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Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks vs WatchGuard EPDR comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 9, 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
3.7
WatchGuard EPDR optimizes operations, reduces costs, enhances security, and provides efficient endpoint management, especially valued in Latin America and schools.
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.
I can say that knowing you have a product like WatchGuard EPDR that's working 24/7 to help protect students in a school is good for ROI.
 

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
6.2
WatchGuard EPDR's customer service is praised for knowledge and resolution speed, but some experience inefficiencies and availability issues.
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.
They create a case, tell me to refer to articles, and if not resolved, they take a remote session to solve the issue.
Technical support for Panda Adaptive Defense 360 is provided by the reseller, and they also do preventive maintenance yearly.
The technical support from WatchGuard would rate at about an eight on a scale of 1 to 10, where one is the worst technical support and 10 is the best technical support.
 

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
7.6
WatchGuard EPDR offers excellent scalability and integration, efficiently supporting diverse users across platforms, particularly small to medium businesses.
WatchGuard EPDR is very competitive regarding its scalability.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.0
Cortex XDR is stable, with resolved bugs and ongoing improvements, earning high stability ratings from users.
Sentiment score
8.3
WatchGuard EPDR and Panda Security Adaptive Defense are stable, with high user satisfaction, minor update issues, and effective malware detection.
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.
It is very stable with no hanging problems.
WatchGuard EPDR is a very stable solution and is not resource intensive.
The stability is approximately a seven to eight out of ten.
 

Room For Improvement

Cortex XDR struggles with compatibility, high memory usage, difficult management, limited features, and needs better integration, UI, and pricing.
WatchGuard EPDR needs improved integration, data protection, intuitive administration, DNS security, stability, deployment, reporting, and lower processor load.
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.
Panda Adaptive Defense 360 is not compatible with certain network devices like access points, switches, or routers, which would be an area for improvement.
Other firewalls allow adding categories and in-app controls which WatchGuard currently lacks.
An area for improvement would be the software deployment to seamlessly deploy software packages across multiple machines simultaneously.
 

Setup Cost

Enterprise buyers find Cortex XDR expensive, but competitive, with flexible licensing; costs vary by usage, features, and setup.
WatchGuard EPDR offers flexible subscription pricing that's seen as reasonable, with advanced features justifying higher costs.
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.
It is worth the money and provides good return on investment.
The pricing is slightly high, but the product quality justifies it.
Regarding pricing, I am not sure because I did not compare it with other antivirus; maybe it is pricey.
 

Valuable Features

Cortex XDR offers robust endpoint security with advanced threat detection, ease of use, seamless integration, and real-time monitoring capabilities.
WatchGuard EPDR simplifies threat detection and enhances IT productivity with advanced search, real-time insights, and robust endpoint protection.
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.
The cloud of WatchGuard lets me see all my devices, updating me to minute levels with detailed information, such as patch status and vulnerabilities.
The detection capabilities for malicious activities are effective.
The EDR has a high accuracy rate with only a few false positives.
 

Categories and Ranking

Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Net...
Ranking in Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
5th
Ranking in Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
9th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
92
Ranking in other categories
Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (7th), Ransomware Protection (2nd), AI-Powered Cybersecurity Platforms (4th)
WatchGuard EPDR
Ranking in Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
11th
Ranking in Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
15th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
37
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) category, the mindshare of Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is 3.7%, down from 4.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of WatchGuard EPDR is 2.1%, up from 1.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks3.7%
WatchGuard EPDR2.1%
Other94.2%
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
 

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.
PaolaLamura - PeerSpot reviewer
While being easy to manage and create reports, the tool also offers a good UI
I rate the ease of use and management of Panda Adaptive Defense 360 an eight on a scale of one to ten. The tool's ability to provide information about the vulnerability is the most impactful feature of the product that has an impact on our company's security posture. Speaking about scenarios where the solution effectively prevented the security breach, I would say that our company sees how the tool blocks when our customers accidentally click on some malware, after which it quarantines that file. My company makes a playbook with the SOAR tool that Panda Adaptive Defense 360 uses to block and isolate attacks. In our company's system, if there is a big event that occurs, then to block the endpoint, we use SOAR with Panda Adaptive Defense 360 to block and isolate attacks or threats. The solution's real-time monitoring has improved our company's ability to detect threats if we use it in our company with Panda SIEMFeeder. Only if in my company there is a need to do some research, prepare a report, or if we want to change the policy, so it is not very often that we use the visualization part of the tool in our company. The reporting and analytics part of the tool has helped with the decision-making in our company since we combine different kinds of logs and situations from different ingestion logs, and we can configure a specific alert. In my company, we use the tool's data search functionality if required to check the information we need. Presently, our company uses the configuration alert and SIEMFeeder in our system. I rate the tool a nine out of ten.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
13%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Hospitality Company
6%
Manufacturing Company
5%
 

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 Business26
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise1
 

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 WatchGuard EPDR?
The product's most valuable features are the zero-trust application service and its capability to detect threats and attacks.
What needs improvement with WatchGuard EPDR?
I have no idea if I use some automation functions. I can't find any disadvantages; maybe that is because many companies haven't used it. I would prefer to see some features such as AI in antivirus ...
 

Also Known As

Cyvera, Cortex XDR, Palo Alto Networks Traps
Panda Adaptive Defense 360
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

CBI Health Group, University Honda, VakifBank
Indra, Valea AB, Fineit, Aemcom, Data Solutions INC., Gloucestershire NHS, Golden Star Resources Ltd, Hispania Racing Team, Instituto Dos Museus e da ConserÊo, Escuelas Pias Provincia Emaus, Axiom Housing Association, Municipality of Bjuv, Lesedi Nuclear, Mullsj_ municipality, Eng. skolan Norr AB, Dalakraft AB, Peter Green Haulage Ltd
Find out what your peers are saying about Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks vs. WatchGuard EPDR and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
869,952 professionals have used our research since 2012.