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CylanceOPTICS vs Microsoft Defender for Endpoint 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:
 

Categories and Ranking

CylanceOPTICS
Ranking in Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
31st
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
4.5
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Microsoft Defender for Endp...
Ranking in Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
2nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
190
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (1st), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (2nd), Anti-Malware Tools (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (6th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) category, the mindshare of CylanceOPTICS is 0.2%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is 12.3%, down from 17.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
 

Featured Reviews

HERNAN RODRIGUEZ - PeerSpot reviewer
Easy to use
CylanceOPTICS is easy to use.  The product's technical support is slow.  I have been using the product for three years.  CylanceOPTICS is easy to use.  I rate the solution a nine out of ten. 
AnuragSrivastava - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides detailed visibility into threats but the ability to add exceptions needs improvement
One major item for improvement is the ability to add exceptions. We can add some exceptions, but not at the level we need to. The second major area for improvement involves enhanced capabilities for different operating systems or platforms. That is, even though we have coverage for different operating systems or platforms such as Linux, we don't get all of the controls and enhanced capabilities that are available with Windows devices. Reporting could also be improved because, at present, we get limited results at times. For example, in an environment with more than 100,000 devices, you may just get 10,000 results when you run a report.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I would rate the stability a nine out of ten. I would give it a close ten as possible because, like SentinelOne, I've seen incompatibility. Whereas Cylance, I've seen none."
"CylanceOPTICS is pretty stable."
"Cylance is not a signature-based protection solution and instead works proactively using AI and ML models to patrol for malicious behavior."
"The solution has a high level of trust in the industry."
"It's pretty unintrusive"
"It is a bit early in our evaluation process to give proper feedback, although so far, the overall feedback is good."
"The initial setup was fairly straightforward. To get a large health care organization sorted, we had to create exemptions because some of the scripts and some of the automations were broken."
"You can use the solution to query certain things."
"The primary advantage is that you don't need to install it. It's included in the Windows 10 delivery."
"Microsoft Defender for Endpoint's most valuable feature is its ease of use."
"The intelligence mechanisms are good."
"The antivirus is the most valuable feature."
"You can query and access useful information from logs and events, which is powerful and efficient."
"Its simplicity is the most valuable. It also has very good integration. We like it."
"The notification and reporting features are most valuable because we are part of a compliance project, and maintaining SOC 2 compliance is critical."
"The patch updates and version updates are very good. Those happen on an automated basis whenever I'm connecting to the organization network, either through LAN or through the VPN."
 

Cons

"Our customers would like to see more automation with respect to how threats are handled once they have been detected."
"One minor issue that somebody mentioned was that they didn't like their management console."
"The product's technical support is slow."
"The detection component is something that they have to work on."
"The reporting is very weak and not very good at all."
"CylanceOPTICS could benefit from more granular control in the timeline-building process. Ideally, users would be able to drill deeper into the analysis rather than have the machine dictate the direction."
"The product's initial setup process could be easy."
"The technical support could be improved although it's probably better than you get with a lot of the other traditional antivirus solutions"
"Defender could be more secure and stable."
"Some integration components for Mac should be added. We use both Windows 10 desktops and Mac desktops, but presently, the Mac component is still lagging a bit behind."
"If they integrate with the EDR then it will benefit this solution."
"It makes your Surface devices hot. It is resource-intensive. It strains your CPU, not more than other file scanners around, but it also does a lot more. When you are transmitting files or data, it is continuously scanning the traffic and analyzing it bit by bit to see what's going on, and that, of course, is costly in terms of CPU. It is CPU intensive, and if you are on battery, it drains your battery fast. That's the only drawback that it has."
"The solution could improve by providing more integration."
"It would be helpful if they included XDR features, on top of the EDR functionality."
"There is no behavior analytics for devices and endpoints. There is no behavior-based protection."
"With the XDR dashboard, when you're doing an investigation and you're drilling down to obtain further details it tends to open many different tabs that take you away from your main tabs. You can end up having 10 tabs open for one investigation. This is another area for improvement because you can end up getting lost in the multiple tabs. Therefore, the central console can be improved so that it does not take you to several different pages for each investigation."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"CylanceOPTICS is probably priced equal to other EDRs in the market."
"We pay for the number of endpoints we have and that is about it. On a monthly basis, the licensing cost is $55 per user."
"The pricing for CylanceOPTICS is very good; I would rate it around a nine on a scale of one to ten, with ten being the lowest. It's one of the most affordable options I've seen."
"I would rate the pricing a three out of five."
"I recently switched from education to private business, and all I can say is that private business licensing from Microsoft is not cheap until you hit certain quantities or scale. That does not mean that it is not comparable to other industries. It is similar pricing, but it is still crazy to me how much you pay for a client. I feel it is high, but it is in line with other vendors."
"Licensing models of Microsoft are renowned for being complex. We just purchased the whole E5 stack. With E5 licenses for users, we get access to a bunch of features that are not just related to security. I would rate them a three out of five in terms of pricing."
"There is no license needed, the solution comes with Microsoft Windows."
"You need a license to use this solution."
"It came with Windows."
"It is within the same range as other products. It is not too expensive, and it is also not cheap. Its price can be better, but, well, it is Microsoft."
"This is an expensive product and licensing for all Microsoft products is a big issue."
"There is no licensing fee."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
20%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Government
8%
Educational Organization
27%
Computer Software Company
11%
Government
7%
Financial Services Firm
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Blackberry Optics?
I would rate the stability a nine out of ten. I would give it a close ten as possible because, like SentinelOne, I've seen incompatibility. Whereas Cylance, I've seen none.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Blackberry Optics?
CylanceOPTICS is probably priced equal to other EDRs in the market. Price-wise, considering what it has to offer, you could probably get a better product.
What needs improvement with Blackberry Optics?
The solution's contextual analysis is sometimes not very clear compared to some modern EDRs like CrowdStrike. Compared to other EDR tools, CylanceOPTICS lacks some information. It takes more time t...
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...
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 solution. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is a cloud-delivered endpoint security s...
How does Microsoft Defender for Endpoint compare with Crowdstrike Falcon?
The CrowdStrike solution delivers a lot of information about incidents. It has a very light sensor that will never push your machine hardware to "test", you don't have the usual "scan now" feature ...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Microsoft Defender ATP, Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection, MS Defender for Endpoint, Microsoft Defender Antivirus
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Cerdant, Washoe County School District
Petrofrac, Metro CSG, Christus Health
Find out what your peers are saying about CylanceOPTICS vs. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
831,265 professionals have used our research since 2012.