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ESET PROTECT Enterprise vs Microsoft Defender for Endpoint comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 20, 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
7.0
ESET PROTECT Enterprise offers strong returns with effective security, easy installation, and up to 30% cost savings over CrowdStrike.
Sentiment score
7.3
Organizations achieve financial gains and efficiency by using Microsoft Defender, eliminating third-party solutions, and enhancing security management.
The return on investment is excellent due to its functionality and ease of installation.
There was money saving from using ESET PROTECT Enterprise, which is why I switched from CrowdStrike to ESET.
Without detection and protection measures, organizations would face substantial payments and reputational damage, including the necessity to inform customers about data breaches, potentially leading to loss of business.
We have seen a return on investment when using Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, as it saves labor by reducing the need for staff to focus on it.
The biggest return on investment for me when using Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is the time saving.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.9
Customers praise ESET PROTECT Enterprise's support team for being knowledgeable, responsive, and helpful, often rating them 9 or 10.
Sentiment score
6.6
Microsoft's Defender for Endpoint support is generally effective but experiences vary; premium options offer swift, knowledgeable assistance.
The tech support from ESET is amazing, and I would rate it as ten out of ten.
They are very responsive and help in solving issues quickly.
Even if support is addressing my problem, if the two issues I mentioned are not resolved, then the support process is not complete.
The level-one support seems disconnected from subject matter experts.
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.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
ESET PROTECT Enterprise is highly scalable, efficiently expanding to thousands of devices, with performance varying across workstations and servers.
Sentiment score
7.6
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint efficiently scales with diverse enterprises, integrates seamlessly with Microsoft products, supporting growth effectively.
It can efficiently scale up to thousands of devices in an organization without issues.
I have used many products before, and this solution is definitely scalable.
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.
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is scalable enough to handle various devices across environments, whether they are laptops, Android devices, or operating in hybrid environments.
Compatibility is its main feature.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.4
ESET PROTECT Enterprise operates reliably with minimal maintenance, despite occasional update interruptions and manageable false positives.
Sentiment score
7.9
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is praised for stability, efficiency, and low resource impact, despite minor occasional bugs.
When it performs an update, ESET PROTECT Enterprise should request permission for restarting because otherwise, users lose their work.
The solution is stable, and I have not encountered any glitches.
The solution is very, very stable.
I haven't seen any outages with Microsoft.
I rate Defender 10 out of 10 for stability.
Defender for Endpoint is extremely stable.
 

Room For Improvement

ESET PROTECT Enterprise needs better deployment, performance, automation, UI clarity, and efficient management, especially for mobile and Mac.
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint struggles with support, integration, UI, performance issues, and lacks essential features and platform support.
Sometimes, agents lose connection with the management console, and the administration team needs to reinstall the agents on the computers.
They need to reduce the number of notifications on the endpoints.
It takes a lot of processing power when the machine is initially booted.
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 use Microsoft partners to help govern the platform, and as part of an alliance, we want to gather data from each tenant and combine them for a complete view.
Providing more detailed information on how Microsoft Defender for Endpoint detects vulnerabilities.
 

Setup Cost

ESET PROTECT Enterprise's pricing is seen as cost-effective, offering good value despite being higher than some competitors.
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint offers cost-effective, flexible pricing options integrated with Microsoft services, including discounts for education and volume.
I pay 40 dollars per agent annually, which is cheaper than 60 dollars per agent for Check Point.
We recently paid fourteen dollars and thirty-six cents per unit for 20 users, which is reasonable.
Comparing it to other solutions in the market, it was slightly higher.
Given our extensive Microsoft licensing, transitioning to Defender for Endpoint did not affect licensing costs.
It costs $15 per VM for the P2 plan, which is seen as affordable for customers.
The pricing, setup, and licensing were very easy and simple.
 

Valuable Features

ESET PROTECT Enterprise offers robust security with efficient management, minimal resources, and strong threat detection for online transactions.
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint offers seamless integration, real-time protection, and automated response, ensuring robust security with minimal impact.
It allows simple whitelisting and has a learning mode for new installations, which reduces false positives by adapting to typical user habits.
Its web component prevents infections from malicious websites, which enhances its anti-malware capabilities.
One of the strong features of ESET PROTECT Enterprise is its ability to work well on old computers.
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.
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint provides a unified management interface allowing customers to manage their on-premises and hybrid infrastructures from a single pane.
One of the best features of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is its database for identifying zero-day attacks or malware attacks.
 

Categories and Ranking

ESET PROTECT Enterprise
Ranking in Anti-Malware Tools
12th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
16
Ranking in other categories
Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (20th)
Microsoft Defender for Endp...
Ranking in Anti-Malware Tools
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
197
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (1st), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (4th), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (3rd), Microsoft Security Suite (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Anti-Malware Tools category, the mindshare of ESET PROTECT Enterprise is 1.9%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is 15.6%, down from 21.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Anti-Malware Tools
 

Featured Reviews

Daniel Cordero - PeerSpot reviewer
Comprehensive solution manages diverse security policies and enhances organizational network protection
The best features of ESET PROTECT Enterprise include its unique platform that allows me to manage firewall policies based on license type. Depending on the license, I can apply different policies across a range of IPs to ensure network safety. Regarding real-time analytics and threat detection capabilities in ESET PROTECT Enterprise, I find them excellent. I can configure rules and receive email notifications about vulnerabilities. For instance, ESET LiveGuard checks all devices, identifying issues when vulnerabilities are found and alerting me promptly. ESET PROTECT Enterprise reporting and auditing features help my customers meet compliance requirements by allowing me to apply various security policies across their companies, ensuring their devices remain secure. ESET PROTECT Enterprise has EDR endpoint detection and response capabilities that have helped reduce security incidents for my customers. Although it's not the best EDR, ESET LiveGuard constantly monitors devices, effectively identifying and stopping threats such as ransomware. The product is an antivirus, specifically ESET PROTECT Enterprise, which provides solid protection.
John Rallo - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers excellent visibility into vulnerabilities and the attack surface itself
Attack surface reduction and limiting attack surface vectors are valuable features. It's helpful to isolate specific devices and get super granular with the features they offer. The visibility into the attack surface is good. It gets highly granular. I don't work on that side, but the people who do tell me they get more visibility.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Comms Service Provider
13%
Government
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Computer Software Company
13%
Educational Organization
10%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Government
8%
 

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?
ESET PROTECT Enterprise makes the system a little slow sometimes and updates occur at startup. Sometimes unwanted pop-ups appear to users, and they are unable to disable them. The user-friendliness...
What is your primary use case for ESET Protect?
I work with another ESET solution called EDR and XDR. I am working with ESET PROTECT Enterprise and ESET Endpoint Security. I am using ESET Secure Authentication, also called ESET EDR and XDR Enter...
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
 

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: June 2025.
861,524 professionals have used our research since 2012.