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is rated 8.0. The top reviewer of BigFix writes "Very stable and easy to deploy with excellent patch compliance". 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". BigFix is most compared with Microsoft Intune, Microsoft Configuration Manager, Microsoft Windows Server Update Services, Tanium and Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform, whereas Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is most compared with Intercept X Endpoint, Symantec Endpoint Security, CrowdStrike Falcon, SentinelOne Singularity Complete and Fortinet FortiClient. See our BigFix vs. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint report.

    See our list of best EPP (Endpoint Protection for Business) vendors.

    We monitor all EPP (Endpoint Protection for Business) 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.