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Fortinet FortiEDR vs Microsoft Defender XDR 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

Fortinet FortiEDR
Ranking in Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
11th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
37
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Microsoft Defender XDR
Ranking in Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
5th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
96
Ranking in other categories
Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (5th), Microsoft Security Suite (2nd)
 

Featured Reviews

RafaelTorres - PeerSpot reviewer
Valuable for remote work security and enhances endpoint protection effectively
It is very easy to set up. I would rate my experience with the initial setup a ten out of ten, with ten being very easy to set up. It is very user-friendly and easy to manage. The deployment process is quick and easy, especially in new environments. It's very fast and straightforward.
Gabor Nyerd - PeerSpot reviewer
Includes four services and four products, which can help organizations a lot
We found that sometimes integrations work, but testing them can take some time. Sometimes, configurations take much longer than expected. We have a configuration in place that needs to be synchronized with another server. However, the servers are four hours apart, so this can cause delays. In general, I believe that the time it takes to configure and test a service should be shorter. Sometimes, it can take a couple of hours to test a single configuration setting. Other times, it is only ten or fifteen minutes, which is normal. However, sometimes, even immediate actions can be triggered by configuration changes, and some settings can take up to eight hours to complete. I believe that this time can be improved. Microsoft is making a lot of improvements to its services in a short period of time. This is a good thing, as it means that the services are constantly being updated and improved. However, it can be challenging for customers to keep up with the changes. For example, a customer may read about an update, understand it, and share it with their colleagues and boss. However, it may take days or weeks to test the update and get the necessary approvals. This can be especially challenging for large customers with many users or machines. In some cases, Microsoft may change a service before the customer has had a chance to implement the previous update. This can be frustrating for customers, as it means that they have to constantly learn new things and adjust their workflows. On the one hand, it is important for Microsoft to keep updating and improving its services. This helps to ensure that the services are meeting the customers' needs and that they are staying ahead of the competition. Microsoft should also be mindful of the challenges that these changes can create for customers. One way to address this challenge is to provide customers with more time to implement changes. Microsoft could also provide more information about upcoming changes so that customers can plan ahead. Ultimately, Microsoft needs to strike a balance between keeping its services up-to-date and providing customers with a smooth transition to new features.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"NGAV and EDR features are outstanding."
"The most valuable feature is the analysis, because of the beta structure."
"The main thing is that I feel safe. Because the processes that have been used to get a handle on the attackers are much better than other competitors"
"We have a specific policy to protect most of the software our employees use on EvoraMet, whether cloud-based or installed on Microsoft machines. We enforce a security rule where any software with a security score lower than three is blocked within the network."
"Fortinet FortiEDR's scalability is quite good, and you can add licenses to the solution."
"It is a scalable solution...The initial setup of Fortinet FortiEDR was straightforward."
"he solution is an anti-malware product that integrates well with other vendor products such as firewalls, SIEM, etc. It captures threat intelligence and gives you better visibility. The product also has sandboxing features."
"It notifies us if there's any suspicious file on any PC. If any execution or similar kind of thing is happening, it just alerts us. It doesn't only alert. It also blocks the execution until we allow it. We check whether the execution is legitimate or not, and then approve it or keep it blocked. This gives us a little bit of control over this mechanism. Fortinet FortiEDR is also very straightforward and easy to maintain."
"The unified view of the threat landscape on a central dashboard is the most valuable feature."
"Microsoft 365 Defender is a stable solution."
"Microsoft 365 Defender is a good solution and easy to use."
"Within advanced threat hunting, the tables that have already been defined by Microsoft are helpful. In the advanced threat hunting tab, there were different tables, and one of the tables was related to device info, device alert, and device events. That was very helpful. Another feature that I liked but didn't have access to was deep analysis."
"The most valuable features of Microsoft 365 Defender are the combination of all the capabilities and centralized management."
"For technical support, I would definitely give a rating of nine out of ten."
"It's a very scalable tool that can be used in a very small environment or in a very large environment. Everything can be managed from a simple dashboard and can be scaled up or down depending on the customer's environment."
"The portal is quite user-friendly. There is integration with Office, Intune, and other products from the same portal. From there, we can see which policies are installed on a particular machine. We also can manage devices, groups, and tagging."
 

Cons

"The only minor concern is occasional interference with desired programs."
"FortiEDR can be improved by providing more detailed reporting."
"Intelligence aspects need improvement"
"The solution is not stable."
"The control of scripts could be improved because you use Microsoft Active Directory and unnecessary scripts to keep the roles updated with company policies."
"Detections could be improved."
"To improve Fortinet, we need to see more features and technology areas at the endpoint level introduced."
"The dashboard isn't easy to access and manage."
"While the XDR platform offers valuable functionalities, it falls short of other solutions in its ability to deliver a cohesive identity experience."
"The technical support from Microsoft Defender XDR has been disappointingly slow, to the point that I am considering not renewing my unified support contract."
"The management and automation of the cloud apps have room for improvement."
"Microsoft tends to provide too many features, which makes the solution prone to bugs."
"Microsoft could improve on threat hunting and build more on threat detection and handling. The cybersecurity and cloud security posture features are a bit lesser than standard security products."
"There is no common area where we can manage all the policies for the EDR, third-party solutions, devices, servers, Windows, Mac, etc., but it's on the road map, and we ware waiting for that feature."
"The data recovery and backup could be improved."
"The tool gives inconsistent answers and crashes a lot."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Fortinet FortiEDR has a yearly subscription."
"The price is comprable to other endpoint security solutions."
"I'm not familiar with pricing, but it looks a bit costly compared to other vendors I think."
"It's not cheap, but it's not expensive either."
"It's moderately priced, neither cheap nor expensive."
"The hardware costs about €100,000 and about €20,000 annually for access."
"We got a good deal on licensing, so it is in the competitive range."
"The pricing is good."
"The bundling of software makes it easier to manage our setup, but Microsoft purposefully obfuscates this through marketing ploys to hide costs."
"I believe that the pricing of the licensing is fair."
"Sometimes 365 Defender is expensive, but it can be moderate, depending on the organization's size and the license type. We're satisfied with the cost because it gives us a product that protects our entire environment with DLP. To compromise some cost, of course, we are to complete the most secure environment."
"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."
"Licensing is somewhat confusing, particularly when presenting our pitch decks to stakeholders and leveraging key features in premium SKUs, but we managed with some assistance from Microsoft."
"I find the pricing to be quite competitive, especially considering its inclusion in our E5 subscription, which provides a comprehensive set of functionalities."
"The solutions price is fair for what they offer."
"We have a lot of problems in Latin America regarding the price of Microsoft 365 Defender, because the relationship between dollars and the money of the different countries, it's is a lot. Many customers that have small businesses say that they would like the solution but it is too expensive. However, large companies do not find the cost an issue."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What's the difference between Fortinet's FortiEDR and FortiClient?
I suggest Fortinet’s FortiEDR over FortiClient for several reasons. For starters, FortiEDR guarantees solid protection because it continually scans servers for emerging vulnerabilities, which gives...
What do you like most about Fortinet FortiEDR?
We have FortiEDR installed on all our systems. This protects them from any threats.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiEDR?
The solution costs less than 10,000 for 100 users. Users have to pay additional costs to have the solution on the cloud.
What do you like most about Microsoft 365 Defender?
Microsoft Defender XDR provides strong identity protection with comprehensive insights into risky user behavior and potential indicators of compromise.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft 365 Defender?
Licensing is somewhat confusing, particularly when presenting our pitch decks to stakeholders and leveraging key features in premium SKUs, but we managed with some assistance from Microsoft.
What needs improvement with Microsoft 365 Defender?
It would be beneficial to reduce the number of clicks required to navigate between blades, as the current navigation and breadcrumb system can be a bit confusing. Some inconsistencies exist between...
 

Also Known As

enSilo, FortiEDR
Microsoft 365 Defender, Microsoft Threat Protection, MS 365 Defender
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Financial, Healthcare, Legal, Technology, Enterprise, Manufacturing ... 
Accenture, Deloitte, ExxonMobil, General Electric, IBM, Johnson & Johnson and many others.
Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet FortiEDR vs. Microsoft Defender XDR and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
831,158 professionals have used our research since 2012.