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.
"They have pretty much everything you can ask for as far as features are concerned. That is because they know their market. They are focused on what they do and they do only that."
"The initial setup is very easy."
"Heuristic detection scans for suspicious characteristics that can be found in unknown, new viruses and modified versions of known viruses."
"It has zero-day attack protection."
"Check Point detects files containing malware, which some users are trying to download or access. Additionally, it can consolidate multiple emails into one."
"It is a very reliable antivirus."
"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 has a customer-savvy interface and easily customizable as per client and business requirements."
"The detection features are valuable, as is the fact that it is easier to port these logs into Sentinel. That is also useful for us. It is more comprehensive."
"In my opinion, the most valuable aspects are the reporting analytics and integration with Sentinel. Defender does an excellent job of correlating the different entities that comprise threat analysis, analytics data, and log analytics. It helps to piece together investigations into any exploit or malicious activity within a specific tenant. AI and analytics tools are probably the most valuable components."
"The most valuable feature is that we can use the solution right out of the box without too much configuration."
"The protection that it provides is quite good."
"The best thing I like about it is its interaction with the other Defender products. It provides the ability to push telemetry up. It gives me endpoint visibility and allows me to take automated actions."
"Microsoft Defender for Endpoint has been secure and there is zero maintenance required because it updates with Microsoft Windows."
"It shows us the risky sign-ins, and if a user's password has been compromised."
"Within its class I think, it has a high and decent detection rate."
"Check Point should provide some technical sessions on antivirus solutions."
"We need the ability to integrate this solution with the other existing solutions, such as Harmony."
"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."
"We'd like to see better integration with other security tools."
"I would prefer it if this solution was cheaper for everybody to buy it and enjoy these wonderful and distinguished characteristics."
"While features are really good and promising to use and implement, a certain level of improvement is required in terms of software deployment across different business environments."
"When there are many devices, it is more costly since each device requires unique login credentials."
"There needs to be more internally connected systems in order to achieve real-time effectiveness."
"The scanning is slow when it is working with incoming emails."
"The frequency of the patching, and the frequency of the updates, are not included with the free version."
"Microsoft should improve support for third-party platforms, because not all functionality is available for all of them. It's a good product, but they should just extend the functionality for all platforms."
"I had some cases a while back and told an agent my issue. When I called the next day, I had to explain everything again to a different person, so I found it annoying to repeat myself all over."
"The product development team makes frequent changes that affect the stability of the solution."
"From an audit point of view, our auditors would like to have more reports on how things are used, if things go wrong, and how they went wrong. For example, if something got a warning, "Why?" So, we would like more versatility for tracing and reporting. That would improve the product, as long as the user interface doesn't get bogged down."
"With the XDR dashboard, when you're doing an investigation and you're drilling down to obtain further details it tends to open many different tabs that take you away from your main tabs. You can end up having 10 tabs open for one investigation. This is another area for improvement because you can end up getting lost in the multiple tabs. Therefore, the central console can be improved so that it does not take you to several different pages for each investigation."
"There are some areas in the proactive threats that are just overwhelming the SOC, so we've had to turn those off until we can figure out how to filter out the false positives."
More Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Pricing and Cost Advice →
Check Point Antivirus is ranked 6th in Anti-Malware Tools with 50 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, CrowdStrike Falcon, SentinelOne Singularity Complete and Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks. See our Check Point Antivirus vs. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint report.
See our list of best Anti-Malware Tools vendors.
We monitor all Anti-Malware Tools 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.
