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Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs Trend Micro Deep Security 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:
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Defender for Endp...
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), Anti-Malware Tools (1st), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (3rd), Microsoft Security Suite (5th)
Trend Micro Deep Security
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
89
Ranking in other categories
Virtualization Security (1st), Cloud and Data Center Security (8th)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Security Software solutions, they serve different purposes. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is designed for Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) and holds a mindshare of 10.9%, down 14.8% compared to last year.
Trend Micro Deep Security, on the other hand, focuses on Virtualization Security, holds 40.4% mindshare, down 44.6% since last year.
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
Virtualization Security
 

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.
Harel Cohen - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers excellent endpoint protection and great stability
Technically speaking, the customer support is okay, but the responsiveness needs to be improved. I'm referring to the universal support, as the Israeli staff are excellent and always willing to help. However, opening a case and entering into a back-and-forth with emails takes too much time. It should be working more quickly and smoothly.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The biggest benefit to Windows Defender is that it is built-in to the operating system by Microsoft."
"Attack surface reduction and limiting attack surface vectors are valuable features. It's helpful to isolate specific devices and get super granular with the features they offer."
"I like that Defender is integrated and doesn't have a third-party payload trying to advertise subscription renewal."
"The whole bundle of the product, which is similar to other Microsoft products, is valuable. Ten years ago, you had third-party stuff for different things. You had one solution for email archiving and another third-party one for something else. Nowadays, Microsoft Office covers all the stuff that was formerly covered by third-party solutions. It is the same with antivirus. The functionality is just basic. You have the scanning, and then you also have a kind of cloud-based protection and reporting about your environment. With Microsoft Security Center, you have a complete overview of your environment. You know the software inventory, and you have security recommendations. You can not only see that the antivirus is up to date; you can also see where are the vulnerabilities in your system. Microsoft Security Center tells you where you have old, deprecated software and what kind of CVEs are addressed. It's really cool stuff."
"We use Microsoft Defender for the antivirus."
"What I found most valuable in Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is that it's out-of-the-box, which brings more value to the customer. The technical support for the product is also one of the best parts, because it's good, in terms of the product knowledge of the technical engineers."
"Stable endpoint manager, antivirus, and antimalware, with fast technical support and a straightforward setup."
"One feature I like the most is vulnerability management, which shows any vulnerable software or OS present in my environment. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint provides a complete overview and also recommends the steps to mitigate the vulnerabilities or threats. Most of the other antivirus or EDR solutions generally don't provide vulnerability management. It is an add-on that Microsoft Defender for Endpoint provides."
"The integration and configuration of this product in our AWS environment was good. We haven't had any problems at all."
"There are compliance issues for legacy applications and after applying OS security patches. The product's HIPS (Host Intrusion Prevention System) modules do the job for you automatically, without any downtime."
"My customers are satisfied with Trend Micro Deep Security since they feel safe and secure."
"Aside from the basic antivirus features, there are additional features such as vulnerability protection, firewall, etc. which are helpful."
"The traceback feature in XDR is amazing. You can trace back an attack. You can playback where an attack actually occurred and see how the attacker moved. We can easily show this to management, and it makes it easy to make them understand and convince them, which is the best thing."
"For server security purposes, I like the product's firewall."
"The most valuable features of the solution are the log inspection and the IPS, which are the most effective compared to other tools."
"Deep Security provides us with a lot of reassurance about security threats. You don't have to worry about a patch not being there in the software. You're confident that all the patches and vulnerabilities are taken care of."
 

Cons

"The time to generate certain alerts on our dashboard can take between 45 minutes to an hour, and I am unsure of the factors that influence this duration."
"The reporting in Microsoft Defender for Endpoint should improve. The solution has limited features."
"The price, in general, could always be a little bit cheaper."
"I miss having an executive dashboard or a simple view for viewing things. Everything is extensive in this solution. Everything is configurable and manageable, but the environment of Microsoft 365 has about 13 administrative dashboards, and in each of the dashboards, there are a gazillion things to set up. It is good for a large enterprise, but for a 200-seat client, you need to see 5% of that."
"Microsoft Defender for Endpoint could improve by making the reporting better."
"The major area for improvement is the integration with a managed service provider. 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. This process has been complicated, though it has gotten better."
"I had some cases a while back and told an agent my issue. When I called the next day, I had to explain everything again to a different person, so I found it annoying to repeat myself all over."
"It makes your Surface devices hot. It is resource-intensive. It strains your CPU, not more than other file scanners around, but it also does a lot more. When you are transmitting files or data, it is continuously scanning the traffic and analyzing it bit by bit to see what's going on, and that, of course, is costly in terms of CPU. It is CPU intensive, and if you are on battery, it drains your battery fast. That's the only drawback that it has."
"Trend Micro's technical support sometimes takes too long to respond, although they respond quickly at other times. Additionally, the product is overpriced, which makes it difficult to sell to many customers."
"The initial setup was complex."
"Requires simplification, a fair amount of trouble shooting required."
"New patterns need improvement, as some new data access points are challenging to investigate and allow entry without detection."
"I've not worked with CrowdStrike Falcon, but one of our customers also had CrowdStrike Falcon on some of the devices. I was only supporting Trend Micro. They had a ransomware attack, but Trend Micro didn't detect that particular ransomware attack, whereas CrowdStrike did."
"The solution's reports should include more details of events like device control, live health status of the server, and inventory management."
"I would like to see XDR features and endpoint sensor become available."
"The licensing structure could improve."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licensing fee is a function of your Office 365 license. The feature set you get is a function of the license as well. There is probably an E2 version, an E3 version, and an E5 version. There are several versions, and not all features are the same. So, you might want to check what features you're expecting because you might get shocked. If you only have an E3 license, the capability isn't the same."
"The subscription is part of Windows, so we don't have to pay anything extra for this product."
"Given our extensive Microsoft licensing, transitioning to Defender for Endpoint did not affect licensing costs."
"The solution is free with Windows."
"You do not need to pay any additional costs for antivirus and anti-malware solutions for endpoint protection."
"Compared to ESET, the pricing for Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is on the higher side."
"They are now doing it on an endpoint basis. It is based on the number of endpoints, which is good."
"The price for Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is about three euros, which is considered reasonably priced."
"The AWS licensing model is scalable and easy to use, but could do with tiered discounts. I am not sure how well this model will scale when we start to use Auto Scaling with AWS resources."
"We do pay-as-you-go pricing, which is good for us. We are working with Trend Micro's sales rep to see if we can have something similar for on-premise."
"The solution’s pricing is reasonable."
"If you need an additional 10 or 20 licenses, you will need to pay additional fees."
"We pay a yearly fee of between $10,000 and $15,000."
"The solution is offered at an average price point"
"If you want to scale the solution you will have to adjust the license."
"The training needs improvement. It is expensive (classroom training), and it is often hard to find answers by yourself using the documentation."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
27%
Computer Software Company
11%
Government
7%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Educational Organization
41%
Computer Software Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

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 ...
Is Crowdstrike Falcon better than Trend Micro Deep Security?
I like that Crowdstrike allows me to easily correlate data between my firewalls. What’s most useful for my needs is the intelligence modules feature. I also find that Crowdstrike Falcon’s dashboard...
What's the difference between Trend Micro Deep Security and Trend Micro Apex One?
Trend Micro Deep Security offers a lot of features. It guarantees security for your data center, cloud, and containers - all with a unified and comprehensive SaaS solution and without compromising ...
 

Also Known As

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

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Petrofrac, Metro CSG, Christus Health
Rush University Medical Center, Guess? Inc., Mazda Motor Logistics Europe, MEDHOST, KSC Commercial Internet Co., Ricoh Company Ltd., Square Enix, SoftBank Telecom, Telecom Italia, United Way of Greater Atlanta, A&W Food Services of Canada
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, CrowdStrike, SentinelOne and others in Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP). Updated: March 2025.
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