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Jamf Protect vs Microsoft Defender for Endpoint 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

Jamf Protect
Ranking in Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
30th
Average Rating
9.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.9
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Microsoft Defender for Endp...
Ranking in Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
192
Ranking in other categories
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (2nd), Anti-Malware Tools (1st), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (3rd), Microsoft Security Suite (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) category, the mindshare of Jamf Protect is 0.8%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is 10.9%, down from 14.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
 

Featured Reviews

Ashitosh Bankar - PeerSpot reviewer
Searches incoming and outgoing traffic for malware and monitors the network for security
Jamf Protect provides zero-touch integration, and we can add various IdPs for synchronization or authentication.The most effective feature of the solution for security needs is that users can create a zero-touch environment network access and VPN access. Jamf Protect searches incoming and outgoing traffic for malware to monitor the network for security.
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I rate the technical support a ten out of ten."
"The quick updates are really good. If a new OS update drops today, I'll have the Jamf Protect update within a few hours. It's also compatible with all Mac OS versions, and there's zero lag or performance impact."
"The product's initial setup phase has very simple steps."
"We mainly use Jamf Protect to protect staff computers from malware and antivirus."
"The behavioral detection is valuable."
"Jamf Protect is a security product that helps us with CIS benchmarks and threat prevention."
"Jamf Protect searches incoming and outgoing traffic for malware to monitor the network for security."
"Jamf Protect's most effective features for threat detection include managing devices and applications, deploying and upgrading the OS, and its overall security features."
"The virus scanning capability is excellent, and it feeds all the logs into the Microsoft 365 Defender portal, making them easy to search for."
"Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is extremely stable."
"The folders and files protection are its most valuable features. These have been valuable because of the increase in ransomware attacks. With these two features, I can ensure that no changes have been made to our system or endpoint folders and files without the user being aware."
"Automatic scanning and cleaning of viruses is the best and most valuable feature helping this tool to thrive. If any viruses are found, they are cleaned automatically."
"Defender is stable. The performance is good."
"It's pretty easy to scale."
"The stability keeps getting better and better."
"Microsoft Defender for Endpoint comes pre-installed in Microsoft Windows."
 

Cons

"The solution’s stability could be improved."
"Jamf Protect protects just Mac devices, and we would love to have one solution for other platforms and not just Mac devices."
"The product's price is an area of concern where improvements are required."
"I'd really like to see some data loss prevention (DLP) capabilities. More visibility into user activity on laptops would be helpful."
"The scope of improvement will fall under the support hierarchy that the tool offers to the latest version that Apple derives for any of the latest operating systems to launch."
"Jamf Protect needs to improve its pricing."
"The dependency on Jamf Pro or SIEM or SOAR for some automations and integrations could be reduced."
"Beginners need initial training."
"Lacks some additional integration."
"They should come up with pre-built inner workflows."
"It needs to improve the cybersecurity for lateral movements. For example, when a hacker tries to enter a machine, they try to get the password by doing a lateral movement."
"The central console needs improvement. Both McAfee and Symantec antivirus have dashboards. These integrate with a server and work on my antivirus or some other product. However, with Microsoft Defender, you use Microsoft Group Policy Object. Defender does not provide a central console. Therefore, if you implement Defender, then maybe use another tool for the central view."
"The onboarding and deployment could be more user-friendly, and there is room to grow in some of the reports. I don't want them to be oversimplified or overly complex, but there is room for improvement in the reporting it can do. It's relatively minor."
"I personally haven't experienced any pain points, but some of my coworkers feel that it isn't secure enough."
"I wish they would extend the use of the Security Central portal, even for the free option of Defender. Because, as companies grow, it is labor intensive to manage the AV and detection part of it. For companies already subscribed to Office 365, I think this would be a good enhancement."
"A challenge is that it is not a multi-tenant solution. Microsoft's tenant is a licensed tenant. I'm an MSSP. So, I have multiple customers. In Microsoft's world, that means that I can't just buy an E5 license and give that out to all my customers. That won't work because all of the customer data resides within a single tenant in Microsoft's world. Other products—such as SentinelOne, Palo Alto Cortex, CrowdStrike, et cetera—are multi-tenant. So, I can have it at the top of the pyramid for my analyst to look into it and see all the customers, but each customer's data is separate. If the customer wants to look at what we see, they would only see their data, whereas in the Microsoft world, if I've got multiple customers connected to the same Microsoft tenant, they would see everybody else's data, which is a privacy problem in Europe. It is not possible to share the data, and it is a breach of privacy."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Jamf Protect costs double the price that we were paying before."
"It's significantly cheaper than other options like ApexOne."
"Jamf Protect is an expensive solution."
"The product is not an averagely priced tool."
"I rate the product price as a five on a scale of one to ten, where one is a low price, and ten is a high price."
"The licensing costs are yearly and expensive."
"The price was a problem for me three years ago, but they improved their E3, E5, and a la carte licensing. In other words, you have to get all of E5. That used to be a problem because you had E3, Defender, and guardrails, but you needed an E5 license to get the management suite and the analytics. It's more flexible now. You can switch from a la carte to the entire suite when it starts to make sense. It's becoming more economically competitive to go that route."
"There is no license needed, the solution comes with Microsoft Windows."
"The solution is free."
"It is affordable and comes in the Office 365 bundle."
"When compared with other vendors, the pricing is very high."
"The pricing is competitive."
"Licensing models of Microsoft are renowned for being complex. We just purchased the whole E5 stack. With E5 licenses for users, we get access to a bunch of features that are not just related to security. I would rate them a three out of five in terms of pricing."
"Most people don't realize M365/E5 licenses are an amazing deal. They think "Oh, it's expensive," and I'll ask, "Compared to what?" If you don't have it you will have to buy licenses for multiple products to fill the same security space that you would have gotten with the Microsoft product. Go figure out how much it costs you per product, per user, and then come back and tell me how things add up financially."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
University
12%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Educational Organization
5%
Educational Organization
27%
Computer Software Company
11%
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 Jamf Protect?
Jamf Protect searches incoming and outgoing traffic for malware to monitor the network for security.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Jamf Protect?
The product is not an averagely priced tool. If the organization is fully on Apple's fleet, they can consider Jamf Protect, but it is quite costly. Jamf Protect is costly compared with any other so...
What needs improvement with Jamf Protect?
The dependency on Jamf Pro or SIEM or SOAR for some automations and integrations could be reduced. In-built automation and remediation of behavior-based threats would be beneficial enhancements.
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

No data available
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 Jamf Protect vs. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
844,944 professionals have used our research since 2012.