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BigFix vs IBM Tivoli Asset Management for IT vs Symantec Endpoint Security comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Mindshare comparison

Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
IT Asset Management
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
 

Featured Reviews

Bella Yakoby - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers third-party patching feature, good scalability, and enhance endpoint management capabilities
From the perspective of the team that's handling the environment, it's not so user-friendly compared to other solutions, the competitors. We hire new teams from time to time, and they are complaining, look, although BigFix is very robust and cross-platform, it's not so fun to work with. The user interface for the technical teams is not so advanced. It's not so intuitive compared to SCCM, compared to ManageEngine. And this is the fact that they have, with the teams, because they have the rejection. The look and feel of the system are old-fashioned. For new employees, it's less easy to find someone I don't need to educate on how to work with BigFix. Although it's easy, it's not as intuitive as the other solutions, and the functionality of the other solutions is less advanced. Let's summarize: The user interface has to be changed from the perspective of the teams that are managing the product. It's old school.
HarshalDeore - PeerSpot reviewer
A user-friendly solution that has a good user interface, but its technical support is not good enough
Around 20 to 25 staff members are needed to deploy and maintain the solution, including two managers, one architect, and other implementers. IBM Tivoli Asset Management for IT does not adopt the latest technology. The solution can be integrated with our existing IT environment through some web services and connectors. Overall, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.
Hakeem_Abdulkareem - PeerSpot reviewer
The solution has given us visibility into compliance within our whole system and helped us ensure everything is updated
Symantec's application security module needs some improvement. You need to create a lot of fingerprints for application security. For instance, let's say I have different brands of ATMs in my environment, like Wincor and NCR. I use GRG to deploy an application control to whitelist some applications. I have to get the exact image of the different models of ATMs. When I tested in the past, some machines would not connect to the server without that. Only the approved software on the ATM should run. Anything outside that should not even come up at all. We did this so that an outside person doesn't introduce malicious software to the ATM. That's the essence of locking down with application control. Using Symantec for application control has been hectic, so I use Carbon Black to do the lockdown. Checking that data security will work fine with Carbon Black. Carbon Black worked fine. Setting up approval in Carbon Black works differently than Symantec. In Symantec, we first need the fingerprints of the applications running underneath. Before setting up Carbon Black, you first install the agent, allowing it to learn the environment. It will analyze all the software's behavior and provide recommendations for what should be allowed. It's more straightforward, whereas configuring application control in Symantec is a bit cumbersome.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"It allows for visibility into the OT, the industrial environments, that didn't exist before which is a big piece and has benefited my organization. Second, the speed at which people can patch is night and day versus SCCM scan or another similar solution."
"It's enabled us to have a highly successful endpoint patching program for the past decade. It's been enormously successful there. It's also become a core part of many of our business processes, from compliance monitoring of endpoints, encryption management, key escrow, and local administrator password escrow. It's built into our inventory. It's very much everywhere."
"The most valuable feature of BigFix is the reporting tool and patching Windows."
"My company provides support services to a lot of customers and companies. We have reduced a huge amount of man-effort. Along with the man-effort, we have reduced the timeline to fix the compliance and security gaps. We have an unbroken record. The documentation clearly says that we have done the patching of newly released patches, including Microsoft and third-party patches, in up to 80% of the computers, within 72 hours of the release of the production. That was a very massive benefit that we have seen. When I talk about the 80% endpoints, it is 100 or 200. I am talking about 25,000 endpoints."
"Desktop patching is the most valuable feature, because with servers, we have complete control over them, and we can simply push patches to the servers."
"It enables us to patch our systems quickly and within expectations and to increase our volume as needed. It has also helped us compress our patch sites. We used to do it monthly but now we do it weekly."
"Ability to run custom reports and custom relevance."
"It has plugins development options, which are great."
"IBM Tivoli Asset Management for IT is a user-friendly solution that has a good user interface."
"The firewall, malware, and anti-virus protection have earned its keep in times past by catching the unexpected."
"We never expect downtime. There is also great ease of use for my admins."
"The solution is easy to use"
"Some important features that are included are the built-in firewall and device control."
"The solution is easy to manage."
"Symantec have everything – documentation, videos, data sheets."
"I like the endpoint detection and response. That's the best feature. I also like the fact that we don't need to use a file on the computer, whereas some anti-malware solutions work with a file on the endpoint. Symantec is a very good option compared to solutions from other vendors."
"There is no other endpoint solution that will help you in preventing lateral-movement attacks on Active Directory. And Active Directory is one of the more critical assets within an organization."
 

Cons

"The reporting structure could be a little more simplistic. Currently, it throws too many vulnerabilities. Some of them are not needed because they are only informational and limitations, and they are not of much help. It doesn't need to show us these things."
"The only thing that I don't like about BigFix is that it does not support other devices such as printer firmware, router firmware, and things like that. I will be happy if I can control everything and get everything else in there, even if it is just a line item. They can do some enhancements to the Web UI. I am trying to get customers to be able to manage their environment by using Web UI, and it would be good if we can delete endpoints by using Web UI. We should also be able to generate Excel content or data tables from the Web UI without having to go to the console. It is small stuff, and it drives me crazy that I have to go to another console to do these things."
"In-place and OS upgrades can be improved."
"They don't have a proper mobile device management capability. They're working on it, however, that's the one thing that needs improvement so that you can have full unified endpoint management."
"Needs to improve Network Access Protection (NAP) technologies to prevent computers with vulnerabilities from gaining access to networks."
"The deployment has room for improvement and can be more streamlined."
"I would like to see much better web reporting because as it is now, it's convoluted, basic, it's not modern, and there are limitations to it."
"BigFix is actually a little bit on the expensive side in Turkey because of the dollar's exchange rate in our currency."
"The solution’s initial setup is complex and technical support is not good enough."
"The reporting function needs to be more user friendly in general."
"SONAR could be improved. The false/positive rate is a little high."
"The areas that need improvement include scanning issues, application control issues, and the detection of malicious files."
"The virus definitions could be updated more frequently."
"The monitoring capabilities could be further developed."
"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."
"There is room for improvement in the zero-day threat detection system."
"The stability was not the best. There were times when antivirus updates broke it. It wasn't necessarily self-updating - at least, not in terms of the virus signatures. It updated in terms of the executable files. Therefore, when Windows updates would come out, they often couldn't be installed, or the computer would hang due to the fact that the updates weren't compatible with the antivirus."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The license is subscription-based."
"It might be about $23 a client."
"I would stay with the Managed Virtual Server license model, which is a 1-to-1 license per OS whether it is virtual or physical."
"The price of BigFix could be lower. However, I am always seeking a lower price."
"You are charged per server and per workstation when using BigFix. ManageEngine is a lot cheaper than BigFix. There are some additional costs, such as support."
"When purchasing, buying with other IBM tools provided us with a very good discount in pricing."
"The price is very fair."
"Its price is very reasonable."
"IBM Tivoli Asset Management for IT is an expensive solution."
"The pricing is as per the environment. If all the features are there, there will be a cost for them. There were no additional costs for me. Support and other things were included in the pricing."
"We pay our licensing fees on a yearly basis, and everything is included in that price."
"Symantec Endpoint Security is a moderately priced solution."
"Symantec Endpoint Security's pricing is okay. It is cheaper compared to other products."
"Licensing is based on a yearly subscription."
"I rate the product's pricing a six out of ten."
"Zero-day threat or advanced attacks should be part of the endpoint. The product should not require you to buy a separate license."
"Licensing is per user. Therefore, it makes it easy to do licensing."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
46%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
6%
No data available
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about BigFix?
The most valuable features of the solution are Windows patching and the hardware and software inventory.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for BigFix?
The pricing is competitive, but not the most competitive.
What needs improvement with BigFix?
Implementing a business solution with BigFix has some issues, primarily concerning the time required for distribution...
What do you like most about IBM Tivoli Asset Management for IT?
IBM Tivoli Asset Management for IT is a user-friendly solution that has a good user interface.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Tivoli Asset Management for IT?
IBM Tivoli Asset Management for IT is an expensive solution. The solution's licensing cost depends on the number of n...
What needs improvement with IBM Tivoli Asset Management for IT?
The solution’s initial setup is complex and technical support is not good enough. IBM Tivoli Asset Management for IT ...
Which is better - Cortex XDR or Symantec End-User Endpoint Security?
Aqua Security is easy to use and very manageable. Its main focus is on Kubernetes and Docker. Security is a very valu...
Which offers better endpoint security - Symantec or Microsoft Defender?
We use Symantec because we do not use MS Enterprise products, but in my opinion, Microsoft Defender is a superior sol...
What do you like most about Symantec End-User Endpoint Security?
Symantec have everything – documentation, videos, data sheets.
 

Also Known As

Tivoli Endpoint Manager
Tivoli Asset Management for IT
Symantec EPP, Symantec Endpoint Protection (SEP)
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

US Foods, Penn State, St Vincent's Health US Foods, Sabadell Bank, SunTrust, Australia Sydney, Stemac, Capgemini, WNS Global Services, Jebsen & Jessen, CenterBeam, Strauss, Christian Hospital Centre, Brit Insurance, Career Education Corporation
Migros Zurich, Tyr_ns AB, Port Otago Limited, BTC, Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V., AIG, Swedish Match, DTE Energy
Audio Visual Dynamics, Red Deer Advocate, Asia Pacific Telecom Co. Ltd., Kibbutz Ein Gedi, and AMETEK, Inc.
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, CrowdStrike, SentinelOne and others in Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP). Updated: April 2025.
849,600 professionals have used our research since 2012.