ESET Endpoint Protection Platform vs Microsoft Defender for Endpoint comparison

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Fortinet Logo
10,049 views|7,442 comparisons
82% willing to recommend
ESET Logo
12,166 views|10,130 comparisons
90% willing to recommend
Microsoft Logo
59,177 views|46,406 comparisons
94% willing to recommend
Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary
Updated on May 15, 2022

We performed a comparison between ESET Endpoint Security and Microsoft Defender for Endpoint based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.

  • Ease of Deployment: All the ESET Endpoint Security reviewers agree that the initial setup is straightforward and easy. Most Defender for Endpoint users say that its initial setup is straightforward.

  • Features: Users of both products are for the most part very satisfied with their scalability and stability. ESET Endpoint Security reviewers like its user-friendly interface and strong security capabilities but mention that the update process isn’t always automatic. Defender for Endpoint reviewers say it is a solid security system but would like more integration options.

  • Pricing: All ESET Endpoint Security users agree that it is a low-cost solution, whereas most Defender for Endpoint users feel it is an expensive product. Defender for Endpoint does offer a free version.

  • ROI: Users of both solutions report seeing an ROI.

  • Service and Support: All ESET Endpoint Security users and most Defender for Endpoint users are satisfied with the level of support they receive.

Comparison Results: ESET Endpoint Security ultimately won out in this comparison. Our reviewers agree that ESET Endpoint Security is easy to install and easy to use. In addition, it has excellent customer support.

To learn more, read our detailed ESET Endpoint Protection Platform vs. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Report (Updated: May 2024).
771,212 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
"Fortinet has helped free up around 20 percent of our staff's time to help us out.""Forensics is a valuable feature of Fortinet FortiEDR.""NGAV and EDR features are outstanding.""This is stable and scalable.""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.""We have FortiEDR installed on all our systems. This protects them from any threats.""The stability is very good.""Fortinet FortiEDR's firewalling, rule creation, monitoring, and inspection profiles are great."

More Fortinet FortiEDR Pros →

"It's scalable.""The most valuable features of ESET Endpoint Antivirus are the search engine, easy firewall setup, and ransomware scans.""Ransomware protection is embedded in the solution.""I rate ESET Endpoint Security eight out of 10 for ease of setup. Setting up ESET can be straightforward or complicated depending on the customer's environment. The deployment time varies, but it's typically around five days. We have a team of four or five people involved in the deployment. Only one person is needed for maintenance. The only maintenance is adjusting the configuration of the dashboard.""The most valuable feature of ESET Endpoint Security performance.""Technical support has been very good. They're quick to respond to any problems.""I have found ESET Endpoint Antivirus is light on system resources compared with other antivirus solutions that tend to be very heavy on the computers system resources. Additionally, the solution is very secure.""There are some great features in ESET Endpoint Antivirus when you are browsing on the internet. For example, they have a notification if within your LAN network something is suspected to be a threat. Additionally, the malware features are very good."

More ESET Endpoint Protection Platform Pros →

"The most valuable feature is ransomware protection, which can detect malicious activity from IPs or a malicious payload in DLLs, or other things that can corrupt the system.""Defender is a part of Windows; you just need to enable it. There is no need to install anything.""It's free. There is no additional cost. It's part of Windows.""Defender should be fine for home use. It has all the basic functionality you need. I can't speak to how well it works as an enterprise solution because I'm not in the space.""We can run the virus scan across our entire environment.""Within its class I think, it has a high and decent detection rate.""It is a very advanced system based on AI. It has a very large database of places or sites on the internet where you should not go. It is continuously online.""Microsoft Defender for Endpoint's WCS function, a content filtering solution, has proven to be the most useful, stable, and reliable option for our current needs."

More Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Pros →

Cons
"We've had a lot of false positives; things incorrectly flagged that require manual configuration to allow. Even worse, after we allow a legitimate program, it sometimes gets flagged again after an update. This has caused a lot of extra work for my team.""The dashboard isn't easy to access and manage.""I would like the solution to extend beyond endpoint protection and include other attack surfaces such as other network components.""There's room for improvement in the quick response time and technical support for integration issues, especially when dealing with multiple vendors.""I haven't seen the use of AI in the solution.""ZTNA can improve latency.""The solution should address emerging threats like SQL injection.""It takes about two business days for initial support, which is too slow in urgent situations."

More Fortinet FortiEDR Cons →

"We are looking to move towards an EDR solution rather than EPP. EDR is a solution that can dynamically detect threats based on the process behavior. It would be better if this solution was an EDR and an EPP solution, this would increase security protection.""The solution includes only Intrusion Detection and not IPS, which is an important feature that is missing in my version.""While the pricing is good, they could always lower it a bit.""It's hard to get support for ESET in Hong Kong and China. There's a number to call that goes nowhere. You can upgrade to the premium service, but there are a few restrictions.""There are some new antivirus technologies that rely on AI, artificial intelligence. ESET does not have this technology right now.""The scalability could be better.""The product could have better integration with third-party products that would help extend functionality.""It's not scalable in that you cannot use a license for multiple devices."

More ESET Endpoint Protection Platform Cons →

"Microsoft Defender for Endpoint's licensing is confusing. It has conflicting information on the website. We also faced integration issues with other systems. It makes laptops slower than traditional antivirus systems.""My main issue with the tool is that there are too many menus. This causes a steep learning curve for those without training or unfamiliar with Defender for Endpoint. From an end-user perspective, the solution is there on the machine and does its job; it works seamlessly. However, as a security professional dealing with it behind the scenes, the learning curve can be steep, but not too steep. Still, it has taken some of my analysts up to a month to get familiar with the product.""We need better support to learn about the product. Documentation is available, but we need some kind of training program so that we can get a better understanding of the product.""Other vendors provide a lot of customization when it comes to integration, which every big organization requires. No big organization depends on one particular tool. Defender lacks that at this point.""I would like to see better integration with their other security products to give better visibility from a higher level.""I would like the solution to be able to prevent unauthorized programs from installing and to block unauthorised URLs which is similar to web filtering product.""It can be more secure.""The solution could use improvement on the interface."

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 →

  • "Pricing per month, for security services as apps in CEE pricing: up to €2 monthly is OK."
  • "ESET is perfect, if you can afford it."
  • "The cost is a very reasonable. When compared with other products, the price is low (though not very low)."
  • "At first, we thought it was a bit expensive, but we negotiated a better price."
  • "This solution is a good value for the money."
  • "Currently, we are running on a three-year license. The pricing might be around $20,000. There aren't any costs above the standard licensing fee."
  • "This is not an expensive product."
  • "It is subjective. I don't think it is expensive. If you can have 10 user licenses for less than $100, I don't think it is expensive."
  • More ESET Endpoint Protection Platform 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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    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:ESET Endpoint Security’s most valuable feature is the management console.
    Top Answer:I rate the product’s pricing a three out of ten. It is neither cheap nor expensive for our clients. We use the free… more »
    Top Answer:The product’s AI implementation feature could be better for learning user behavior. There could be a feature to detect… 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
    Smart Security, ESET PROTECT Advanced, ESET LiveGuard Advanced, ESET PROTECT Platform
    Microsoft Defender ATP, Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection, MS Defender for Endpoint, Microsoft Defender Antivirus
    Learn More
    Interactive Demo
    Fortinet
    Demo Not Available
    ESET
    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.

    ESET Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) is a cybersecurity solution designed to protect businesses of all sizes against a wide array of cyber threats. Its advanced technologies and user-friendly interface provide robust security for endpoint devices, such as desktops, laptops, and mobile devices, without compromising performance. ESET's approach combines multiple layers of protection, including traditional signature-based detection with advanced heuristic analysis, behavioral monitoring, and machine learning, to effectively counter both known and emerging threats.

    ESET's Endpoint Protection Platform is based on a multi-layered defense strategy, which utilizes various technologies like cloud-based scanning, network attack protection, and exploit blockers. This strategy ensures solid protection against malware, ransomware, phishing attacks, and advanced persistent threats (APTs), offering businesses peace of mind regarding their digital security. ESET's platform protects computers, mobile devices, file servers and virtual environments. It’s available as a standalone product and as a part of a wider enterprise cybersecurity bundle, ESET PROTECT Enterprise, which also includes file server security, disk encryption, a cloud sandbox and EDR.

      ESET PROTECT Advanced

      The ESET PROTECT Advanced provides best-in-class endpoint protection against ransomware & zero-day threats, backed by powerful data security.

      • Leverages a multilayered approach that utilizes multiple technologies working together to balance performance, detection and false positives, and with automated malware removal and mediation.
      • Provides advanced protection for your company’s data passing through all general servers, network file storage including OneDrive, and multi-purpose servers to ensure business continuity.
      • A powerful encryption managed natively by ESET remote management console. It increases your organization's data security that meets compliance regulations.
      • Provides proactive cloud-based threat defense against targeted attacks and new, never-before-seen threat types, especially ransomware.

      Performance and Compatibility

      ESET is widely acclaimed for its light system footprint, ensuring that endpoint protection does not come at the expense of performance. This efficiency is crucial for maintaining operational productivity without sacrificing security. Moreover, ESET's solutions are compatible with a wide range of operating systems, including Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android.

      Centralized Management

      ESET Endpoint Protection Platform is managed via ESET Security Management Center, a centralized management console that provides real-time visibility into on-premise and off-premise endpoints. This simplifies the administration of security policies, streamlines the detection and response processes, and provides detailed reporting capabilities, making it easier for IT professionals to maintain a secure and compliant IT environment.

      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 ... 
      ERSTE Group Bank, Miller Solutions, Wesleyan University, The Hospital Center of Luxembourg, Deer Valley USD, SPAR, Industrial Federal Credit Union, Honda, City Hall of Palmela, Hays CISD, Lester B Pearson School Board
      Petrofrac, Metro CSG, Christus Health
      Top Industries
      REVIEWERS
      Financial Services Firm21%
      Comms Service Provider11%
      Manufacturing Company11%
      Computer Software Company5%
      VISITORS READING REVIEWS
      Computer Software Company16%
      Government8%
      Manufacturing Company8%
      Financial Services Firm8%
      REVIEWERS
      Manufacturing Company15%
      Non Tech Company11%
      Computer Software Company9%
      Financial Services Firm7%
      VISITORS READING REVIEWS
      Computer Software Company18%
      Comms Service Provider10%
      Government6%
      Manufacturing Company6%
      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%
      Company Size
      REVIEWERS
      Small Business52%
      Midsize Enterprise15%
      Large Enterprise33%
      VISITORS READING REVIEWS
      Small Business31%
      Midsize Enterprise19%
      Large Enterprise50%
      REVIEWERS
      Small Business64%
      Midsize Enterprise16%
      Large Enterprise21%
      VISITORS READING REVIEWS
      Small Business42%
      Midsize Enterprise20%
      Large Enterprise38%
      REVIEWERS
      Small Business40%
      Midsize Enterprise17%
      Large Enterprise43%
      VISITORS READING REVIEWS
      Small Business22%
      Midsize Enterprise33%
      Large Enterprise45%
      Buyer's Guide
      ESET Endpoint Protection Platform vs. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
      May 2024
      Find out what your peers are saying about ESET Endpoint Protection Platform vs. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint and other solutions. Updated: May 2024.
      771,212 professionals have used our research since 2012.

      ESET Endpoint Protection Platform is ranked 11th in Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) with 97 reviews while Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is ranked 1st in Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) with 182 reviews. ESET Endpoint Protection Platform is rated 8.2, while Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is rated 8.0. The top reviewer of ESET Endpoint Protection Platform writes "Easy to set up with good security and rapidly improving capabilities". 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". ESET Endpoint Protection Platform is most compared with Kaspersky Endpoint Security for Business, CrowdStrike Falcon, SentinelOne Singularity Complete, Check Point Harmony Endpoint and Fortinet FortiClient, whereas Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is most compared with Symantec Endpoint Security, Intercept X Endpoint, SentinelOne Singularity Complete, CrowdStrike Falcon and Fortinet FortiClient. See our ESET Endpoint Protection Platform vs. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint report.

      See our list of best Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) vendors, best Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) vendors, and best Anti-Malware Tools vendors.

      We monitor all Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) 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.