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Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks vs ESET PROTECT Enterprise comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 8, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
7.3
Cortex XDR enhances security, reduces costs, boosts threat identification, compliance, and user confidence, offering cost-effective data protection.
Sentiment score
7.0
ESET PROTECT Enterprise offers strong returns with effective security, easy installation, and up to 30% cost savings over CrowdStrike.
They appreciate the rich telemetry data from the solution, as it provides in-depth threat identification.
I have seen a return on investment with Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks, as this product is offered at a minimal cost, and we can find a good ROI from it.
The return on investment is excellent due to its functionality and ease of installation.
There was money saving from using ESET PROTECT Enterprise, which is why I switched from CrowdStrike to ESET.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.6
Cortex XDR support is responsive and knowledgeable, despite occasional delays and regional language barriers affecting resolution times.
Sentiment score
7.9
Customers praise ESET PROTECT Enterprise's support team for being knowledgeable, responsive, and helpful, often rating them 9 or 10.
Every vendor has similar support; it depends on how the case is handled and raised.
Their support is efficient and responsive whenever I raise a ticket through my portal.
They did well with handling high-risk threats.
The tech support from ESET is amazing, and I would rate it as ten out of ten.
They are very responsive and help in solving issues quickly.
Even if support is addressing my problem, if the two issues I mentioned are not resolved, then the support process is not complete.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
Cortex XDR is praised for smooth scalability, managing diverse endpoints, and effective expansion in various organizational sizes.
Sentiment score
7.5
ESET PROTECT Enterprise is highly scalable, efficiently expanding to thousands of devices, with performance varying across workstations and servers.
It can efficiently scale up to thousands of devices in an organization without issues.
I have used many products before, and this solution is definitely scalable.
It is better suited for workstations rather than server environments.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.0
Cortex XDR is stable, with resolved bugs and ongoing improvements, earning high stability ratings from users.
Sentiment score
7.4
ESET PROTECT Enterprise operates reliably with minimal maintenance, despite occasional update interruptions and manageable false positives.
Cortex XDR is stable, offering high quality and reliable performance.
For the last 11 months, we haven't faced any outage issues, so it is a stable product.
All the situations and issues were controlled in a good way by Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks.
When it performs an update, ESET PROTECT Enterprise should request permission for restarting because otherwise, users lose their work.
The solution is stable, and I have not encountered any glitches.
The solution is very, very stable.
 

Room For Improvement

Cortex XDR struggles with compatibility, high memory usage, difficult management, limited features, and needs better integration, UI, and pricing.
ESET PROTECT Enterprise needs better deployment, performance, automation, UI clarity, and efficient management, especially for mobile and Mac.
The inclusion of this feature would allow the application of DLP policies alongside antivirus policies via a single agent and console, making it more competitive as other OEMs often offer DLP solutions as part of their antivirus products.
If the per GB data could be provided at a certain level free of cost or at the same cost which the customer is taking for the entire bundle, that would be better.
Cortex XDR could improve its sales support team, including better commission structures and referral programs.
Sometimes, agents lose connection with the management console, and the administration team needs to reinstall the agents on the computers.
They need to reduce the number of notifications on the endpoints.
It takes a lot of processing power when the machine is initially booted.
 

Setup Cost

Enterprise buyers find Cortex XDR expensive, but competitive, with flexible licensing; costs vary by usage, features, and setup.
ESET PROTECT Enterprise's pricing is seen as cost-effective, offering good value despite being higher than some competitors.
Cortex XDR is perceived as expensive by some customers, yet offers dynamic pricing.
Compared to competitors such as CrowdStrike and Sophos, the pricing of Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is similar to CrowdStrike but more expensive than Sophos.
I pay 40 dollars per agent annually, which is cheaper than 60 dollars per agent for Check Point.
We recently paid fourteen dollars and thirty-six cents per unit for 20 users, which is reasonable.
Comparing it to other solutions in the market, it was slightly higher.
 

Valuable Features

Cortex XDR offers robust endpoint security with advanced threat detection, ease of use, seamless integration, and real-time monitoring capabilities.
ESET PROTECT Enterprise offers robust security with efficient management, minimal resources, and strong threat detection for online transactions.
It incorporates AI for normal behavior detection, distinguishing unusual operations.
The product provides automation responses in case of a threat attack, severity assessments, centralized manageability, and comprehensive compliance features, resulting in reduced costs.
If a user doesn't click any link within 30 days and on the 31st day clicks a new link, Cortex XDR immediately alerts us that this user has clicked on an uncommon link or their behavior is uncommon.
It allows simple whitelisting and has a learning mode for new installations, which reduces false positives by adapting to typical user habits.
Its web component prevents infections from malicious websites, which enhances its anti-malware capabilities.
One of the strong features of ESET PROTECT Enterprise is its ability to work well on old computers.
 

Categories and Ranking

Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Net...
Ranking in Extended Detection and Response (XDR)
7th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
92
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (5th), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (9th), Ransomware Protection (2nd), AI-Powered Cybersecurity Platforms (4th)
ESET PROTECT Enterprise
Ranking in Extended Detection and Response (XDR)
19th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
16
Ranking in other categories
Anti-Malware Tools (11th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Extended Detection and Response (XDR) category, the mindshare of Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is 5.4%, down from 5.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ESET PROTECT Enterprise is 0.9%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Extended Detection and Response (XDR) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks5.4%
ESET PROTECT Enterprise0.9%
Other93.7%
Extended Detection and Response (XDR)
 

Featured Reviews

HectorRios - PeerSpot reviewer
Has detected high-risk threats effectively and provides strong behavioral protection
They did well with handling high-risk threats. I would rate Palo Alto support an eight or nine. I would give them an eight because in the majority of cases, we talk with local partners, and only in case of an emergency or a difficult issue, we jump to Palo Alto support. When we had that experience with Palo Alto support, it was nice service, but it was really difficult to get it. To jump from the partner to Palo Alto directly was challenging. I understand that it's part of the service, as the local partner just jumps up to Palo Alto support in case they need it. In some cases, when we faced an important issue, it was preferred to jump directly to Palo Alto to save time.
Manikumar David - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides comprehensive monitoring and policy implementation with room for memory optimization
ESET PROTECT Enterprise makes the system a little slow sometimes and updates occur at startup. Sometimes unwanted pop-ups appear to users, and they are unable to disable them. The user-friendliness is lacking in some areas. When users are using any computer, ESET PROTECT Enterprise should work in the background without consuming much memory, and any updates should proceed in the background without disturbing the user.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
16%
Comms Service Provider
14%
Government
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business41
Midsize Enterprise18
Large Enterprise36
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise2
 

Questions from the Community

Cortex XDR by Palo Alto vs. Sentinel One
Cortex XDR by Palo Alto vs. SentinelOne SentinelOne offers very detailed specifics with regard to risks or attacks. The ability to reverse damage caused by ransomware with minimal interruptions to...
Comparing CrowdStrike Falcon to Cortex XDR (Palo Alto)
Cortex XDR by Palo Alto vs. CrowdStrike Falcon Both Cortex XDR and Crowd Strike Falcon offer cloud-based solutions that are very scalable, secure, and user-friendly. Cortex XDR by Palo Alto offers ...
How is Cortex XDR compared with Microsoft Defender?
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is a cloud-delivered endpoint security solution. The tool reduces the attack surface, applies behavioral-based endpoint protection and response, and includes risk-ba...
What do you like most about ESET Protect?
The product enabled Zero-Day Protection for our environment. We never encountered any issues regarding threats.
What needs improvement with ESET Protect?
One area for improvement in ESET PROTECT Enterprise is its capabilities on Mac devices, which are less functional compared to Windows. In terms of device management, ESET PROTECT Enterprise could i...
What is your primary use case for ESET Protect?
My customers use ESET PROTECT Enterprise to secure all their operating systems; we have a lot of customers who rely on this antivirus. It also acts as a platform where I can manage all the devices ...
 

Also Known As

Cyvera, Cortex XDR, Palo Alto Networks Traps
ESET Protect, ESET File Security
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

CBI Health Group, University Honda, VakifBank
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks vs. ESET PROTECT Enterprise and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
872,655 professionals have used our research since 2012.