I use Bitdefender GravityZone EDR for security purposes.
IT Compliance Engineer at a energy/utilities company with 51-200 employees
A stable solution that detects advanced threats
Pros and Cons
- "It is stable."
- "There's room for improvement in terms of protection. That's my primary concern."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
What we appreciate is that Microsoft Defender is positioned as an intermediary. However, one area where we're considering a different approach is in terms of the insurance it provides. We have mobile device management in place, but we encounter challenges when adding licenses to desktops without active users. Some of our machines remain idle, running certain jobs with Bitdefender protection. However, I face a dilemma when it comes to applying Microsoft Defender to these machines because there's no user logging in with a 365 license to enable Defender.
What needs improvement?
I believe it would be better if Microsoft Defender offered features similar to what it does. I appreciate how Defender integrates with Exchange, providing advanced threat protection. In comparison, Bitdefender primarily focuses on endpoint security, serving as a basic line of defense. There's room for improvement in terms of protection. That's my primary concern.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Bitdefender GravityZone EDR for the past six years.
Buyer's Guide
Bitdefender GravityZone EDR
January 2025
Learn what your peers think about Bitdefender GravityZone EDR. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2025.
831,158 professionals have used our research since 2012.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I believe it's adequate. However, I haven't had the chance to use it in larger deployments, so I can't provide a comprehensive comparison.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I used multiple solutions before moving on to Bitdefender. When I was with MSPs, we used to conduct an annual review to determine the most effective antivirus solution. We would then promote and deploy the chosen antivirus. Upon joining S2S, we worked with Bitdefender, as it was highly ranked at that time.
How was the initial setup?
It is very simple to install and takes only five days. Managing it is quite straightforward. The portal makes it easy to apply policies immediately. In terms of maintenance, a single person is sufficient.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
There are some differences. It's more cost-effective, yet it provides the same functionalities as Defender. That's why I've been exploring the comparisons. We pay for it annually, and it's a per-seat payment.
What other advice do I have?
The solution is sufficient if you only need to safeguard your endpoints. It's suitable for that. I would certainly suggest this product to others.
Overall, I would rate this solution a 10 out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
CEO at CSToday
Great security with excellent standard policies and extremely stable
Pros and Cons
- "We like the dashboard, the console, the reporting. It's very easy to deploy."
- "For many, the problems come mostly when they start tweaking or short-cutting - particularly for patch management."
What is our primary use case?
We deploy GravityZone endpoint protection from the admin to every in-office machine, every utility machine, and then to each work-from-home machine that that attorney or paralegal uses when COVID-19 gets bad. There is a weekly centralized review. There is also response to alerts.
The solution is basically a firewall, antivirus, and anti-malware. It's got a heuristic module. It takes a lot of the same core technology that you see in GravityZone, however, with a decidedly more consumer-friendly face.
How has it helped my organization?
In an office building, there may be other firms on the same floor. In a couple of instances, an attorney was trying to get a PDF uploaded to the court, or at least that's what he thought he was trying to do. It wouldn't work on his machine so he took it over to his partner's machine. It was a small firm, three attorneys. It wouldn't work on that one. So he took it to his partner's paralegal, and it wouldn't work on that one.
He brought it over to a paralegal from one of my clients, and it immediately detected it as malware and blocked it. That was a vanilla out-of-the-box scan from GravityZone. What's notable about this is the malware was pretty serious and it ended up ransomwaring both of those other firms even though they notified their IT people who went in and attempted remediation. They didn't catch it. We like that because this isn't just defending against network-based attacks, it's successfully defending against everything else.
What is most valuable?
The solution has better UI and better UX tools.
The standard policies are pretty good, right out of the box. We seldom have to tweak them. We have never had to make, and I'm speaking across probably 14 law firms in 2020, we've never had to attenuate for a specific device case like a scanner or a particular piece of software. On three occasions it did block some software paralegals were trying to install, which turned out to be malicious.
We like the dashboard, the console, the reporting. It's very easy to deploy.
We're pretty strong on GravityZone. We have had zero penetrations across our entire client base.
What needs improvement?
We don't deal with very large organizations. We stay as far away from active directory and combined network typologies, as much as we possibly can. The way I explain it is we don't build our houses out of straw, we don't build our houses out of wood. Each user machine that piggybacks builds a stone house.
We've cloud migrated everybody, however, it did not happen generically. We've used Google Enterprise or Box Enterprise, so good stuff. AES-256 at rest and AES-128 in transit. We only do scans on GravityZone covered machines via our contemporary APIs. We close every hole we can find. With people who still have servers, whether they're physical or virtual or cloud, and they're still active directory, and they're still 100% Microsoft shops, I've heard them complain. However, I don't care as it doesn't affect any of my clients.
For many, the problems come mostly when they start tweaking or short-cutting - particularly for patch management. A lot of admins will tend to bundle work that we don't think should be bundled, however, they tend to due to the fact that they're underfunded and undermanned. They've got to get all the patches up. They've got to get all the updates done. Therefore, they tend to tweak group policies associated with the active directory. Some of those customizations can create potential security holes.
GravityZone is the only one with the heuristic model, the simulator. We've seen where a thing may pass the script desk, it may pass the node and snippet test, however, it fails the heuristic test. That's where it launches a virtual machine in the high memory and lets the thing do whatever it's going to do, and then looks for where it goes. Of course, a lot of these things then go to the approval area as that's what the admin intended. However, then they get into a bit of a problem with GravityZone as it doesn't want them to do that. GravityZone works fine if you follow best practices in the other areas of your deployments. If you're kind of cheating or cutting corners, GravityZone isn't going to be mean to you, however, it may give you grief.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used the solution as a consumer on behalf of clients. I've been dealing with the solution for four or five years at this point.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is extremely stable. Nothing that I work with is as stable as this product. For example, aside from its default group policies and actions being robust and its very adroit awareness of 'allowable' (you can't get a Kyocera auto-update if you don't have a Kyocera), we log less than one issue per year per client for Gravity Zone.
How are customer service and technical support?
The technical support is amazing. It's pretty much instantaneous. We've very satisfied with the level of service we are provided.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is pretty straightforward.
We create a package depending on the level of sophistication of the user. The average law firm will have three packages. A low-end package, attorney, because attorneys are actually the least significant player in a law firm. They're the least informed. They're the least aware technologically. Then there are the standard paralegals and then advanced technical paralegals. We want to give more power to the advanced technical paralegals. Prior to COVID, we would typically create two or three distribution points, but with all the work from home, we quickly observed it was unnecessary.
For example, let's say you've got 22 users in an office. You can create two or three distribution points in your configuration of the GravityZone download package. Then, those three distribution points, which are serverless and have no central authority, will capture the updates and distribute those to the other machines. That worked fine pre COVID. Post COVID, with everybody at home, fully 40% of the workforce at home, that creates an unnecessary burden. That's why we've suspended that.
We're using the UI you configure for whether the users are on a Win 64 machine or a Mac, and sometimes Linux. We build the package, send the package, install the package. When we put GravityZone on a machine we're building for deployment. It's all very quick and smooth.
When we're putting GravityZone on a work from home, typically it's a home laptop that has got a lot of stuff on it that isn't necessary. GravityZone installs in three phases. Phase one is a scan, a comprehensive scan. Phase two looks for offending software that is incompatible, such as McAfee. In home deployments, we very often watch it go through and have to unroot junkware. Sometimes that will take intervention on our part.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Although I can't speak to exact costs, in our experience, not only is it much more effective, it also never costs more, and sometimes costs less than competitors.
What other advice do I have?
The solution is targeted for the consumer community, however, I've seen it deployed a lot this year from all the work from home attorneys and paralegals and such.
I would advise those seriously considering the solution to go for the three-year contract as it'll save you money. If you're changing protection more often than every three years, then you're not really paying attention.
I would rate the solution ten out of ten.
We have problems with Word, we have problems with Google, we have problems with Google Drive, we have some problems with the Box API, we have lots of problems with all IFTTT. However, we never really have problems with GravityZone.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Buyer's Guide
Bitdefender GravityZone EDR
January 2025
Learn what your peers think about Bitdefender GravityZone EDR. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2025.
831,158 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Cybersecurity Analyst & System Engineer at Compucare Systems Inc
Offers patch management for all critical updates and protection of the system
Pros and Cons
- "The best feature for our customers is the ransomware feature. It is very fresh and powerful. Bitdefender also has a feature called Ransomware Vaccine. With this feature, when a file from the ransomware is encrypted Bitdefender can revert it back to the original file. It automatically decrypts the file and puts the ransom in quarantine."
- "Bitfender could improve their modules on the server. For example, Bitdefender doesn't have content filters or firewall modules on the server. It would be great if it had a networking module and a content filter module at the workstations."
How has it helped my organization?
We use patch management from Bitdefender, as well. It has a feature that has patch management for all the critical updates or protection of the system. It keeps the computer and the server up to date automatically with the details for the reports. It also has a new risk analytics feature. This risk analysis is a vulnerability scan of the workstation and the server endpoint, and it will tell you all the security misconfigurations on the system and provide you the solution to fix it. It also has automatic fixes to protect some of those misconfigurations.
For example. We all know the protocol SMB v1 is dangerous because it's old, and at the same time, it's vulnerable to the WannaCry ransomware. So with Bitdefender's risk analysis, it automatically fixes that for you, as well as a bunch of other things. I like that.
What is most valuable?
The best feature for our customers is the ransomware feature. It is very fresh and powerful. Bitdefender also has a feature called Ransomware Vaccine. With this feature, when a file from the ransomware is encrypted Bitdefender can revert it back to the original file. It automatically decrypts the file and puts the ransom in quarantine. This is like SentinelOne. This is a very impressive feature.
The second Bitdefender feature that I consider very important is its anti-phishing filter. The workstations get a straight content filter to protect from web pages. I like Bitdefender's anti-phishing so much because it doesn't need to install to any browser. It's captured directly from the network traffic in the computer, and it stopped a lot of phishing or phishing pages. It a very powerful anti-phisher. It sends email reports in real-time. I'm very happy with that.
What needs improvement?
Bitdefender could improve their modules on the server. For example, Bitdefender doesn't have content filters or firewall modules on the server. It would be great if it had a networking module and a content filter module at the workstations. Because when you install it on a workstation and a server is totally different, the workstation has all the modules, firewalls, content filters, antivirus, anti-exploit, etc. But then the server has fewer features than the workstation. It has the anti-malware and the EDR, which is good because you can see the logs. It also has the device control so you can block USB's and whatever you need. But it doesn't have the content filter to see the anti-phishing, and it doesn't have the firewall inside to stop network attacks. This is something that could be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using Bitdefender GravityZone for our customers for about three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's very stable. The endpoint doesn't give me any errors. It doesn't require a lot of communication ports or protocols. It just needs to go to an HTTPS and create a port, like a web port, and they synchronize everything with the central server. It's very, very straightforward and it's very stable. It's not like all the antivirus products that I know require you to have ports open to communicate better. With other software you have the whitelist, a lot of hostnames in the firewall, to make sure it communicates to the server or the cloud. With Bitdefender, it just uses one hostname, one port, that's it. It's very stable. Very easy.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
This product has an excellent price and it works with selling and reselling. It is a very good product to buy if you want to save money. In my experience, it's much more powerful than other solutions. It is very aggressive with the ransomware relative to the price. Its remote access Trojan is very focused on that power of security.
How are customer service and technical support?
The support from Bitdefender could be improved. Last year the support was really slow. When you sent a ticket they would answer you five hours later. But over this past year, it has been improving. Now, if you send a ticket they call you back and help with whatever you need in about an hour.
The support people are are very skilled. When they call you they solve the problem immediately. They mostly do email support. But there is an option when you open a ticket that you can select remote support so they can connect remotely to your computer and assist you with whatever you need regarding Bitdefender.
We recently had a problem with password protection on a customer's endpoint. They helped us wipe it out. It was great. That's the experience we've had with the support tech. They've improved since last year.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We switched from Symantec because we had a problem with ransomware that did not stop. We were concerned about the customers with this particular ransom and older kinds of threats. We switched to Bitdefender after we tested a lot of viruses and ransomware in the lab.
How was the initial setup?
The setup is very easy. You just set it up at the company, then you set up the package, and you download the executable, and it will be automatically installed. There's no "next next" wizards, nothing. It's all automatic. It has a feature, that I only I realized a month ago, which helps you to remove old competitors like Malwarebytes from all devices. The setup is very simple, believe me.
Also, with big environments like Active Directory, which has a lot of computers in the domain, you can install one endpoint in the server and set it up like a relay, everything in the simple graphical interface - very friendly. And you can deploy everything from the Bitdefender cloud, the installation to all the workstations which are in the domain.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The license is very flexible. You can choose from monthly, yearly, or three years. The license is very simple. It's not a file that has to upload to the product. It's just a serial number, like a product key, that you put on the cloud console, and that's it. Every endpoint you install will be synchronized with that license.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We tested several antivirus solutions and Bitdefender gave us the best results. In my experience as an IT company providing a lot of customers IT support and MSP, Bitdefender was and still is, the best at stopping the most dangerous ransomware currently on the internet.
What other advice do I have?
We use Bitdefender cloud. So basically everything is cloud-based. All the protection is based on agents installed in servers and workstations.
In terms of mobile protection, I see that it has good features. You can install the mobile protection on on-premise servers like VMware or Hyper-V, and it works fine. It's very friendly. I do see the graphics on the mobile endpoint are a little bit old and I think they should improve that. Also, it would be great if in the future they included a feature for anti-theft so they can clean the device and wipe it out if it gets stolen. I think it might have that feature because we are testing the new mobile solution that has the remote wipe, and the lock with the password feature. But the classic interface from the app should be improved, it's a little bit old.
Another feature I would like to improve is on the laptops. When a laptop is lost or stolen, it would be great if they included the anti-theft there as well. Because in the personal product, it's already implemented, but for business, it's not. That would be great.
On a scale of one to ten, I would rate Bitdefender GravityZone a nine.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
General Manager at Kristel
Thorough detection, great flexibility, and straightforward setup
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable features are the solution's thorough detection and ease of use."
- "In terms of improvement of the solution, it could have better features. For example, having a firewall within. This way we would only need one solution."
What is our primary use case?
We are mainly using the solution for management because it contains a variety of different tools. For example, it has EDR and NTSA which are integrated into the solution enabling it to monitor threats on the network and the endpoint site. Additionally, we are using it because of the Patch Management encryption module tool. It essentially provides what we need in terms of our next-generation endpoint.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features are the solution's thorough detection and ease of use.
What needs improvement?
In terms of improvement of the solution, it could have better features. For example, having a firewall within. This way we would only need one solution.
In a future release, they should include mobile devices within the cloud setup.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used Bitdefender GravityZone Ultra for three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We find the solution to be stable. We have not experienced anything to be alarmed about during the time we have used it.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is easy to scale. The growth of our company requires only to request for more licenses and does not require additional cost.
How are customer service and technical support?
The solution has a local technical support office that responds within 30 minutes, which is satisfactory.
I would rate the technical support of Bitdefender GravityZone Ultra an eight out of ten.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have used McAfee, Kaspersky, and ESET.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of the solution was very simple and straightforward. The installation was finished within a day by our technical team.
What about the implementation team?
The solution requires a technical team for deployment. The team is able to advance it up to the directory, it is very simple.
The solution does not require much maintenance because the updates happen automatically. However, there are two engineers involved in administration when there is anything requiring attention. For example, when there is a new feature that we want to enable.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution is not expensive but there are cheaper options in the market. In terms of competitiveness, the price is reasonable with no other additional costs besides the licensing fees.
What other advice do I have?
I recommend the solution because it has great flexibility and the agility of the solution over time is great.
I rate Bitdefender GravityZone Ultra an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
GRC & Cyber Security Consultant at Merlink
An easy-to-setup solution with good stability
Pros and Cons
- "It efficiently investigates security incidents."
- "They should include the Hebrew language for its technical support in terms of communication."
What is our primary use case?
We use the solution to identify the source of the threat in case of a malware attack.
What is most valuable?
The solution's most valuable feature is its ability to investigate the security incident, including the sequence of events and its initial trigger point.
What needs improvement?
The solution's technical support in terms of communication could be provided in the Hebrew language.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using the solution for three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable. It encountered downtime issues a while back but hasn't affected the systems.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is scalable for small and medium businesses.
How are customer service and support?
The solution's customer services are good. Although, the customers want them to provide support in the Hebrew language in terms of communication.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
The solution is easy to set up. We have to copy the active directories and follow a few steps. It takes a maximum of 15 minutes to complete.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution's pricing is average.
What other advice do I have?
I rate the solution an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: reseller
Commercial Manager at Ingecom
Easy to deploy with good protection capabilities and lots of features
Pros and Cons
- "It's easy to deploy."
- "Technical support could be faster and more responsive."
What is our primary use case?
We don't have a specific use case for the product. We offer it to our clients.
It's basically used to protect endpoints and servers.
What is most valuable?
It protects almost everything the client needs. It depends on the client how they use it, however, the security is very good.
It's easy to sell. If we speak about the parts, the product is easy to sell.
Compared to other products, it's more complete. It has a lot of features.
It's easy to deploy.
What needs improvement?
I can't recall coming across an area that is lacking.
Technical support could be faster and more responsive.
The cost is a bit high.
For how long have I used the solution?
We've been working with the solution for four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable. There are no bugs or glitches and it doesn't crash or freeze. It's reliable. Our clients have been satisfied with the performance.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is best suited for small or medium-sized organizations. While it's good for all the companies, it is easier to sell to small and medium companies than to bigger companies. Bigger companies, develop software, develop use cases, develop everything. It's more time involved when you deal with larger organizations and their more complex setups.
For the most part, it is easy to scale.
How are customer service and support?
I've dealt with support several times. In some cases, when the cases are more complicated, it takes too much time to resolve a problem. It would be better if we could just call someone. Right now, we have to email back and forth. If they don't understand what your message is then it's more back and forth. A phone call would be faster. We've had a few cases that were not easy to resolve and there were just too many emails to deal with.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We have used EDR solutions with other vendors. Their prices are usually too high in comparison.
How was the initial setup?
It's very easy to set up. It's not overly complex or difficult.
It's simple to deploy and you can really control every aspect. It's a good product to work with. I'm not sure, however, the exact amount of time it takes to deploy the product. I'm not usually directly involved.
I'd rate it five out of five in terms of the ease of implementation.
Our clients tell us they don't have any maintenance to worry about.
What about the implementation team?
We do provide implementation services to our clients.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing is expensive. I'd rate t a three out of five in terms of availability. However, some products have fewer features.
The cost is negotiable.
What other advice do I have?
I'm a distributor.
Every time there's an update, we present it to all our partners and to our clients. We tend to work with the latest version.
I'd advise anyone to try the product. Try a demo and see how it works and how it might work for your organization. It's quite a good solution.
I'd rate the product eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Owner at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Easy to use, easy installation and can be installed on other servers or workstations
Pros and Cons
- "We have clients who are also migrating from other anti-virus solutions to GravityZone because of the ease of use, ease of installation and the fact that it can be deployed in the cloud and the same software; you can actually install on other server or workstation. It automatically knows what it's protecting."
- "The pricing should be improved. The user interface has been improved on a yearly basis. The key issue is that they need to look at their pricing."
What is our primary use case?
We have been reselling Bitdefender for over twelve years now. Our primary use case for this solution is for a microfinance bank. They wanted a solution that can deliver security in the cloud. In fact, there was no other antivirus partner or manufacturer that has enterprise security that is hosted in the cloud. When they came to us, we told them that we have a solution that can do that, which is Bitdefender GravityZone. We told them exactly what it does:
- You don't need to buy a separate server to deploy it, which is major savings for the bank.
- It is hosted in the cloud. Because it is hosted in the cloud, you can deploy it in the cloud and you can monitor it from anywhere in the world, whether you are in the office or not. It gives you the stability to know which clients have been updated, which clients have not been updated, which ones have been attacked, and which endpoints have been attacked.
- You can generate your report. You don't necessarily have to be in the office to have the network working.
Now, the good thing also about that, apart from the savings and the ability to have the stability of your reports no matter where you are, is the fact that at any point in time, you can have a central policy setting. With that, you can set your policy centrally and from there you push to all your clients. Then also, you can generate your report. You don't necessarily have to be in the office to have the network working.
What happens is that a desktop will be configured to be what they call a relay server. Then the relay server within your line goes to Bitdefender.com to pick up updates and every client on your network gets updates from the local system. What that means is that it reduces your internet calls. They were happy with that.
The client also wanted to know what happens when they're out of office. I explained that if you're out of the office, once you're connected to the internet, using anything the system goes straight to Bitdefender.com. With the first attempt to view the local server, if it's unable to see the local server, then it takes the second route, which is going to Bitdefender.com. They were very happy about that. They asked all about the issue of memory and performance on systems. I explained that the performance is very light because if it's light, the overhead on the systems is also very low. They were also satisfied with that.
They asked me how to install on the server and not the desktop and I told them that it's exactly the same as a critical file that you push to boot the server and the desktop. The system is intelligent enough to know which operating system is running and it will handle that.
Lastly, they asked what happens if they have an existing antivirus. Bitdefender has the ability to automatically uninstall any existing antivirus but we can't make any change on your registry.
We helped them to do a POC, they were happy with it and after that, they purchased a license of around 2,500 users for two years.
How has it helped my organization?
Bitdefender has improved my organization in the way that it has grown our revenue over the years. We have more clients that have signed on Bitdefender GravityZone. Then we have clients who are also migrating from other antivirus solutions to GravityZone because of the ease of use, ease of installation and the fact that it can be deployed in the cloud and the same software; you can actually install it on other servers or workstations. It automatically knows what it's protecting.
Most importantly, we've also had very good support from Bitdefender. Any time you get to Bitdefender support with any issue, their response has been very helpful.
What is most valuable?
The feature that I've found most valuable is the ability to configure updates to be hourly. Only very few antiviruses can do that. You can be protected from a wide range of malware because it can do hourly updates. We haven't heard of another solution that can do this.
What needs improvement?
The pricing should be improved. The user interface has been improved on a yearly basis. The key issue is that they need to look at their pricing.
Bitdefender is very productive because since we started selling Bitdefender for the past ten years, we've had almost about six different revisions. Every year and every six months there are improvements in their products, based on feedback, customer needs, changes in technology, and so on.
For example, people were talking about encryption, so today you have GravityZone that has the ability to perform disc encryption. Disc encryption is done to ensure that your disc isn't attacked.
Clients were requesting for endpoint detection EDR, which right now they have been able to incorporate. At any point in time, they have always been improving.
Every six months there are new features. Every three months new features come in to address the needs of these customers. Bitdefender has consistently been very pro-active in virtually all the places we've installed. We ask our clients if they have any issues with the product. All of them say that it's very easy to install and to understand and that they don't have any problems with it. Any global requirements are constantly incorporated. Our clients want to see some intelligence built into reporting but they saw that most antivirus solutions don't do analytics. Bitdefender has acquired a new company that does analytics so the analytics software gets input from the antivirus then it is able to correlate and give you the analytics that are required.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Once we install it properly, it is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We don't have any issues with the scalability.
In terms of the number of users that use this solution, it depends on the client. One of our clients has a 2,500 user license. We have another one using an over 4,000 user license. We have some using a 5 user license.
Usually, the roles of the people who manage it within the organization are on the security team. It's usually people in the network administration, working with IT security
How are customer service and technical support?
Bitdefender has very good technical support because all you need to do is send an email to support and in less than five minutes somebody is online. You can also chat with them if you need to chat. They have the option to email. If you are in a remote area, they have telephonic support as well.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We have been using Bitdefender for a long time. We've never used any other antivirus. Other customers have moved from other platforms to Bitdefender because of the possibility of the cloud solution.
They also choose Bitdefender because it has competitive pricing compared to solutions like McAfee and Symantec. They have local support and it's easy to use.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is very straightforward and easy. All you need to do is set up your account in Bitdefender Central. Once you open up your accounts, an email is sent to you, you accept the email, and set up your password then it gives you space on the cloud and that's all. It's good to go. The next thing is to link it to your active directory. Once you link it to the active directory, you can see all the users and you just send them an email and they will click and once they click, that's all. It's very easy.
Usually, deployments can take up to six months but can vary from two days to three months as well. It depends on one, the environment in the sense that, if for example, we are deploying to an organization with about 9,000 users, and they are distributed across a large geographical location, they cannot do an antivirus deployment immediately. They need to do what is called a phased implementation. Usually, phases are done off work periods, either in the night or weekends. The reason is that we don't want anything that would disrupt operations.
Two, usually before we do implementation we do what they call a checklist. We need to know which systems they have if they're Windows, Android or IOS. We want to know which versions because not all versions are supported at any point in time. If they're not supported, we need to do an upgrade on these systems before implementations start.
Thirdly, we look at the memory and what resources they have. Usually, there is what we call minimum and there's recommended. We go for recommended in terms of specification. Once the recommended is done, we look at the structure of their active directory then after that, we sit down with the IT team who are going to be part of the implementation and take them through the product portfolio of what we want to implement. We show them all the features, show them the various implementation methodologies and configuration options. We show them how updates are done. We now move farther to tell them some of the other requirements like some ports that must be left open in each of these systems at the routers so that the packages can pass through, they are not considered as malicious.
If you have any other security software running in your environment, you'll need to create exceptions for the Bitdefender package. After that, we start implementation with one or two systems then we allow them to then shadow us and do it on their own. If there are issues, we show them where the mistake was made. We continue to give them offline support or on-site support depending on the contract they have signed with us or with our resellers.
Ordinarily, the number of staff we require for deployment is a function of how large the organization is. On average, it's a maximum of five people because for very large organizations we have to do phased implementations and depending on which implementation methodology is chosen, whether it's going to be on-prem or cloud. If it's cloud, it's very simple. Somebody just logs on to the computer and begins to deploy very easily. Just control the systems and do the installation.
What about the implementation team?
We're a value-added distributor. We have technical expertise in-house, we give resellers the options to either deploy or we deploy on their behalf. There are some resellers who don't have deployment abilities, there are some resellers who have deployment abilities, and there are some users who have deployment abilities, there are some users who don't have deployment skills. It depends on the scenario. If a user wants to do the deployment themselves it's fine but if they run into a problem during installation, we are going to charge them for the installation. We usually draw a line between installation issues and support issues especially for new clients because some clients want to install it themselves then in the course of the installation, they don't install properly and they tell us it's a support issue.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The licensing cost is on a monthly basis when you're doing the MSP model. MSP is a managed security service model. If you're doing the regular one year license, the licensing is based on what we call, a licensing band, so you get the minimum. The minimum is a three-user license. The pricing depends on the nature of the customer's environment, the number of users, and the infrastructure the customer has.
For example, if you have Microsoft Exchange in your environment and you want to protect it then you have to take a different option because you have the options of GravityZone business, you have the GravityZone Advance then you have the GravityZone Enterprise. It depends on the function of your infrastructure. Once we are able to know the infrastructure a customer has then we'll be able to come up with the right option.
There are additional costs apart from the initial licensing fee. The additional costs will come from things like the local support of the partner. If you're looking for on-site support then that would be an additional cost. They offer free offsite support, like telephonic and email support.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We evaluated all other solutions like Symantec and McAfee which has no local support. We evaluated ESET but their rating was not good. We evaluated Kaspersky but Kaspersky required many resources.
What other advice do I have?
My advice to somebody considering this solution would be to one, make sure that you get the exact model of the product you're looking for based on your environment. Two, you must ensure that you meet the minimum requirements because for Bitdefender if you don't meet the minimum requirements, it will not install. It will not install and if it does not install you will never know where the problem is coming from.
I would rate Bitdefender a ten out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Reseller.
Senior Network Manager at Denis Enterprises
It is very scalable; the sky is the limit
Pros and Cons
- "The product is stable. It has a small footprint, but it does a lot of heavy lifting."
- "The one thing that we are missing and want to see is user analytics. So, that is what I'm really interested in: behavior analytics and end user behavior."
What is our primary use case?
The primary use case is for endpoint security.
How has it helped my organization?
It is so automated that it runs itself.
What is most valuable?
- Unified malware threat detection
- Sandboxing
- Firewall
These are all built into the product.
What needs improvement?
The one thing that we are missing and want to see is user analytics. So, that is what I'm really interested in: behavior analytics and end user behavior.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The product is stable. It has a small footprint, but it does a lot of heavy lifting.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is very scalable; the sky is the limit.
How are customer service and technical support?
The technical support is good. We use a third-party partner who deals directly with their technical support. I have never dealt directly with them.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is very straightforward. It is a basic installation on the endpoint, which is all sucked up into the endpoint console, so you can get all your basic analytics right there.
What was our ROI?
We have seen ROI. We have seen a decrease by minutes in the mean time to detect or respond to threats.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price is per license per endpoint. The price is different for everyone, but we find the price is cheap for us.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend this solution.
Overall, it is lightweight. It does a lot of heavy lifting in a short, small package, which is what I like about it. It doesn't bring down the end user, like some of these endpoint security products, which really suck up resources from the end user. BitDefender doesn't, so that's important to me.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Reseller.
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Bitdefender GravityZone EDR Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros
sharing their opinions.
Updated: January 2025
Product Categories
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)Popular Comparisons
CrowdStrike Falcon
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
Fortinet FortiEDR
SentinelOne Singularity Complete
Cisco Secure Endpoint
Microsoft Defender XDR
IBM Security QRadar
Elastic Security
Intercept X Endpoint
Trend Vision One Endpoint Security
Kaspersky Endpoint Security for Business
HP Wolf Security
Check Point Harmony Endpoint
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Bitdefender GravityZone EDR Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros
sharing their opinions.
Quick Links
Learn More: Questions:
- What are the biggest differences between BitDefender and Trend Micro?
- What are the pros and cons of Bitdefender GravityZone Ultra vs Symantec End-User Endpoint Security?
- What is the biggest difference between EPP and EDR products?
- What is the difference between EDR and traditional antivirus?
- What is your recommendation for a 5-star EDR with low resource consumption for a financial services company?
- Which is the best EDR for a logistics company with 500-1000 employees?
- What is the best EDR or XDR product for a company with 9000 employees?
- What to choose: an endpoint antivirus, an EDR solution or both?
- Do we need to use both EDR and Antivirus (AV) solutions for better protection of IT assets?
- How does EternalBlue work?