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Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
7.2
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint offers cost savings, enhanced protection, and efficient threat management, with anticipated future benefits.
Sentiment score
7.6
Microsoft Exchange Online Protection boosts ROI, enhances email security, and reduces incidents, particularly effective in the US market.
The return on investment is primarily in time savings and better observability of what's happening.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.5
Support for Microsoft Defender for Endpoint varies, with premium tiers offering quicker responses, while basic support can be slow.
Sentiment score
6.7
EOP support is effective but varies; responsiveness is appreciated, though complex issues often require premium support for resolution.
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.
The level-one support seems disconnected from subject matter experts.
My team is able to get the help they need when necessary.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.7
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is a scalable solution integrating smoothly with Microsoft, ideal for diverse organizational needs and configurations.
Sentiment score
8.0
Microsoft Exchange Online Protection is scalable, with easy expansion and migration, appreciated by small to large enterprises despite minor limitations.
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.
It's pretty easy to scale with Microsoft, as they make it easy if you look into the documentation.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.9
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is stable and reliable, with integration ease, despite occasional lags and minor update bugs.
Sentiment score
8.2
Microsoft Exchange Online Protection is praised for stability, requiring proper maintenance and quick response to occasional outages.
After setting appropriate exclusions, everything seemed to work fine.
I haven't seen any outages with Microsoft.
I rate Defender 10 out of 10 for stability.
 

Room For Improvement

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint needs frequent updates, improved integration, user-friendly interface, enhanced analytics, and better support documentation.
Microsoft Exchange Online Protection needs flexibility, enhanced features, better integration, and improved user experience to meet evolving security demands.
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.
Improving the search process by allowing searches with different types of parameters and facilitating searches within emails would be advantageous.
 

Setup Cost

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is cost-effective with bundled licenses, but advanced features may incur additional fees.
Microsoft Exchange Online Protection offers various pricing tiers with scalability, seen as cost-effective and secure compared to some competitors.
Additional add-ons are priced at $5.
Given our extensive Microsoft licensing, transitioning to Defender for Endpoint did not affect licensing costs.
The pricing, setup, and licensing were very easy and simple.
 

Valuable Features

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint offers seamless integration, real-time threat detection, and efficient management, enhancing security with minimal system impact.
Microsoft Exchange Online Protection provides comprehensive security, seamless Office 365 integration, and user-friendly management for reliable email threat protection.
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.
Automated Investigation and Remediation features are vital for advanced threat protection and beneficial for device protection.
Attack surface reduction and limiting attack surface vectors are valuable features.
The security features provided by Microsoft are robust.
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Defender for Endp...
Ranking in Anti-Malware Tools
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
192
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (1st), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (2nd), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (2nd), Microsoft Security Suite (6th)
Microsoft Exchange Online P...
Ranking in Anti-Malware Tools
8th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
36
Ranking in other categories
Email Security (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the Anti-Malware Tools category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is 17.2%, down from 22.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) is 1.5%, down from 2.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Anti-Malware Tools
 

Featured Reviews

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.
Nur Mohammad - PeerSpot reviewer
An effective email security solution that provides DLP, Safe Attachment, and Safe Links
If you want extensive email security, you need to purchase a Plan 2 license. Plan 1 and Plan 2 are the two plans for Microsoft Exchange Online Protection. Some customers hesitate to purchase this product because it adds some costs to them, which is necessary for them. It would be helpful for customers if Plan 1 features were included with EOP. However, they still need to purchase Plan 2 for advanced security features. One of our clients recently requested to compare Zimbra's features with Microsoft Exchange Online Protection. Zimbra is open source, while Microsoft Exchange Online Protection is not. When I compare both the products, many free features are available in Zimbra because it is open-source software. It makes no sense to request Microsoft Exchange Online Protection add all the features people get on open-source software like Zimbra. Hence, I would say whatever features Microsoft Exchange Online Protection has are enough. Microsoft has a dedicated research team that should research and add new techniques like phishing and spamming solutions to the product.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
27%
Computer Software Company
11%
Government
7%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Computer Software Company
15%
Government
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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 ...
What do you like most about Microsoft Exchange Online Protection?
The initial setup was easy. The configuration process is very straightforward.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Exchange Online Protection?
Some of the searchability when looking for specifics in Exchange logs is tedious. Although eventually the information is located, it can be difficult if detailed information is lacking. Improving t...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Exchange Online Protection?
I use the tools to protect customers' emails, mostly utilizing Defender products to protect emails and links from SharePoint and email spam protection and links.
 

Also Known As

Microsoft Defender ATP, Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection, MS Defender for Endpoint, Microsoft Defender Antivirus
Microsoft EOP, MS Exchange Online Protection
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Petrofrac, Metro CSG, Christus Health
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs. Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
842,388 professionals have used our research since 2012.