Datto Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) vs Microsoft Defender XDR comparison

Datto Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) vs. Microsoft Defender XDR

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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

Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Net...

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) category, the mindshare of Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is 3.4%, down from 4.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Datto Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) is 1.5%, down from 2.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender XDR is 2.6%, down from 3.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks	3.4%
Microsoft Defender XDR	2.6%
Datto Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)	1.5%
Other	92.5%

Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)

Featured Reviews

ABHISHEK_SINGH

Senior Process Expert at A.P. Moller - Maersk

Gained full visibility and streamlined threat detection through behavior-based insights and AI integration

Initially, we got to have a lot of false positives when we onboarded, but nowadays it's quite smooth. We have fine-tuned our security policies and allowed different levels of policies to get rid of those false positives. Currently, we are getting a fairly good amount of incidents that are not false positives or benign, but actionable items. The process is streamlined. In the initial days, the operations used to get involved in a lot of benign and other activities, but now the process is streamlined. We are leveraging the auto-detection and remediation plans. The operations teams are now more involved in other business roles as well, not just looking into the logs and fetching out what's happening there. They have fixed a lot of things. Initially, they didn't have IAC code drift detection, cloud posture management, or security posture management, but they have those now. They purchased different vendors and did a merger with that. They have now Prisma Cloud that gets integrated and now they are working with Cortex Cloud. Everything that was negative has now been addressed, and the product altogether looks to be in a very better and mature shape now. Currently, it's more or less detecting the workloads with AI-based best practices. Since most organizations are consuming AI agents and other things, we are looking forward to seeing what other feature enhancements Palo Alto can support in that.

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reviewer2406663

Director at a computer software company with 11-50 employees

Effective risk response, easy deployment, and enhanced security

They use Datto EDR as part of the solutions that we supply Datto EDR has helped reduce overall security incident costs by fifteen percent. The ease of deployment has been good, and the responsiveness of the application to risks has been quite effective. The inclusion of web filtering would be…

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Kunle Oluwadiya

House security operator at Cypress Creek Renewables

Advanced threat hunting saves significant time in tracking and responding to incidents

Microsoft Defender XDR could be improved with a lower price. My main suggestion would essentially be what Copilot is providing, which is a single pane of glass, so I don't have to go to different windows. That's just a workflow consideration for me. It would be great to have all the information centralized into one particular data app. If I need to open up extra ones, I can, however, I would appreciate a future where everything I need is right there on one single pane of glass. Beyond that, there's really nothing else I see that I would want Microsoft to improve.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"There has been a significant reduction of approximately 70% to 80% in our internal MTTR and MTTD metrics, now around five to eight minutes whereas previously it was hours, which has helped tremendously."

"Cortex is the best tool for endpoint detection, with playbooks that automate and gather endpoint logs, block malicious processes, and update incident tickets, showcasing end-to-end processes with automation in investigation and reducing the analysis workflow."

"Palo Alto is the core of the security infrastructure in the environment."

"The product has an intuitive dashboard."

"It has pretty much everything we need and works well within the Palo Alto ecosystem."

"What I like about Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is that it is a comprehensive solution that contains everything the organization may need when using endpoints."

"It'll not slow down your system when compared to others."

"It is easy to use."

More Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks pros

"The ease of deployment has been good."

"The most valuable feature of Datto EDR is the visibility of the endpoints."

"Datto Endpoint Detection and Response is a perfect product for endpoint security."

"The insight that the solution provides is the most valuable aspect. The security scanning they do is excellent."

"The email protection feature is the most valuable because our risks primarily lie there, and it seems to be the most popular target."

"It's a great threat intelligence source for us, providing alerts for things it detects on the network and on the machines. We've used it often when there is a potential incident to see what was done on a computer. That works quite nicely because you can see everything that the user has done..."

"Microsoft 365 Defender's most valuable feature is the ability to control the shadow IP."

"For me, the advanced hunting capabilities have been really great. It allowed querying the dataset with their own language, which is KQL or Kusto Query Language. That has allowed me to get much more insight into the events that have occurred. The whole power of 365 Defender is that you can get the whole story. It allows you to query an email-based activity and then correlate it with an endpoint-based activity."

"Microsoft Defender XDR is a complete package of different Defender solutions, including Defender for Endpoint, Defender for Office 365, Defender for Cloud, and Sentinel SIEM, among others."

"Another noteworthy feature that I find appealing in Microsoft Defender is the credit-backed simulation. This feature enables organizations to train their users on effectively responding to phishing emails through a simulated training environment."

"The proactive remediation aspects and the surfacing of suspicious activity for investigation and escalation are the key aspects we appreciate most."

"The visibility into threats is also very impressive because Microsoft helps you predict things and provides analytics to help you really improve your security. And all of this technology works across the domain, so it is pretty helpful in terms of threat analytics."

More Microsoft Defender XDR pros

Cons

"Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR does not detect malicious activity like in other anti-virus solutions like Trend Micro and Windows with Cisco."

"The complexity and confusion regarding product variants, such as XDR, Forexiant, and Forexon, must be addressed."

"Data privacy is a matter of concern. You have to be careful with data privacy, it can be sensitive and Cortex can have most of your access."

"The dashboard is the area that needs to improve so that we can have the ability to drill down without having to go elsewhere to verify results."

"If he is using a smaller company, he can depend on some other tools because Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is a bit expensive."

"The server sometimes stops continuously to check things so it would be helpful to receive access updates or technical reasons."

"Every 30 or 40 days, there's a new version and we need to go and make sure our customer's laptops are upgraded."

"The downsides of Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks are that in many incidents, when I enter the causality chain, there are numerous logs."

More Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks cons

"The solution should allow the automation of playbooks."

"The solution could improve by having more deployment methods."

"The deployment of the solution right now is terrible. We find it to be very bad. It could be improved enormously."

"The inclusion of web filtering would be good."

"Correctly updated records are the most significant area for improvement. There have been times when we were notified of a required fix; we would carry out the fix and confirm it but still get the same notification a week later. This seems to be a delay in records being updated and leads to false reporting, which is something that needs to be fixed."

"Microsoft could improve on threat hunting and build more on threat detection and handling."

"It would be highly beneficial if CoPilot could identify anomalies within the network and notify the IT team."

"The AI could be improved. As an analyst, I want to be able to interact more with AI. The AI simply sends summaries. I can't ask it, for example, if it has seen any suspicious activity with device two. I have to go and check device two for myself."

"Stability could be improved by avoiding frequent changes to the interface."

"In the beginning, it's difficult to navigate the system because it is quite large. Just trying to find your way and understand how the system works can be hard. After spending quite a lot of time searching it's a lot easier, but I wish it were a bit more user-friendly when you're trying to find things."

"365 Defender has multiple subsets, including Defender for Cloud Apps. When integrating Defender for Cloud Apps with apps on third-party cloud platforms like AWS or GCP, there are limitations on our ability to control user activities. If Microsoft added more control over third-party products, that would be a game-changer and help us quite a lot."

"The dashboard should be easier to use. There is also improvement needed in the reporting when it comes to exporting or scheduling reports."

More Microsoft Defender XDR cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It has a yearly renewal."

"Cortex XDR's pricing is ok."

"The price was fine."

"The price of the solution is high for the license and in general."

"We pay about $50,000 USD per year for a bundle that includes Cortex XDR."

"Cortex XDR’s pricing is very reasonable."

"This is an expensive solution."

"The cost depends on your chosen license type, like Pro or other licenses."

More Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks pricing and cost advice

"Datto Endpoint Detection and Response is not an expensive solution."

"There is an annual license to use this solution. The price of the solution can be expensive depending on the company."

"Purchasing Microsoft Defender XDR as part of a Microsoft 365 bundle can be cost-effective, but acquiring it as a standalone product may be more expensive."

"Microsoft Defender XDR is priced high."

"The functionality is fantastic, but for medium and small-sized companies it's overpriced. It would be better if it were a little bit cheaper."

"Microsoft Defender XDR is already included in our Office 365 licensing. It is better because we're saving money by using it."

"The solutions price is fair for what they offer."

"It is 15 dollars per server per month. It is worth it, but it can be costly. It depends on the company's size."

"Microsoft Defender falls within a mid-tier price range compared to other security solutions."

"The product is fairly priced for what we get from it."

More Microsoft Defender XDR pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) solutions are best for your needs.

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884,797 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

Computer Software Company

13%

Comms Service Provider

12%

Retailer

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	44
Midsize Enterprise	20
Large Enterprise	47

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	46
Midsize Enterprise	26
Large Enterprise	38

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. ...

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 th...

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,...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Infocyte HUNT?

The price is quite low. On a scale of one to ten, I would rate it a four, meaning it is quite cheap.

What needs improvement with Infocyte HUNT?

The inclusion of web filtering would be good.

What is your primary use case for Infocyte HUNT?

They use Datto EDR as part of the solutions that we supply.

What do you like most about Microsoft 365 Defender?

Microsoft Defender XDR provides strong identity protection with comprehensive insights into risky user behavior and p...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft 365 Defender?

My experience with pricing, setup, costs, and licensing of Microsoft Defender XDR is tied to our E5 subscription, whi...

What needs improvement with Microsoft 365 Defender?

I am not aware of a mobile app that would be available for my team. With a single analyst, if she is ever away, it wo...

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks

Comparisons

Compared 9% of the time

SentinelOne Singularity Complete vs Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks

Compared 6% of the time

CrowdStrike Falcon vs Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks

Compared 4% of the time

Cortex XSIAM vs Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks

Compared 4% of the time

TrendAI Vision One vs Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks

Compared 2% of the time

More Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks Competitors

SentinelOne Singularity Complete vs Datto Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)

Compared 16% of the time

CrowdStrike Falcon vs Datto Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)

Compared 13% of the time

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs Datto Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)

Compared 10% of the time

Intercept X Endpoint vs Datto Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)

Compared 7% of the time

More Datto Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) Competitors

CrowdStrike Falcon vs Microsoft Defender XDR

Compared 11% of the time

Wazuh vs Microsoft Defender XDR

Compared 7% of the time

Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs Microsoft Defender XDR

Compared 4% of the time

SentinelOne Singularity Complete vs Microsoft Defender XDR

Compared 4% of the time

Check Point Harmony Endpoint vs Microsoft Defender XDR

Compared 2% of the time

More Microsoft Defender XDR Competitors

Product Reports

Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks

Download Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks product report

Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)

Download Datto Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) product report

Datto Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) report

Microsoft Defender XDR

Download Microsoft Defender XDR product report

Also Known As

Cyvera, Cortex XDR, Palo Alto Networks Traps

Infocyte HUNT

Microsoft 365 Defender, Microsoft Threat Protection, MS 365 Defender

Overview

Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks provides advanced threat detection with AI-driven endpoint protection and seamless integration, ensuring multi-layered security and automatic threat response.

Cortex XDR is designed to safeguard endpoints against malware and suspicious activities. It offers advanced threat detection and response capabilities using behavioral analysis, AI, and machine learning. It seamlessly integrates with security infrastructures, providing endpoint security, firewall integration, and enhanced visibility in both cloud-based and on-premises environments.

What are the key features of Cortex XDR?

Advanced Threat Detection: Uses AI and machine learning for proactive threat identification.
Multi-layered Security: Combines various security measures for comprehensive protection.
Endpoint Protection: Safeguards against malware and exploits.
Behavioral Analysis: Monitors suspicious activity for early detection.
Automatic Threat Response: Automates responses to neutralize threats.

What benefits should users expect?

Ease of Use: Simplifies security management with intuitive design.
Resource Efficiency: Minimizes impact on system resources.
Integration Capabilities: Works well with existing security setups.
Reduced Analyst Workload: Automates processes to decrease manual intervention.

Organizations in diverse sectors deploy Cortex XDR to protect against malware, leveraging its advanced threat detection capabilities. Its integration with existing security infrastructures appeals to those seeking comprehensive protection in both cloud and on-premises environments, providing enhanced visibility and threat intelligence.

Palo Alto Networks

With Datto Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) you can detect and respond to advanced threats. Datto EDR is an easy to use cloud based EDR solution that's designed for Managed Service Providers (MSPs).

datto

Microsoft Defender XDR is a comprehensive security solution designed to protect against threats in the Microsoft 365 environment.

It offers robust security measures, comprehensive threat detection capabilities, and an efficient incident response system. With seamless integration with other Microsoft products and a user-friendly interface, it simplifies security management tasks.

Users have found it effective in detecting and preventing various types of attacks, such as phishing attempts, malware infections, and data breaches.

Watch the Microsoft demo video here: Microsoft Defender XDR demo video.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

CBI Health Group, University Honda, VakifBank

Check Point Software, PwC, Grant Thornton, AT&T, DHL, U.S. Department of Defense

Accenture, Deloitte, ExxonMobil, General Electric, IBM, Johnson & Johnson and many others.

Datto Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) vs. Microsoft Defender XDR