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Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs Sophos EPP Suite 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
7.2
Users report positive ROI from Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, citing cost savings, improved security, and effective system integration.
Sentiment score
7.7
Sophos EPP Suite enhances productivity and security, offering ROI within 12-16 months through integration, encryption, and effective response times.
The return on investment is primarily in time savings and better observability of what's happening.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.6
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint's support is generally reliable, with mixed reviews on response time and resolution quality.
Sentiment score
7.6
Sophos EPP Suite support is mixed; some praise responsiveness and expertise, others cite delays and lack of communication.
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.
I rate Microsoft support 10 out of 10.
The level-one support seems disconnected from subject matter experts.
The Sophos people here in South Africa are very helpful.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint offers scalable integration and cloud-based management, but customization may need extra tools in complex settings.
Sentiment score
8.5
Sophos EPP Suite offers excellent scalability with seamless expansion, especially for cloud deployments, but integrates mainly with Sophos products.
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.
It's pretty easy to scale with Microsoft, as they make it easy if you look into the documentation.
Defender's scalability is phenomenal, and it's going to be one of the keys to resolving issues for the SOC.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.9
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is stable, integrates well with Windows, but occasionally has configuration and memory issues.
Sentiment score
8.5
Sophos EPP Suite is rated highly for stability, with minor issues like resource consumption and occasional system lags.
Defender for Endpoint is extremely stable.
I haven't seen any outages with Microsoft.
I rate Defender 10 out of 10 for stability.
 

Room For Improvement

Users criticize Microsoft Defender for Endpoint's complex interface, limited integration, and request enhancements in analytics, protection, and support.
Sophos EPP Suite needs improvements in migration ease, resource usage, support efficiency, console usability, performance, and integration.
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 have multiple endpoints, and we want to look for signals across tenants.
An additional feature that could be included in the next release is free Copilot.
The enterprise integration is very poor, requiring a lot of manual work.
 

Setup Cost

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint offers flexible, cost-effective pricing, especially in E5 bundles, adapting to various enterprise licensing needs.
Sophos EPP Suite offers competitive pricing with three-year discounts, often cheaper than others, especially with annual payment options.
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 provides comprehensive cybersecurity with seamless integration, robust threat analytics, and efficient management across platforms without performance impact.
Sophos EPP Suite offers strong virus protection, seamless integration, centralized management, ransomware rollback, and advanced threat detection with AI.
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.
Attack surface reduction and limiting attack surface vectors are valuable features.
Web filtering is the most valuable feature of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint because it effectively maintains security for website access.
With the reseller management, I can manage multiple clients without having to log in to each client.
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Defender for Endp...
Ranking in Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
1st
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
190
Ranking in other categories
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (2nd), Anti-Malware Tools (1st), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (2nd), Microsoft Security Suite (6th)
Sophos EPP Suite
Ranking in Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
27th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
58
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is 11.3%, down from 15.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sophos EPP Suite is 0.6%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
 

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.
Kiarash Heydari - PeerSpot reviewer
Integrates well, useful client auditing, and beneficial reporting
If you use an appliance, it can be challenging to scale. However, we can use solutions, such as Software-Defined Networking (SDN) for cloud-based services or private cloud-based services with Kubernetes and Calico. Additionally, we can use a firewall for managing traffic on the internet or LAN and internal networks. We can integrate Sophos EPP Suite with enterprise solutions, such as Cisco ACI for managing role policies, among other things. We have around 400 to 500 users who are clients for our service on our internal network. Additionally, in our IDC we have thousands of clients who receive services from us.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
27%
Computer Software Company
12%
Government
7%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Computer Software Company
20%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Educational Organization
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

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 Sophos EPP Suite?
Sophos EPP Suite is a powerful antivirus.
What needs improvement with Sophos EPP Suite?
Pricing is a consideration for us; for the Indian market, it is slightly expensive.
 

Also Known As

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

Learn More

 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Petrofrac, Metro CSG, Christus Health
EK Services
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs. Sophos EPP Suite and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
831,158 professionals have used our research since 2012.