Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs Sangfor Endpoint Secure comparison

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs. Sangfor Endpoint Secure

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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

Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Net...

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) category, the mindshare of Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is 3.4%, down from 4.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is 7.3%, down from 11.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sangfor Endpoint Secure is 0.8%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint	7.3%
Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks	3.4%
Sangfor Endpoint Secure	0.8%
Other	88.5%

Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)

Featured Reviews

ABHISHEK_SINGH

Senior Process Expert at A.P. Moller - Maersk

Gained full visibility and streamlined threat detection through behavior-based insights and AI integration

Initially, we got to have a lot of false positives when we onboarded, but nowadays it's quite smooth. We have fine-tuned our security policies and allowed different levels of policies to get rid of those false positives. Currently, we are getting a fairly good amount of incidents that are not false positives or benign, but actionable items. The process is streamlined. In the initial days, the operations used to get involved in a lot of benign and other activities, but now the process is streamlined. We are leveraging the auto-detection and remediation plans. The operations teams are now more involved in other business roles as well, not just looking into the logs and fetching out what's happening there. They have fixed a lot of things. Initially, they didn't have IAC code drift detection, cloud posture management, or security posture management, but they have those now. They purchased different vendors and did a merger with that. They have now Prisma Cloud that gets integrated and now they are working with Cortex Cloud. Everything that was negative has now been addressed, and the product altogether looks to be in a very better and mature shape now. Currently, it's more or less detecting the workloads with AI-based best practices. Since most organizations are consuming AI agents and other things, we are looking forward to seeing what other feature enhancements Palo Alto can support in that.

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Robert Arbuckle

Security Analyst III at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees

Automatically isolates threats and integrates with logging to reduce response time

Overall, I would evaluate the Microsoft support level that I receive at probably about a seven, but that depends on the day. It has been spotty. We have had issues where the urgency level of the Microsoft support is not as high as ours, especially during a data breach or potential data breach situation. We have had issues with some of the offshore support being lackluster. One specific thing that comes to mind is we were on a support call with our CISO on the call, and the Microsoft agent, who did not actually work for Microsoft, is one of the vendors that Microsoft uses for support, said, "Just to set expectations, my lunch break is in an hour and I am going to go away then." For us, it was already ten o'clock at night and we had been working on this for a couple of hours, trying to get a security engineer on with us. For him to tell us that he was going to go away and have lunch, it was, "Okay, but go find somebody else if you need to." It was just the lackluster approach, and it seemed like he did not really care. We seem to get a lot of this when we get non-Microsoft support. I can identify areas for improvement with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, as it is kind of a convoluted mess to try to take care of false positives. Especially when they have been identified as false positives but they keep going off over and over again. It is great for my pocketbook because it generates a lot of on-call action, but I would really prefer more sleep at two o'clock in the morning than dealing with false positives. I would say that the unified portal for managing Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is suitable for both teams as they are all in there. It would be great if they would stop moving things around and renaming things, which makes sense. The new XDR portal is pretty nice. Being able to have it central again inside of the regular Security Center without having to open up two windows is helpful. Overall, I think it is pretty good. There is always going to be something that could be improved, such as alerting and the ability to modify alerts would be a little bit helpful to have. Being able to add more data into the alerts and turn off alerts that are not as useful would be beneficial. It is hard to say what the quantitative impact the security exposure management feature has had on our company's security, because a lot of it is kind of subjective. I think we are sitting at around a fifty percent score still, and a lot of it is just kind of unusual circumstances that we cannot really implement without breaking the organization.

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Ovais Abbas

Coordinator Associate at National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases

Quick threat response and behavior analysis while enhancing network security

The main use case is usually related to security. It deals with attacks that come day-to-day such as zero-day attacks and APT attacks. Our main task is to secure the network infrastructure in the hospital where I work It facilitates the departments of IT and other departments to procure and…

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"What I like about Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is that it is a comprehensive solution that contains everything the organization may need when using endpoints."

"My advice for others looking into using Cortex is that it is very easy to use and very useful for the customer environment, whether it's a public or private one."

"Being a cloud solution it is very flexible in serving internal and external connections and a broad range of devices."

"Cortex XDR lets us manage several clients from the same console, and its endpoint defense is more advanced than traditional antivirus."

"The solution allows us to make investigations. Other XDR solutions also provide similar capabilities but for investigation, Cortex XDR is better."

"Threat identification and detection are the most valuable features of this solution."

"The most valuable feature of Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is its machine-learning capabilities. Additionally, there is full integration with other solutions."

"The anti-exploit is impenetrable. We chose Traps because it is the only product that we were not able to get anything past."

More Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks pros

"The antivirus features are very useful."

"It's an enterprise solution that provides a centralized console and it supports all the platforms that we use, including Windows, Linux, Mac, iOS, and Android."

"In terms of the installation, ease of use, and user interface, Defender has been great so far."

"I am using it for very simple purposes. It is perfect and quite effective. I have been using it for a while, and I have never had any virus infection, data leak, or other security breaches. It works fine for standalone purposes. If you log on to OneDrive, it has ransomware protection."

"The solution's threat protection is mostly AI and machine-learning based. That is the most important feature of the product. It also offers centralized management so I can remotely manage devices."

"There are a couple of features, such as isolating the devices or connecting the device and connecting live response."

"The scalability is good."

"One of the valuable features of the solution is the small updates that keep my machine relatively clean from any infections."

More Microsoft Defender for Endpoint pros

"The tool's most valuable features are control access, endpoint security, and load balancing of ISPs."

"Sangfor Endpoint Secure has some good policy certificates."

"It has a quick response time, threat intelligence, cybersecurity features, quick report generation, behavior analysis, dynamic detection, and quarantine features."

"I like the tool's honeypot feature. Some features include having a honeypot to detect attacks in a certain area. Additionally, there is RDP protection, which means that when we remote into our server or any endpoint, we must enter a password as a second layer of security. It can also integrate with next-generation firewalls."

"What stands out to me is the dual-end user interface they provide."

"The real-time monitoring feature of Sangfor Endpoint Secure is truly real-time, with no delay compared to other solutions."

"The product's initial setup phase was straightforward."

"We use the product for network protection from any malicious threat."

More Sangfor Endpoint Secure pros

Cons

"It is a complex solution to implement."

"I have seen lagging with Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks. There was one time when we faced a threat actor trying to gain access to our system. When our team utilized the tool, we were all on the same dashboard and we faced a lag issue at that time of around five minutes, which was quite significant."

"The dashboard could use some significant improvement, just making it more useful with more information. It has a limited amount of information right now. It is customizable, but I'd love to see a better out-of-box dashboard."

"I don't like that they have different types of licenses. For example, if users select a license, they think they will have all the platforms they need to improve their network or security. But after some time, Palo Alto Networks changed their licensing, and some of the features that, for example, were free at the beginning now have a cost. I think the integration can be improved. For example, a lot of tools are just integrated through APIs."

"The product's pricing needs improvement. They could provide more discounts. Additionally, the dashboard and control panel could be enhanced."

"It's very time-consuming to log support issues and the people that answer the tickets aren't very knowledgeable."

"There's an overall lack of features."

"Currently, if you use Palo Alto endpoint protection as the only solution it's very complicated to remove pre-existing threats."

More Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks cons

"Microsoft Defender for Endpoint can improve by providing more and different types of reports."

"The solution could use improvement on the interface."

"In terms of the architecture of the management infrastructure, we found that other technologies are more simple. Microsoft Defender could be simpler too."

"The time it takes to implement policies has room for improvement."

"Microsoft should improve support for third-party platforms, because not all functionality is available for all of them. It's a good product, but they should just extend the functionality for all platforms."

"I personally haven't experienced any pain points, but some of my coworkers feel that it isn't secure enough."

"At times, the other antivirus products are now doing AI, in terms of understanding the behavior of the system and determining when there's an anomaly. This is something that Defender can improve on."

"The file scanning has room for improvement. Many people use macros within their files, so there should be a mechanism that helps us to scan them for malicious payloads."

More Microsoft Defender for Endpoint cons

"There are a few areas for improvement. We have encountered licensing issues on occasion, and sometimes updates don't apply properly."

"Sangfor Endpoint Secure performs poorly."

"The interface has too many buttons, making it cluttered."

"Currently, the tool lacks reporting functionalities."

"It is complicated to establish a tunnel due to technical issues in the VPN system."

"I face issues while migrating from Kaspersky to Sangfor Endpoint Secure."

"It would be much more convenient if the migration tool could be installed directly on the customer's VMs, enabling a smoother migration process to the new infrastructure, with potential restrictions addressed accordingly."

"I believe Sangfor Endpoint Secure could improve in terms of its user interface and management capabilities."

More Sangfor Endpoint Secure cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Our license will require renewal in August, after which the maintenance will continue as usual."

"The return on investment is from the user side because we have seen the performance of it increase the delivery time of the product if we are using too many web-based and on-premise applications. In indirect ways, we saw the return of investment in terms of performance and user satisfaction increase."

"It is cost-effective compared to similar solutions. It fits for the small businesses through to the big businesses."

"Cortex XDR’s pricing is very reasonable."

"The solution has one subscription for endpoint protection and one subscription for detection and response. The two licenses combined give you the BRO version."

"I don't like that they have different types of licenses."

"Cortex XDR's pricing is ok."

"Traps pays for itself within the first 16 months of a three-year subscription. This is attributed to OPEX savings, as security teams spent less time trying to identify and isolate malware for analysis as a result of a reduction in malware incidents, false positives, and breach avoidance."

More Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks pricing and cost advice

"Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is an expensive solution."

"I don't know the standalone costs. It is my understanding that the M365 E5 is $56 a month or something close to that pricing. That would be for the full suite. Just Defender might be $8 a month. I can't say for sure."

"For me, the pricing is very good, but for management it's very expensive. Other solutions are less expensive. But when I present all the information and all the reports they say, "Well, it's expensive, but the cost-benefit is very good.""

"Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is cost-effective because there's one unified license, and with this unified license, you get the capabilities for your cloud applications, servers, and endpoints as well. Therefore, it saves us a lot of money because the cost with other solutions is for just one piece of OS or maybe an urban environment. The licensing process is not complex as well."

"Pricing can always be lower."

"The cost is high, compared to other products in the market, if you look at it as a separate product. If you look at the cost where it is part of a bundle, the cost is okay."

"I got it with the Microsoft Windows license."

"The solutions price could be cheaper."

More Microsoft Defender for Endpoint pricing and cost advice

"We were using Hyper-V. So, we switched to Sangfor because of the pricing."

"Price-wise, Sangfor Endpoint Secure can be considered a competitively priced product in the market as it offers quite low prices compared to other solutions."

"Its "pay as you grow" model offers cost-effectiveness compared to major cloud providers."

"The product is expensive compared to other vendors."

"The solution is cheap. It is cheaper than other products by 15-20 percent."

"Sangfor Endpoint Secure's pricing is cheap. I rate it seven out of ten."

"Sangfor Endpoint Secure is not a cheap solution."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Government

Financial Services Firm

14%

Government

Computer Software Company

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	42
Midsize Enterprise	21
Large Enterprise	47

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	80
Midsize Enterprise	40
Large Enterprise	92

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	3

Questions from the Community

Cortex XDR by Palo Alto vs. Sentinel One

Cortex XDR by Palo Alto vs. SentinelOne SentinelOne offers very detailed specifics with regard to risks or attacks. ...

Comparing CrowdStrike Falcon to Cortex XDR (Palo Alto)

Cortex XDR by Palo Alto vs. CrowdStrike Falcon Both Cortex XDR and Crowd Strike Falcon offer cloud-based solutions th...

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,...

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 sol...

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 pu...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Defender for Endpoint?

I'm not too familiar with the pricing, setup costs, and licensing for Microsoft Defender for Endpoint; it wasn't some...

What needs improvement with Sangfor Endpoint Secure?

The interface has too many buttons, making it cluttered. It would be better if it were a simplified version with fewe...

What is your primary use case for Sangfor Endpoint Secure?

Sangfor Endpoint Secure is easy to handle with its user-friendly interface. The four engines it utilizes for endpoint...

What advice do you have for others considering Sangfor Endpoint Secure?

At first, people might not understand the interface, which is why it should be simplified. However, once they underst...

SentinelOne Singularity Complete vs Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks

Comparisons

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CrowdStrike Falcon vs Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks

Compared 5% of the time

Cortex XSIAM vs Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks

Compared 4% of the time

Symantec Endpoint Security vs Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks

Compared 3% of the time

Trellix Endpoint Security Platform vs Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks

Compared 3% of the time

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HP Wolf Security vs Microsoft Defender for Endpoint

Compared 5% of the time

CrowdStrike Falcon vs Microsoft Defender for Endpoint

Compared 4% of the time

Symantec Endpoint Security vs Microsoft Defender for Endpoint

Compared 4% of the time

F-Secure Total vs Microsoft Defender for Endpoint

Compared 3% of the time

Trellix Endpoint Security Platform vs Microsoft Defender for Endpoint

Compared 2% of the time

More Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Competitors

Kaspersky Endpoint Detection and Response vs Sangfor Endpoint Secure

Compared 15% of the time

ESET Inspect vs Sangfor Endpoint Secure

Compared 9% of the time

Open EDR vs Sangfor Endpoint Secure

Compared 6% of the time

Bitdefender GravityZone EDR vs Sangfor Endpoint Secure

Compared 6% of the time

CrowdStrike Falcon vs Sangfor Endpoint Secure

Compared 5% of the time

More Sangfor Endpoint Secure Competitors

Product Reports

Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks

Download Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks product report

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint

Download Microsoft Defender for Endpoint product report

Download Sangfor Endpoint Secure product report

Sangfor Endpoint Secure

January 2026

Also Known As

Cyvera, Cortex XDR, Palo Alto Networks Traps

Microsoft Defender ATP, Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection, MS Defender for Endpoint, Microsoft Defender Antivirus

No data available

Interactive Demo

Demo not available

Palo Alto Networks

Microsoft

Demo not available

Sangfor

Overview

Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks provides advanced threat detection with AI-driven endpoint protection and seamless integration, ensuring multi-layered security and automatic threat response.

Cortex XDR is designed to safeguard endpoints against malware and suspicious activities. It offers advanced threat detection and response capabilities using behavioral analysis, AI, and machine learning. It seamlessly integrates with security infrastructures, providing endpoint security, firewall integration, and enhanced visibility in both cloud-based and on-premises environments.

What are the key features of Cortex XDR?

Advanced Threat Detection: Uses AI and machine learning for proactive threat identification.
Multi-layered Security: Combines various security measures for comprehensive protection.
Endpoint Protection: Safeguards against malware and exploits.
Behavioral Analysis: Monitors suspicious activity for early detection.
Automatic Threat Response: Automates responses to neutralize threats.

What benefits should users expect?

Ease of Use: Simplifies security management with intuitive design.
Resource Efficiency: Minimizes impact on system resources.
Integration Capabilities: Works well with existing security setups.
Reduced Analyst Workload: Automates processes to decrease manual intervention.

Organizations in diverse sectors deploy Cortex XDR to protect against malware, leveraging its advanced threat detection capabilities. Its integration with existing security infrastructures appeals to those seeking comprehensive protection in both cloud and on-premises environments, providing enhanced visibility and threat intelligence.

Palo Alto Networks

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is a comprehensive security solution that provides advanced threat protection for organizations. It offers real-time protection against various types of cyber threats, including malware, viruses, ransomware, and phishing attacks.

With its powerful machine-learning capabilities, it can detect and block sophisticated attacks before they can cause any harm. The solution also includes endpoint detection and response (EDR) capabilities, allowing organizations to quickly investigate and respond to security incidents. It provides detailed insights into the attack timeline, enabling security teams to understand the scope and impact of an incident.

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint also offers proactive threat hunting, allowing organizations to proactively search for and identify potential threats within their network. It integrates seamlessly with other Microsoft security solutions, such as Microsoft Defender XDR, to provide a unified and holistic security approach. With its centralized management console, organizations can easily deploy, configure, and monitor the security solution across their entire network.

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is a robust and scalable security solution that helps organizations protect their endpoints and data from evolving cyber threats.

Microsoft

Organizations use Sangfor Endpoint Secure for endpoint protection and security management, managing devices, servers, and networks against malicious threats. It also assists in blocking websites, managing infrastructure, applications, antivirus needs, and aids in migrating to cloud environments.

Sangfor Endpoint Secure offers end-to-end protection, incorporating file protection, AI detection, behavior analysis, access control, and ISP load balancing. It facilitates VM migration with minimal downtime and includes a dual-end user interface for creating firewall rules, uploading images, and configuring VM settings. Enhancements such as Hyper-V capabilities, policy certificates, honeypot features, and next-generation firewall integrations are available. However, Sangfor Endpoint Secure could improve on console management, reporting functionalities, public cloud migration support, navigation, VPN system issues, licensing, update management, transitioning processes, and incorporating healing capabilities.

What are its most important features?

Comprehensive end-to-end protection including file protection
AI detection and behavior analysis
Access control and ISP load balancing
Ease of VM migration with minimal downtime
Streamlined dual-end user interface for firewall rules and VM settings
Hyper-V capabilities and policy certificates
Honeypot feature for attack detection and RDP protection
Integration with next-generation firewalls

What benefits or ROI should users look for?

Enhanced device, server, and network security from malicious threats
Simplified migration from on-premises to cloud environments
User-friendly navigation and management capabilities
Advanced detection and behavior analysis reducing potential threats
Streamlined enforcement of robust security policies

Sangfor Endpoint Secure is implemented across various industries to ensure comprehensive security management and protection. IT departments leverage its VM migration capabilities for seamless transitions to cloud environments. Healthcare organizations use it to secure sensitive patient data, while educational institutions utilize it for safeguarding academic records and personal information. Financial services employ it to protect critical transactional data and adhere to stringent compliance requirements.

Sangfor

Sample Customers

CBI Health Group, University Honda, VakifBank

Petrofrac, Metro CSG, Christus Health

Information Not Available

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs. Sangfor Endpoint Secure