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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 February 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 10.7%, down from 15.6% 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

"The solution has a high level of trust in the industry."
"It is a bit early in our evaluation process to give proper feedback, although so far, the overall feedback is good."
"You can use the solution to query certain things."
"Cylance is not a signature-based protection solution and instead works proactively using AI and ML models to patrol for malicious behavior."
"CylanceOPTICS is easy to use."
"It's pretty unintrusive"
"It automatically blocks the threats, helping us investigate if they harm the environment."
"The most valuable feature is the ability to respond to zero-day and unknown threats."
"It's a very solid security system, and the advanced hunting and everything really lets you dive deep into things."
"It's a Microsoft product; it's easier to deploy this product than other options."
"It does not make Windows slow, as compared to all of the third part antiviruses."
"It's one of the best antiviruses on the market."
"It's absolutely free to use."
"The most valuable features are the Windows Firewall and the regular virus definition updates. These features are very helpful and have helped to improve our security."
"Defender is stable. The performance is good."
"Endpoint's most valuable feature is deep analysis."
 

Cons

"The technical support could be improved although it's probably better than you get with a lot of the other traditional antivirus solutions"
"It takes more time to investigate or dig up and understand what's going on."
"The product's technical support is slow."
"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 tools are ineffective. It flags a lot of things. To give you an example, it detected Google Chrome and blocked the user's access to it. That it mistook for malicious, which turned out to be a false positive."
"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 reporting is very weak and not very good at all."
"The solution has minimal customization options, especially compared to Mandiant, so we want to see more scope for customization. A single portal for customization would also be a welcome addition."
"The time it takes to implement policies has room for improvement."
"It is not very scalable from the eyes of an MSP because there is no dashboard that you can use to see all of your devices that have Windows Defender unless you have your own dashboard or an RMM tool to actually look at it. So, you might not get to know that a particular computer of a client is doing something, and it might have got a virus. That person might know that, but unless you set it up to actually send you the information, you won't get to know that. That's one of the things that is hard with Microsoft Defender. It is not made for the MSP world where you have one pane of glass to see all of your clients with Microsoft Defender on it unless your RMM tool already has that built-in and it can see the telemetry from Microsoft Defender."
"The price, in general, could always be a little bit cheaper."
"We need better support to learn about the product. Documentation is available, but we need some kind of training program so that we can get a better understanding of the product."
"It would be helpful if they offered video tutorial guides."
"It should support non-Windows products better. Microsoft is now one of the leading vendors in the security area. So, they should be product-independent."
"Features like device inventory continue to lack essential workstation drill-downs showing the entire device information with the least effort."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"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."
"I would rate the pricing a three out of five."
"CylanceOPTICS is probably priced equal to other EDRs in the market."
"There is not a license required for this particular solution."
"Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is included with a Microsoft E5 license."
"It is affordable and comes in the Office 365 bundle."
"When compared with other vendors, the pricing is very high."
"The license for Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is included in the license for the Microsoft Windows operating system."
"The pricing is competitive."
"We have an enterprise agreement so from my perspective, this is a product that ships with Windows and it is not priced standalone."
"The solution comes as part of Microsoft Windows."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
21%
Computer Software Company
14%
Government
9%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Educational Organization
28%
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.
838,713 professionals have used our research since 2012.