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ESET PROTECT Enterprise vs VirusTotal 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:
 

Categories and Ranking

ESET PROTECT Enterprise
Ranking in Anti-Malware Tools
11th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (20th)
VirusTotal
Ranking in Anti-Malware Tools
3rd
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
Threat Intelligence Platforms (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Anti-Malware Tools category, the mindshare of ESET PROTECT Enterprise is 1.7%, down from 1.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VirusTotal is 5.4%, down from 7.3% 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…
Chinmay Banerjee - PeerSpot reviewer
Helps businesses collect threat data while keeping privacy in mind and apable of detecting, blocking, and removing viruses and malware
There are two gray areas I still need to explore. I have worked with VirusTotal because it easily integrates with over seventy antivirus scanners and blacklisting services. In addition to those there is much scope to improve and add other services or integrations. The areas for improvement are that VirusTotal is not using much AI or generative AI models, while other competitors are starting to build them. For example, VirusTotal's work is based on the setup done by their engineers. If you want to do scanning or protection activities for a specific site, app, or device, that is the area VirusTotal is currently focused on. But other competitors are building AI models that can do things like left-side scanning and provide auto-generated reports. VirusTotal has predefined reports, but there is a lot of manual effort involved. Secondly, the API is very limited if I want to integrate VirusTotal with other applications. They need to build more connectors and provide support for Webhook connectors for the API. If you can't build your own connector, it's always good to have provisions for Webhook setup connectors across platforms. Thirdly, Kaspersky, a competitor of VirusTotal, is using a methodology called "gatekeeper." A gatekeeper is a security system that protects the inside of a building from outside threats. This is the model Kaspersky is currently using. You have your website set up, but the entire army of VirusTotal or Kaspersky is standing guard, protecting you from the first gate itself. Right now, VirusTotal detects threats from your domain, but it is always better to verify inside the domain and protect it from the first level when people or malware are entering. This first level of protection is lacking in VirusTotal right now. The security bridge and protection gate are missing.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"ESET's strong points are that it is an unintrusive, easy-to-maintain, and deploy antivirus solution."
"The product enabled Zero-Day Protection for our environment. We never encountered any issues regarding threats."
"It's helped us with restrictions and knowing which users we can provide permissions to and which users we need to restrict."
"I like the dynamic groups feature. They give the ability to filter endpoint machines by any parameter, software, or hardware inventory, and that's a significant advantage when you need to, for example, automate a secondary firewall profile for endpoints outside your network. Or if you want to automatically isolate the computer from the rest of the network if the ransomware is found."
"The tech support from ESET is amazing, and I would rate it as ten out of ten."
"The solution provides EDR. You can customize how you prepare the endpoint for clients and the dashboard alerts."
"The most valuable features of ESET File Security are the performance and it doesn't take too many resources."
"We can easily manage resources, disable or enable clients and update them."
"It gives detailed information about suspicious IPs, which is one of its most valuable features."
"It provides detailed insights into possible malicious behavior, dropped files, and TCP connections."
"It is quite simple for anyone if they just want to check some suspicious URLs."
"I have never had any problems with stability or bugs while using VirusTotal."
"VirusTotal provides 95% to 98% accurate information."
"The feature I like the most is the ability to see the MD5 or SHA-256 signature of the file, and also the composition of the file according to its segments."
"With VirusTotal, I can check for any hash, malware, file, domain, IP URL, or malicious URL, and Kaspersky stays clean."
"It can scan the dark web and find if an email ID has been compromised. This is another area that we have not explored yet."
 

Cons

"The tool is complex and expensive."
"I would like to see more in managing mobile devices in an on-premise solution. The latest news I've heard is that ESET drops mobile management module development for the on-prem version. It's moving to the cloud. Like in endpoint client protection, I would also like to see more of the vulnerability management features and additional app control functionality in ESET Protect."
"In the current version of ESET File Security, you cannot download a file, it always wants the real-time upload which you have to wait until the file is ready. This is annoying. In previous versions, you were able to use the downloaded engine."
"ESET Protect could improve the performance. The performance of the home computers and laptops becomes slow due to their heavy software load. It would be a benefit to make a lighter version of the software which does not have any impact on the performance of the computer's hardware."
"I would like to see more features on the reporting side of things."
"Its automation can be improved."
"The availability and sustainability could also be improved."
"In terms of management accounts, there's a lot of manuals that seem to be mixed up. Sometimes, it's a little bit confusing."
"There should be room for improvement, particularly in the API side of things."
"VirusTotal needs better advertisement and promotion, especially in the Middle East, since it is not yet widely recognized or popular in that region."
"The platform could improve in the areas of endpoints and networks."
"They can improve the telemetry. Whenever we handle a sample, they cannot provide any information about a victim."
"There is room for improvement, particularly in making some of the most useful features more accessible in the non-paid version."
"VirusTotal is hard to understand because you need to know Google Docs to create queries, and it doesn't have documentation for that."
"VirusTotal has predefined reports, but there is a lot of manual effort involved."
"I would like to see improvements in the score consistency and accuracy."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is cost-effective compared to one of its competitors."
"There is a license needed to use ESET Protect. The licensing cost is very low, it is approximately $10 per license."
"ESET PROTECT Enterprise is affordable."
"We are using VirusTotal with free licenses, managing the license limits across three or four accounts, thus incurring no costs."
"VirusTotal is an expensive solution."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"The pricing is very economical."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Government
12%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Government
8%
University
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?
The management console could be improved. Sometimes, agents lose connection with the management console, and the administration team needs to reinstall the agents on the computers. This is a signif...
What is your primary use case for ESET Protect?
I use ESET PROTECT Enterprise for maximum protection on every computer in my organization. I work in a bank, and our security requirements mandate that we use only on-premise solutions.
What do you like most about VirusTotal?
With VirusTotal, I can check for any hash, malware, file, domain, IP URL, or malicious URL, and Kaspersky stays clean.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for VirusTotal?
I do not know about the pricing or licensing as our organization services VirusTotal for our clients.
What needs improvement with VirusTotal?
I would like to see improvements in the score consistency and accuracy. VirusTotal should add more details like those from competitors such as URL Void or Symantec URL Checker, which show the categ...
 

Also Known As

ESET Protect, ESET File Security
No data available
 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about ESET PROTECT Enterprise vs. VirusTotal and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
844,944 professionals have used our research since 2012.