We compared Symantec Endpoint Security and Microsoft Defender for Endpoint based on our users' reviews across several parameters.
Symantec Endpoint Security is praised for its robust protection, advanced threat detection, and comprehensive coverage, but users suggest improvements in integration, interface, scanning speed, and resource utilization. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint receives high ratings for its security measures, integration, interface, and customer support, but users note the need for enhancements in system performance, user interface, and threat detection capabilities. Pricing for both products is deemed justified, with positive ROI reported by users.
Features: Symantec Endpoint Security stands out for its advanced threat detection and comprehensive security functionalities. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is valued for its seamless integration with other Microsoft products, efficient threat detection, and user-friendly interface.
Pricing and ROI: Symantec Endpoint Security's setup cost is justified by its strong features, while Microsoft Defender for Endpoint offers competitive pricing with a reasonable setup cost. Symantec's licensing is flexible, while Microsoft's process is user-friendly. Symantec Endpoint Security users praised its positive ROI, citing good value, cyber threat prevention, and time/resource savings. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint also delivers strong ROI, with users reporting valuable outcomes.
Room for Improvement: Symantec Endpoint Security has room for improvement in integration with security tools, interface usability, scanning speed, and resource utilization. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint could enhance system performance, user interface, threat detection, scanning efficiency, and advanced threat prevention.
Deployment and customer support: Users find that setting up Symantec Endpoint Security takes longer than setting up Microsoft Defender for Endpoint. Some users of Microsoft Defender reported varying durations, with some needing three months for deployment and a week for setup, while others required only a week for both. Symantec Endpoint Security offers responsive and efficient customer support, praised for prompt solutions to technical issues. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is highly praised for its knowledgeable support team and effective assistance.
The summary above is based on 208 interviews we conducted recently with Symantec Endpoint Security and Microsoft Defender for Endpoint users. To access the review's full transcripts, download our report.
"It 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."
"Forensics is a valuable feature of Fortinet FortiEDR."
"Fortinet FortiEDR's scalability is quite good, and you can add licenses to the solution."
"Having all monitoring, response, tracking, and mitigation tools in one dashboard provides our analysts and SOC team with a comprehensive view at a glance."
"Fortinet FortiEDR's firewalling, rule creation, monitoring, and inspection profiles are great."
"The stability is very good."
"The console is easy to read. I also like the scanning part and the ability to move assets from one to the other."
"The most valuable feature is its ability to effectively detect threats. It has the EDR feature, endpoint detection and response, and that is very good."
"Defender is a part of Windows; you just need to enable it. There is no need to install anything."
"Microsoft Defender for Endpoint has been secure and there is zero maintenance required because it updates with Microsoft Windows."
"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."
"We are able to productively integrate with existing on-prem, hybrid, or cloud applications."
"We like that it has a free version available."
"The fact that it's from Microsoft, you don't have many false positives, unlike products from other vendors might have."
"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."
"It's a robust product."
"I like the malware threat control policy and USB blocker. In Symantec Manager, we use multiple available features, so we created firewall policies to prevent any malware attack from the network or device controls."
"It is good for detecting signature-based viruses, and it is user friendly."
"The fact that it has centralized management is the most valuable feature."
"Symantec End-User Endpoint Security is a stable solution."
"ATP is really impressive, and with EDR, it is the best solution I have ever known."
"This product is valuable for ransomware protection, general malware protection, and network exploitation protection."
"Some important features that are included are the built-in firewall and device control."
"The EDR console should have more extensive reporting. You shouldn't need to purchase FortiAnalyzer. It should be included in the EDR part. The security adviser cloud platform could be improved with more options for exclusive or intensive rules for devices."
"Cannot be used on mobile devices with a secure connection."
"The solution is not stable."
"The only minor concern is occasional interference with desired programs."
"The support needs improvement."
"The solution should address emerging threats like SQL injection."
"Once, we had an event that was locked and blocked, but information about it came to us two or three days later."
"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."
"Auto recovery is the most important feature that we would need from this solution. For decryption, similar to Malwarebytes, there should be something to be able to recover the data up to the last normal status. Its ability to recover data to the last normal copy must not exceed 5 to 10 minutes."
"We'd like the stability to be better."
"At times, the other antivirus products are now doing AI, in terms of understanding the behavior of the system and determining when there's an anomaly. This is something that Defender can improve on."
"Updates are not coming out of preview quickly enough and it is holding back on the development of the product."
"Microsoft Defender in the basic form is not very useful for managing the security environment. The free version is not capable of covering the needs of centralized management, EDR, and behavioral analysis. If you don't have the commercial version, you can't have centralized management and set up the policies and other things. Each client is a standalone installation, which is not useful for security in an enterprise model."
"The central management console should be improved because it provides limited options to configure Windows Defender."
"More integration with different platforms is an area for improvement for this product, and should be included in its next release."
"Microsoft Defender for Endpoint can improve by providing more and different types of reports."
"If you're not charged with administering the product and you don't do it every day it can sometimes be difficult to remember how to do the simple basic things, so some type of help or guidance for your most regular or frequent tasks would be good."
"It would be helpful if this product provided patch management functionality."
"The whitelisting feature does not work as expected."
"They are lacking the visibility that you get in a heuristical, next-generation AI product."
"The solution could improve by adding encryption. If it had encryption along with antivirus it would be better."
"Overall, the price could be reduced."
"More control features can be added, and its performance can also be better. Sometimes, the performance is not good when we access the cloud console. Moving to each tab is slow. The dashboard can be a little bit user-friendly. For some users, it is a bit difficult. If someone is a little bit familiar with it, then it is fine. Otherwise, it is hard to find policies in Symantec."
"Since the acquisition by Broadcom, we are no longer receiving the proper support."
More Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Pricing and Cost Advice →
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is ranked 1st in Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) with 182 reviews while Symantec Endpoint Security is ranked 5th in Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) with 139 reviews. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is rated 8.0, while Symantec Endpoint Security is rated 7.6. 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 Symantec Endpoint Security writes "The solution has given us visibility into compliance within our whole system and helped us ensure everything is updated". Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is most compared with Intercept X Endpoint, CrowdStrike Falcon, SentinelOne Singularity Complete, Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks and Fortinet FortiClient, whereas Symantec Endpoint Security is most compared with CrowdStrike Falcon, Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks, Trend Micro Deep Security and Kaspersky Endpoint Security for Business. See our Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs. Symantec Endpoint Security report.
See our list of best Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) 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.