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McAfee Application Control vs ThreatLocker Zero Trust Endpoint Protection Platform comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 23, 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

McAfee Application Control
Ranking in Application Control
6th
Average Rating
7.6
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
ThreatLocker Zero Trust End...
Ranking in Application Control
2nd
Average Rating
9.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
39
Ranking in other categories
Network Access Control (NAC) (5th), Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (6th), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (6th), ZTNA (3rd), Ransomware Protection (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Application Control category, the mindshare of McAfee Application Control is 11.6%, down from 24.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ThreatLocker Zero Trust Endpoint Protection Platform is 15.4%, up from 2.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Control
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer1437648 - PeerSpot reviewer
Easy to configure, reliable, secure, and has good support
With some specific versions, we are experiencing some issues where the policy configuration has some problems with the parent and child processes. There have been problems with the relationship between the parent and child process, from time to time. I would like to see better reporting and alerting features in the future.
Johnathan Bodily - PeerSpot reviewer
Ensures ransomware protection and reduces phishing chaos
The application control has been great so far, and while I am still exploring the network access controls, I unfortunately don't have access to one module I would love to have due to licensing restrictions. It's easy to use in regard to reducing attack surfaces. For me, it's a piece of cake. We can have something approved within 30 seconds, thanks to the mobile app. We haven't eliminated security solutions. We just add to it, and ThreatLocker has been a great addition. We also have Kaseya and ThreatLocker as a supplement to that. It's useful. They have overlap, and we look at the overlap as a good thing. It's helped your organization save on operational costs or expenses by ensuring that many fewer hours are spent dealing with ransomware nonsense. I cannot count the amount of hours that I personally have not had to put in to recovering an environment from a ransomware event. The last big one took us about three weeks to completely recover from. Since we've grouped ThreatLocker in, the management of that whole setup has gone down to just daily help desk tasks and general server maintenance instead of having the whole system on fire. There are probably thousands of hours of saved time between our teams. It's been great so far. ThreatLocker Zero Trust Endpoint Protection Platform's ability to block access to unauthorized applications is great. It's my biggest protection, the blocked applications. In a lot of cases, you go to install something yourself that you need for management, and it comes in and says, nope. And then I have to log into the portal and approve it. I get our other guys saying, hey, why are you trying to approve something? Any of the tools that I'm using on a day-to-day basis that haven't been in the environment during the whole learning mode initially, I could go through and set extensions and all that. So, while it's a headache on that end, the amount of saved time I can't even count. It is a little frustrating on my end since I like to go as quickly as I possibly can, and it slows me down. However, that's a really good thing. Depending on the site, it can save a lot of time and cut down headaches. It's likely saved a week's worth of time. It's cut down the amount of sever help desk tickets. Those have become minimal.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We also like the Change Control. We can control how things get executed. It has signatures for different kinds of protocols."
"This is a basic solution; the policy screen is okay, and it's easy to configure."
"ThreatLocker provides visibility into user activity and application usage, empowering organizations to define acceptable applications and web browsers."
"The great thing is that if you get a malicious email and you try to run something, ThreatLocker is not going to let it do anything. It is not going to let anything infect your network."
"Application control, ring-fencing, and storage control are the most important features, followed closely by elevation."
"ThreatLocker saves me a couple of hours per day dealing with threats and encrypting efforts elsewhere."
"The most valuable feature is probably the ability to block programs from running. ThreatLocker has some built-in features that make it super easy. You can also contact their support within the program. If you're having issues, you can click on that button and connect with someone in five to 10 seconds."
"ThreatLocker Protect has improved my organization greatly."
"Allowlisting, in general, is valuable because it allows us to have a lot more granular control over what is executed on a desktop. We are also able to ringfence known vectors of attack through Office applications, email, browsers, etc."
"I would rate it a ten out of ten."
 

Cons

"I would like to see better reporting and alerting features in the future."
"The intrusion detection features should also be improved. It is a very good feature but it should be maximized."
"Initially, the learning curve was slightly high for me, however, that has been resolved now."
"Their product is solid. I have a hard time complaining much about it because when we do find little things, they are usually interface-related or related to things that would be nice to have."
"To become the best solution, some sort of integration or remote management, like remotely connecting, could be beneficial."
"I find that the learning mode is too accessible. Technicians sometimes default to it instead of manually building policy controls. I would prefer the learning mode to be harder to access, ideally hidden behind a layer that requires creating at least one policy first before using the learning mode as a supplement."
"We identified several areas that we would like to see improved."
"Better visualizations of what exactly is happening in our logs would be helpful. There can be more visuals on what has been elevated. Presenting this in a more refined manner would be beneficial."
"This is my first Zero Trust conference, and so far, it has been good. The only thing I have noticed is that sometimes they encounter technical issues. For example, in one of the demo labs, the laptop trying to connect to the projector was not working, which affected the demonstration of the victim versus attacker laptop scenarios. It would be helpful to fix these issues."
"I was discussing with someone the other day, and it seems there is currently no solution for mobile users."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"The price is very reasonable, and we have been able to integrate ThreatLocker with all of our clients."
"The pricing is reasonable and normal. I do not have any problems with the cost."
"The pricing works fine for me. It's very reasonably priced."
"Others say ThreatLocker is too expensive, and I tell them they're dreaming. It's well-priced for what it does."
"I do not deal with pricing, but I assume it is cost-effective for us. We choose a solution based on functionality and affordability."
"I believe ThreatLocker's pricing model is fair and flexible, allowing account managers to offer customized deals based on our specific needs."
"The price of ThreatLocker Allowlisting is reasonable in the market, but it is not fantastic."
"ThreatLocker's pricing seems justifiable."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Computer Software Company
11%
Energy/Utilities Company
10%
Computer Software Company
38%
Retailer
8%
Financial Services Firm
5%
Manufacturing Company
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
What do you like most about ThreatLocker Allowlisting?
The interface is clean and well-organized, making it simple to navigate and find what we need.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ThreatLocker Allowlisting?
We have encountered a few challenges regarding pricing, contract renewals, and additions. As we explored adding features like Cyber Hero, it proved to be an increased expense for our clients. This ...
What needs improvement with ThreatLocker Allowlisting?
I find that the learning mode is too accessible. Technicians sometimes default to it instead of manually building policy controls. I would prefer the learning mode to be harder to access, ideally h...
 

Also Known As

McAfee Application, Change Control
Protect, Allowlisting, Network Control, Ringfencing
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Contec
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about McAfee Application Control vs. ThreatLocker Zero Trust Endpoint Protection Platform and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
845,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.