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ESET PROTECT Enterprise vs Microsoft Defender for Endpoint comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 12, 2025

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
8.4
ESET PROTECT Enterprise offers excellent ROI with superior ransomware, malware protection, high-value features, and easy installation.
Sentiment score
7.2
Users report positive ROI from Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, citing cost savings, improved security, and effective system integration.
The return on investment is excellent due to its functionality and ease of installation.
The return on investment is primarily in time savings and better observability of what's happening.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
8.8
ESET PROTECT Enterprise customer support is highly rated for being pleasant, helpful, responsive, and knowledgeable, with excellent partner feedback.
Sentiment score
6.6
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint's support is generally reliable, with mixed reviews on response time and resolution quality.
They were helpful with billing inquiries and offered promotions and discounts.
I rate Microsoft support 10 out of 10.
Due to our size, we don't have access to direct technical support, but the knowledge base, Microsoft Learn, and the articles available are really good.
The level-one support seems disconnected from subject matter experts.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
ESET PROTECT Enterprise scales easily with extra licenses, ideal for workstations and servers, despite minor server vulnerability concerns.
Sentiment score
7.6
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint offers scalable integration and cloud-based management, but customization may need extra tools in complex settings.
It is better suited for workstations rather than server environments.
We managed to scale it out in a short amount of time, with two months of planning and three months of implementation on 10,000 computers.
Defender's scalability is phenomenal, and it's going to be one of the keys to resolving issues for the SOC.
It's pretty easy to scale with Microsoft, as they make it easy if you look into the documentation.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.3
ESET PROTECT Enterprise boasts high reliability over five years, with minimal issues and strong user ratings for stability.
Sentiment score
7.9
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is stable, integrates well with Windows, but occasionally has configuration and memory issues.
The solution is very, very stable.
Defender for Endpoint is extremely stable.
I rate Defender 10 out of 10 for stability.
I haven't seen any outages with Microsoft.
 

Room For Improvement

ESET PROTECT Enterprise needs improvements in deployment, automation, device management, documentation clarity, and user experience due to complexity.
Users criticize Microsoft Defender for Endpoint's complex interface, limited integration, and request enhancements in analytics, protection, and support.
They need to reduce the number of notifications on the endpoints.
Repeated interactions are necessary due to Level One's lack of tools and knowledge, hindering efficient problem-solving and negatively impacting our experience with Microsoft support.
We have multiple endpoints, and we want to look for signals across tenants.
An additional feature that could be included in the next release is free Copilot.
 

Setup Cost

ESET PROTECT Enterprise is viewed as cost-effective with competitive pricing around $10 per license despite occasional increases.
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint offers flexible, cost-effective pricing, especially in E5 bundles, adapting to various enterprise licensing needs.
We recently paid fourteen dollars and thirty-six cents per unit for 20 users, which is reasonable.
Given our extensive Microsoft licensing, transitioning to Defender for Endpoint did not affect licensing costs.
The pricing, setup, and licensing were very easy and simple.
 

Valuable Features

ESET PROTECT Enterprise provides efficient security management, zero-day protection, and easy deployment with minimal resource usage and effective threat management.
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint provides comprehensive cybersecurity with seamless integration, robust threat analytics, and efficient management across platforms without performance impact.
It allows simple whitelisting and has a learning mode for new installations, which reduces false positives by adapting to typical user habits.
Defender for Endpoint's coverage across different platforms in our environment is pretty good. We have devices running Linux, Mac OS, Windows, iOS, and Android. It covers all of them.
Web filtering is the most valuable feature of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint because it effectively maintains security for website access.
Attack surface reduction and limiting attack surface vectors are valuable features.
 

Categories and Ranking

ESET PROTECT Enterprise
Ranking in Anti-Malware Tools
11th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (19th)
Microsoft Defender for Endp...
Ranking in Anti-Malware Tools
1st
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), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (2nd), Microsoft Security Suite (6th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Anti-Malware Tools category, the mindshare of ESET PROTECT Enterprise is 1.7%, down from 2.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is 19.5%, down from 23.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Anti-Malware Tools
 

Featured Reviews

Cees Van Den Haak - PeerSpot reviewer
A reliable solution that offers enterprise protection
Our primary use case involves approximately 180 workstations, 180 laptops, and office protection in our environment ESET PROTECT Enterprise is reliable.  The tool is complex and expensive.  I have been using the product for 10 years.  The tool is stable.  The product is scalable. My company…
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.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
19%
Comms Service Provider
14%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
7%
Educational Organization
27%
Computer Software Company
12%
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 ESET Protect?
The product enabled Zero-Day Protection for our environment. We never encountered any issues regarding threats.
What needs improvement with ESET Protect?
They need to reduce the number of notifications on the endpoints.
What is your primary use case for ESET Protect?
We are using ESET PROTECT on our workstations. We previously used it on the servers, but now it is mainly implemented on the workstations.
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

ESET Protect, ESET File Security
Microsoft Defender ATP, Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection, MS Defender for Endpoint, Microsoft Defender Antivirus
 

Learn More

 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Petrofrac, Metro CSG, Christus Health
Find out what your peers are saying about ESET PROTECT Enterprise vs. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
831,158 professionals have used our research since 2012.