Check Point Harmony Endpoint vs Microsoft Defender for Endpoint comparison

Cancel
You must select at least 2 products to compare!
Fortinet Logo
10,056 views|7,518 comparisons
82% willing to recommend
Check Point Software Technologies Logo
12,940 views|7,660 comparisons
96% willing to recommend
Microsoft Logo
60,745 views|47,911 comparisons
94% willing to recommend
Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary
Updated on Aug 28, 2022

We performed a comparison between Check Point Harmony Endpoint 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: Users of both solutions agree that their initial setup is straightforward.
  • Features: Users of both products are happy with their security, stability, and scalability.

    Check Point Harmony users say it is robust, reliable, and has a useful and intuitive single dashboard. Several users mention that its alerting features need improvement.

    Defender for Endpoint users like its automated “Investigation and Response” feature and say it provides good vulnerability assessment. Some Defender for Endpoint users note that its UI needs enhancement.
  • Pricing: Most users of both solutions feel that they are expensive products. Defender for Endpoint does offer a free version.
  • ROI: Reviewers of both solutions report seeing an ROI.
  • Service and Support: Most users of both solutions report being satisfied with the level of support they receive.

Comparison Results: Check Point Harmony has a slight edge in this comparison. According to its reviewers, its interface is friendlier than that of Defender for Endpoint.

To learn more, read our detailed Check Point Harmony Endpoint vs. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Report (Updated: March 2024).
767,847 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 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 is very user-friendly for customers.""Ability to get forensics details and also memory exfiltration.""The setup is pretty simple.""This is stable and scalable.""The product detects and blocks threats and is more proactive than firewalls.""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""Fortinet FortiEDR's scalability is quite good, and you can add licenses to the solution."

More Fortinet FortiEDR Pros →

"Data security analytics enable us to prepare and take suitable precautions before landing in trouble and exposing confidential information.""Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.""Its most valuable feature is being able to integrate cloud services and centralize the protection policy from a single administration dashboard.""Check Point Harmony Endpoint has one of the most user-friendly dashboards I've seen.""The biggest value we found was ease of deployment. I haven't really used it much, so I can't really comment beyond that. I haven't used it much, but it's working.""It is integrated with a cloud platform that takes advantage of many emulation features in real-time filtering of malicious attacks.""The main advantage of the solution is the ability to implement complete security policies for the terminals in order to address how apps are installed on corporate devices.""It prevents the most imminent threats to the endpoint such as ransomware, phishing or drive-by malware, while quickly minimizing breach impact with autonomous detection and response."

More Check Point Harmony Endpoint Pros →

"I like the fact that it has the ransomware solution in there. I'm glad that the ransomware solution is built into it. That's probably the biggest thing that I see in Microsoft Defender.""The solution has an easy-to-use interface, is always updated, and is user-friendly.""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.""The antivirus features are very useful.""Auto-remediation: When the product sees malware, it resolves the issue immediately. This protects the machine.""It captures data through machine learning, which is built-in on the back-end. It also provides built-in analytics and a threat intelligence feature. It is a one-stop solution that doesn't require an antivirus because it comes prebuilt into Windows 10.""The most valuable features are that it's easy to use and the updates are very simple.""The patch management is very easy, as it can be done automatically or added to a schedule."

More Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Pros →

Cons
"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.""Once, we had an event that was locked and blocked, but information about it came to us two or three days later.""Detections could be improved.""The solution is not stable.""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'd like to see more one-to-one product presentations for the distribution channels.""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"

More Fortinet FortiEDR Cons →

"Configuration with some applications did not take place effectively due to setup complications.""It would be useful if you could also mark blocks as safe from a client. Now users always have to ask an admin to make exclusions.""It blocks safe URLs sometimes when there are network interruptions.""Technical support can be a bit slow at times.""This is one of the most innovative solutions due to the fact that it includes many real-time content filtering features, management, and assurance of the transactions of what went in or out of our peripherals. That said, it is important to integrate other solutions to continue innovating in the market.""In terms of improvement, the ticketing system could be better. It is a little tricky to try to open a case and give it to an engineer.""From an improvement perspective, the major challenge we've faced with Harmony is the support.""The solutions agent could have better performance, it is a little slow sometimes."

More Check Point Harmony Endpoint Cons →

"Defender could be more secure and stable.""It's not easy to create special allowances for certain groups of users. It can be a little heavy-handed in some areas where Microsoft has decided to lock a feature out, meaning they make it hard to make an exception... One company we work with needed to use about 20 different thumb drives for about 20 users. To make that exception for them was very difficult. In fact, you can't really make an exception. But what you can do is allow them to use it and, while it will still alert, you can actually suppress those alerts.""The detection of viruses could be a little bit better.""The management console is something that can be improved.""They're in the process of pulling more things together. They can continue with the integrations and provide a better way of seeing the impact of security changes, especially on the endpoint side. Before we actually flip the switch, we should be able to see the impact of security changes on the business or business applications. It would prevent breaking any business applications.""The UI for Microsoft Defender for Endpoint needs to be better. Integration with client dashboards is also lacking in this product, e.g. client dashboards shouldn't just be viewable from the cloud, because when the client's computer is offline, you won't be able to see the client dashboard.""Microsoft Defender for Endpoint should include better automation that will make it faster to detect the latest threats happening across the world.""It would be helpful if they included XDR features, on top of the EDR functionality."

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 →

  • "In addition to the standard licensing fees, there is a cost for support."
  • "We pay on an annual basis. There are no additional fees, they mostly tell us what we have to pay. We have budgeted for it."
  • "We pay roughly 80,000 Swedish krona per year. When it comes to the firewall, it's roughly 150,000 Swedish krona yearly. There's also maintenance, of course, which is roughly 10,000 krona per month."
  • "I bought them for 12 months and I genuinely cannot remember what I paid for them. I think it's about 100 pounds per user per year, so about 10 pounds a month per person."
  • "The licensing cost for Check Point is $3 USD or $4 USD per end-user."
  • "In terms of licensing, have a buffer zone around your projects in terms of the amount of endpoints that you want to have. You can always have more, but it is best to leave room for a little increase or growth."
  • "The solution is too pricey."
  • "One of the key factors that made us go with this solution was the pricing. On the licensing part, there was an initial complementary set of licenses offered in the initial onboarding package, either 15 or 20. Then, we had some complementary licenses in the initial purchase of the package. That was pretty useful."
  • More Check Point Harmony Endpoint 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 →

    report
    Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) solutions are best for your needs.
    767,847 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: Having all monitoring, response, tracking, and mitigation tools in one dashboard provides our analysts and SOC team… more »
    Top Answer:The pricing is significantly high. The implementation of this solution required us to allocate additional funds beyond… more »
    Top Answer:The pricing is reasonable. It is very good for security. We are focused on security. If the security is strong, we do… more »
    Top Answer:The heartbeat interval must be improved. Sometimes, when we change the policy in the console, it does not reflect in the… 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
    Check Point Endpoint Security, Endpoint Security, Check Point SandBlast Agent
    Microsoft Defender ATP, Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection, MS Defender for Endpoint, Microsoft Defender Antivirus
    Learn More
    Interactive Demo
    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.

    Check Point Harmony Endpoint is a robust security solution that enables users to use a single piece of software to accomplish tasks that often require the use of multiple pieces of software. It prevents impending threats from doing harm while at the same time enabling users to identify and deal with any harm that results from breaches. 

    Check Point Harmony Endpoint provides users with an excellent total cost of ownership. It combines six security solutions into a single powerful solution. Instead of being unwieldy, it is, in fact, a highly flexible solution. Users can easily manage and deploy it on site in their offices or via the cloud according to their needs. It upgrades effortlessly without ever causing disruptions to the work users are doing. The end result is a high return on a user’s investment.

    Benefits of Check Point Harmony Endpoint

    Some of the benefits of using Check Point Harmony Endpoint include: 

    • The ability to completely protect endpoints from all manner of immediate digital threats. Check Point Harmony Endpoint stops both malware and phishing sites from harming your networks. All files you receive or download are either run through Check Point Harmony Endpoint’s Threat Emulation sandbox, which scans it for malware, or sterilized by a Threat Extraction process. These prevent malware from ever entering your system. It also prevents phishing sites from stealing credentials. The software scans the sites and, if they are found to be malicious, they are locked out of the system. All of this occurs in real time. 
    • The ability to quickly recover from any attack which manages to do damage to your system. Check Point Harmony Endpoint’s automation responds to a threat once it is detected. Any device that is infected is automatically quarantined from the rest of the network and disinfected. This prevents further infection and allows administrators to render the machine safe for use. It also automatically creates reports which break down the nature of the attack and all other relevant details. These reports give users the information that they need to conduct triage and repair the damage done by an attack.

    Check Point Harmony Endpoint offers users a piece of security software which is completely cutting-edge. It stands out among its competitors for a number of reasons. Two major ones are the raw power of the solution and the usefulness of Check Point Harmony Endpoint’s built-in automation. Check Point Harmony Endpoint has a high ceiling when it comes to dealing with threats. Users are given the ability to decide how aggressively they want to employ it, which creates a great deal of flexibility. Check Point Harmony Endpoint’s automation is constantly running in the background of the program. It creates reports that empower users to take appropriate steps to protect their systems.

    Reviews from Real Users

    Sumit B., a consultant at Cognizant, notes the usefulness of Check Point Harmony Endpoint’s built-in automation. He writes, “SandBlast Agent is always working in the background collecting sensitive data, forensics, and notifying users whenever there is a chance of a brute-force attack into our systems. Otherwise, it has been protecting our data at various geographies along with the endpoints that we set up on the cloud. They have been able to filter out or thwart any attacks from the very word, "Go," and make our work very safe and smooth.”

    A PeerSpot user who serves as a Network Technical Specialist at a manufacturing company adds that “It's pretty complete for preventing threats to endpoints. Its capabilities are great.”

    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 ... 
    Boston Properties, Independence Care System, Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC), Courtagen Life Sciences, Carmel Partners
    Petrofrac, Metro CSG, Christus Health
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm21%
    Comms Service Provider11%
    Manufacturing Company11%
    Healthcare Company5%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company16%
    Government8%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    Financial Services Firm8%
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm18%
    Computer Software Company14%
    Healthcare Company10%
    Manufacturing Company10%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company15%
    Comms Service Provider11%
    Government7%
    Construction Company7%
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm19%
    Computer Software Company16%
    Energy/Utilities Company7%
    Comms Service Provider7%
    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 Business45%
    Midsize Enterprise20%
    Large Enterprise35%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business33%
    Midsize Enterprise21%
    Large Enterprise46%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business40%
    Midsize Enterprise17%
    Large Enterprise43%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business23%
    Midsize Enterprise32%
    Large Enterprise45%
    Buyer's Guide
    Check Point Harmony Endpoint vs. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Check Point Harmony Endpoint vs. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    767,847 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Check Point Harmony Endpoint is ranked 8th in Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) with 101 reviews while Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is ranked 1st in Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) with 182 reviews. Check Point Harmony Endpoint is rated 8.8, while Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is rated 8.0. The top reviewer of Check Point Harmony Endpoint writes "Excellent anti-ransomware protection, zero-day phishing protection, and web browsing filtering". 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 Harmony Endpoint is most compared with CrowdStrike Falcon, Kaspersky Endpoint Security for Business, SentinelOne Singularity Complete and Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks, whereas Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is most compared with Symantec Endpoint Security, Intercept X Endpoint, CrowdStrike Falcon, SentinelOne Singularity Complete and Trend Micro Apex One. See our Check Point Harmony Endpoint vs. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint report.

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