We performed a comparison between Forescout Platform and Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Features: Forescout Platform stands out for its agentless visibility and advanced features like device fingerprinting. Forescout users say the product could be better at resolving connectivity and license issues. Users also want more compatibility with different devices and operating systems, along with better logging and troubleshooting capabilities. Cortex XDR presents an intuitive interface, advanced identification of risks, expandability, and compatibility with various other solutions. Meanwhile, Cortex XDR could use enhancements in hard disk encryption, security integration, and customer education.
Service and Support: Some users reported positive experiences with Forescout support, but others requested better responsiveness and training. Some customers were impressed with Palo Alto’s support, while others reported mixed experiences.
Ease of Deployment: Some users found Forescout’s setup to be simple and adaptable, while others perceived it as more complex and time-intensive. Some users thought Cortex XDR’s deployment was fast and straightforward, while others consider it to be a complex and time-consuming task that requires thorough planning.
Pricing: The total cost of Forescout Platform can be high depending on the level of customization and integration required. Some reviewers said Cortex XDR is expensive, but others said it was reasonable for the robust feature set Cortex offers.
ROI: Forescout Platform yields a solid ROI by improving network access control and overall security. Cortex XDR creates value by ensuring system and data security rather than a financial return on investment.
Comparison Results: Our users prefer Forescout Platform over Cortex XDR for its agentless visibility, comprehensive device fingerprinting, and easy deployment. Forescout provides outstanding visibility, flexibility, and excellent customer service. Cortex XDR lacks some features like hard disk encryption and received mixed feedback about its customer support.
"A crucial aspect for our team is the inclusion of identity and access management tools from the vendor."
"The product integrates security into one tool instead of having third-party security tools."
"It's a great threat intelligence source for us, providing alerts for things it detects on the network and on the machines. We've used it often when there is a potential incident to see what was done on a computer. That works quite nicely because you can see everything that the user has done..."
"Defender XDR has a feature called the timeline that lets you track all activities. It helps a lot with investigations."
"The visibility into threats is also very impressive because Microsoft helps you predict things and provides analytics to help you really improve your security. And all of this technology works across the domain, so it is pretty helpful in terms of threat analytics."
"The summarization of emails is a valuable feature."
"The portal is quite user-friendly. There is integration with Office, Intune, and other products from the same portal. From there, we can see which policies are installed on a particular machine. We also can manage devices, groups, and tagging."
"The unified view of the threat landscape on a central dashboard is the most valuable feature."
"Cortex XDR is a very capable solution for protecting large networks and a lot of endpoints. It's very useful because the automation is very high, and if you combine it with the features on Palo Alto firewalls, it provides very strong protection."
"I like the centralized console and the predictive analysis it does of malware. It is very stable and also scalable."
"It integrates well into the environment."
"The user interface of the solution is sophisticated and straightforward."
"The solution doesn't need a high level of technical training."
"The live terminal is probably the best thing ever. It gives you the access to get straight onto any machine."
"I've found the solution to be highly scalable for enterprises."
"One thing that I like about Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks, it is detecting all the suspicious or malicious binaries, and it has integration with Palo Alto Firewall."
"The most valuable feature is the blocking of USB devices."
"The initial setup is easy, taking no more than two or three weeks."
"The interface is easy to use."
"Forescout is easy to integrate with a lot of end systems."
"The 802.1X compliance authentication feature of this solution is very good."
"The actions that the agentless visibility, allow us to perform on the endpoint, are really amazing, especially in the way that it is done."
"You can quickly filter your view of devices and zero in on the ones you want using a variety of tools, such as what subnet it is on or what it has been classified as."
"I can integrate Forescout with products from multiple vendors in my environment, and also, the integration is searchable. It can be used with 802.1X and non-802.1X to integrate with my existing network. I don't need to upgrade any existing networks in my system, and I don't need to replace existing devices to integrate with Forescout. I find value in not having to spend money upgrading existing devices and networks."
"In the beginning, it's difficult to navigate the system because it is quite large. Just trying to find your way and understand how the system works can be hard. After spending quite a lot of time searching it's a lot easier, but I wish it were a bit more user-friendly when you're trying to find things."
"There are other SIEM solutions that are easier to use, mainly based on the creation of rules, use cases, and groups."
"It would be beneficial to have a more seamless experience with everything consolidated in one place, particularly when dealing with aspects related to the Exchange console."
"The support team is not competent or responsive."
"The web filtering solution needs to be improved because currently, it is very simple."
"There should be better information for experts on features in the solution. What I see when reading about features in Microsoft 365 Defender is that it is always general information. If Microsoft could go deeper into details for the experts about how to use the tools, usage of it would be more familiar and it would be easier to use."
"The management and automation of the cloud apps have room for improvement."
"I would like more of the features in Defender for 365 to be included in the smaller licenses. Even if I buy a small license and don't need everything, security shouldn't be a question. Security is one of the main aspects of all projects from our side, so it would be nice to have more features in the smaller licenses."
"Previously, the endpoint would leave the environment, not being on our VPN, essentially unable to interact with the server to upload files. It was unable to retrieve new file verdicts. It was using a thing called "local analysis" to determine if something was a malicious file or not. There was no dynamic analysis."
"We have found that there are times Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks does not detect some of the viruses, we have to use another protection solution called Kaspersky."
"I would like to see better protection, specifically to protect email applications."
"Limited remote connection."
"The licensing model is complex to understand. It requires expertise to explain how the licensing works. You need expertise to guide you through the subscription plan."
"It tends to do 99.9% of things. The only thing I'd like is single sign-on authentication into their cloud platform so that my users can be properly authenticated against it."
"The dashboard is the area that needs to improve so that we can have the ability to drill down without having to go elsewhere to verify results."
"It would be better if they could educate the customers more. Some sort of seminars and roadshows will help educate the customers and show what the product can do. The price could be better. It would also help if they had a team for deployment and support."
"Can be expensive if it's only being used for one feature."
"Better integration with third-party vendors is needed because as it is now, the list of third-party solutions that we can integrate and automate is quite limited."
"The installation is not secure because it takes high admin privileges."
"It's scalable, but not without a big investment. It doesn't do so well at the branch. At the home office, it does okay and not so well at the branch."
"Other solutions have TACACS+, but Forescout does not. In the next release, I would like to see Forescout have accounting."
"Forescout Platform could improve the integration or compatibility with other solutions, such as Chinese-made solutions. They do not have any integration with S33 which is a switch. They do not have good integration with new solutions in the market. They do integrate well with Rocket, Cisco, Juniper, and quite a few more but they could expand the integration."
"They should improve features related to IT security. ForeScout should analyze behavior to see if the behavior is malicious behavior and block this device. They should develop the ability to analyze the behavior of the device in my environment."
"Forescout needs to improve its cloud management and remote connectivity."
More Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks Pricing and Cost Advice →
Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is ranked 4th in Extended Detection and Response (XDR) with 80 reviews while Forescout Platform is ranked 12th in Extended Detection and Response (XDR) with 69 reviews. Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is rated 8.4, while Forescout Platform is rated 8.4. The top reviewer of Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks writes "Perfect correlation and XDR capabilities for network traffic plus endpoint security". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Forescout Platform writes "We can go granular on each endpoint, quarantine non-compliant machines, and target vulnerabilities through scripting". Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is most compared with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, CrowdStrike Falcon, Darktrace, Symantec Endpoint Security and Trellix Endpoint Security, whereas Forescout Platform is most compared with Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine), Aruba ClearPass, Fortinet FortiNAC, Nozomi Networks and Armis. See our Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks vs. Forescout Platform report.
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