Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs VirusTotal comparison

Microsoft Defender for Endp...

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 20, 2025

VirusTotal and Microsoft Defender for Endpoint are competitive in the cybersecurity tools category. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint edges out VirusTotal due to its extensive feature set and robust protection measures.

Features: VirusTotal offers comprehensive file inspection, IP address examination, and URL analysis. It integrates with numerous antivirus scanners and provides hash sharing and community threat intelligence insights. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint includes advanced malware protection, real-time threat detection, vulnerability management, and seamless integration with other Microsoft security solutions, together with automated investigation and response features.

Room for Improvement: VirusTotal could enhance its integration and support infrastructure to provide a more holistic cybersecurity solution. It may also expand its API functionality and threat data collection. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint could improve its user interface to enhance user navigation and simplify complex configurations. Better support for diverse non-Microsoft environments would broaden its usability.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint benefits from an efficient deployment process due to its integration with Microsoft's ecosystem, alongside extensive customer service support. VirusTotal is easy to use for independent threat analysis but lacks the comprehensive support network available to Microsoft users.

Pricing and ROI: VirusTotal is initially cost-effective for threat assessment tasks offered free of charge, ideal for users seeking basic security insights. In contrast, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint requires an investment; however, its expansive coverage and integration with Microsoft services provide excellent ROI by reducing security risks and managing threats effectively.

To learn more, read our detailed Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs. VirusTotal Report (Updated: April 2025).

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs. VirusTotal

April 2025

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Helped 848,716 peers since 2012

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...

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) (3rd), Microsoft Security Suite (5th)

VirusTotal

Ranking in Anti-Malware Tools

3rd

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Threat Intelligence Platforms (3rd)

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Anti-Malware Tools category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is 17.0%, down from 22.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VirusTotal is 5.4%, down from 7.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Anti-Malware Tools

Featured Reviews

AnuragSrivastava

Information Security Engineering Lead at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees

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.

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Chinmay Banerjee

Advisor Adtech/Martech/API product/project Engineering at Fiserv

Helps businesses collect threat data while keeping privacy in mind and apable of detecting, blocking, and removing viruses and malware

There are two gray areas I still need to explore. I have worked with VirusTotal because it easily integrates with over seventy antivirus scanners and blacklisting services. In addition to those there is much scope to improve and add other services or integrations. The areas for improvement are that VirusTotal is not using much AI or generative AI models, while other competitors are starting to build them. For example, VirusTotal's work is based on the setup done by their engineers. If you want to do scanning or protection activities for a specific site, app, or device, that is the area VirusTotal is currently focused on. But other competitors are building AI models that can do things like left-side scanning and provide auto-generated reports. VirusTotal has predefined reports, but there is a lot of manual effort involved. Secondly, the API is very limited if I want to integrate VirusTotal with other applications. They need to build more connectors and provide support for Webhook connectors for the API. If you can't build your own connector, it's always good to have provisions for Webhook setup connectors across platforms. Thirdly, Kaspersky, a competitor of VirusTotal, is using a methodology called "gatekeeper." A gatekeeper is a security system that protects the inside of a building from outside threats. This is the model Kaspersky is currently using. You have your website set up, but the entire army of VirusTotal or Kaspersky is standing guard, protecting you from the first gate itself. Right now, VirusTotal detects threats from your domain, but it is always better to verify inside the domain and protect it from the first level when people or malware are entering. This first level of protection is lacking in VirusTotal right now. The security bridge and protection gate are missing.

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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

"The most valuable features of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint are the ease of use and it was available within the operating system."

"Ensures that I'm working with a product that gets updated regularly without me having to remember to do it. Since it's a Microsoft product, I'm confident that it requires a low use of system resources. The benefit of that being that my computer isn't constantly being drained."

"User-friendly, offering safety and security."

"The comprehensiveness of Microsoft threat-protection products is great... Today, Microsoft Sentinel by itself is a leading Gartner SIEM tool. It has advantages over competitors because of the ability to integrate with Microsoft solutions and automate continuous monitoring of Microsoft AD and Office 365 data."

"It is quite stable. We have not had any cases, i.e., viruses, that would require a reboot, etc. We have never had a situation where we needed to reinstall the tools as a result of the Defender application or a feature being corrupt."

"It's absolutely free to use."

"We have very good visibility on our endpoints. The level of information it throws back is helpful."

"The notification and reporting features are most valuable because we are part of a compliance project, and maintaining SOC 2 compliance is critical."

More Microsoft Defender for Endpoint pros

"The feature I like the most is the ability to see the MD5 or SHA-256 signature of the file, and also the composition of the file according to its segments."

"It is quite simple for anyone if they just want to check some suspicious URLs."

"It gives detailed information about suspicious IPs, which is one of its most valuable features."

"The initial setup is easy."

"It allows us to see if there have been previous reports on certain indicators of compromise, providing insights from other security professionals."

"I have never had any problems with stability or bugs while using VirusTotal."

"The most valuable feature is the worldwide malware information database."

"It can scan the dark web and find if an email ID has been compromised. This is another area that we have not explored yet."

More VirusTotal pros

Cons

"Localization is always a challenge, especially with new products you typically want. Solutions are designed to be deployed where the most licenses are being consumed, such as in the United States. They focus on US products, devices, and networks. Specialized deployments for other countries would allow for a smoother experience in transition."

"It's not easy to create special allowances for certain groups of users. It can be a little heavy-handed in some areas where Microsoft has decided to lock a feature out, meaning they make it hard to make an exception... One company we work with needed to use about 20 different thumb drives for about 20 users. To make that exception for them was very difficult. In fact, you can't really make an exception. But what you can do is allow them to use it and, while it will still alert, you can actually suppress those alerts."

"We encountered some issues when we were trying to enable automatic updates from our group policy."

"Other vendors provide a lot of customization when it comes to integration, which every big organization requires. No big organization depends on one particular tool. Defender lacks that at this point."

"The solution should be updated by Microsoft with new features from time to time."

"Microsoft Defender in the basic form is not very useful for managing the security environment. The free version is not capable of covering the needs of centralized management, EDR, and behavioral analysis. If you don't have the commercial version, you can't have centralized management and set up the policies and other things. Each client is a standalone installation, which is not useful for security in an enterprise model."

"I'm not too sure of its current capabilities, but I'm pretty sure they are doing a good job on Windows and Mac. However, I'm not sure whether they covered Linux. If I remember correctly, Microsoft Defender didn't have anything proper on Linux back then, but if they have improved it from that aspect, it would already be ticking all the boxes."

"The integration and effectiveness of email security could be better. It's already built-in to the solution and checks emails, scans the links they contain etc."

More Microsoft Defender for Endpoint cons

"I would like to see improvements in the score consistency and accuracy."

"I would like to see an improved user interface and some automation."

"There should be room for improvement, particularly in the API side of things."

"There is room for improvement, particularly in making some of the most useful features more accessible in the non-paid version."

"They can improve the telemetry. Whenever we handle a sample, they cannot provide any information about a victim."

"I would like to see improved correlation with other threat intelligence sources, not just reliant on its own database, to enhance the database of threat intelligence that VirusTotal offers."

"They can improve the telemetry. Whenever we handle a sample, they cannot provide any information about a victim."

"VirusTotal has different versions, and sometimes the parameters of the API are not very clear."

More VirusTotal cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Licensing models of Microsoft are renowned for being complex. We just purchased the whole E5 stack. With E5 licenses for users, we get access to a bunch of features that are not just related to security. I would rate them a three out of five in terms of pricing."

"The price of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is reasonable. Other solutions are more expensive, such as ClowdStrike."

"We pay a yearly license for Microsoft Defender. We also have a support contract with them."

"Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is included with a Microsoft E5 license."

"The price is fair for the features Microsoft delivers. If you want tailor-made features, you have to mix different licenses. It isn't straightforward."

"I got it with the Microsoft Windows license."

"Microsoft Defender for Endpoint comes with Windows 10, and it's free. But for you to be able to manage it in the cloud and use the console, you need to have either an Office 365 E5 subscription or a Microsoft M365 subscription. You need to buy an extra license."

"Microsoft has different plans for buying this product. The price depends on the configuration of the full set of products that you buy and on the licensing program in your contract."

More Microsoft Defender for Endpoint pricing and cost advice

"The pricing is reasonable."

"VirusTotal is an expensive solution."

"We are using VirusTotal with free licenses, managing the license limits across three or four accounts, thus incurring no costs."

"The pricing is very economical."

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848,716 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

26%

Computer Software Company

11%

Government

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

17%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Government

University

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 VirusTotal?

With VirusTotal, I can check for any hash, malware, file, domain, IP URL, or malicious URL, and Kaspersky stays clean.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for VirusTotal?

I do not know about the pricing or licensing as our organization services VirusTotal for our clients.

What needs improvement with VirusTotal?

I would like to see improvements in the score consistency and accuracy. VirusTotal should add more details like those from competitors such as URL Void or Symantec URL Checker, which show the categ...

CrowdStrike Falcon vs Microsoft Defender for Endpoint

Comparisons

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Compared 5% of the time

Symantec Endpoint Security vs Microsoft Defender for Endpoint

Compared 5% of the time

F-Secure Total vs Microsoft Defender for Endpoint

Compared 4% of the time

HP Wolf Security vs Microsoft Defender for Endpoint

Compared 4% of the time

More Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Competitors

MetaDefender vs VirusTotal

Compared 16% of the time

ANY.RUN vs VirusTotal

Compared 13% of the time

Cuckoo Sandbox vs VirusTotal

Compared 9% of the time

Recorded Future vs VirusTotal

Compared 7% of the time

ReversingLabs vs VirusTotal

Compared 5% of the time

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Product Reports

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint

April 2025

Download Microsoft Defender for Endpoint product report

Download VirusTotal product report

Anti-Malware Tools

January 2025

Also Known As

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

No data available

Interactive Demo

Microsoft

Demo not available

Overview

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

VirusTotal is an essential tool for gathering malware information, analyzing compromised data, and monitoring malicious campaigns.

VirusTotal enables users to examine malware hashes, create alerts for targeted attacks, and utilize IOCs and YARA rules to detect threats. Its private scanning capabilities ensure discreet file analysis, while the API assesses IP address threats. Widely used in sectors like retail and FinTech, VirusTotal significantly boosts productivity.

What are the most valuable features of VirusTotal?

Worldwide malware information database: Extensive global repository of malware data.
Integration with 70+ antivirus scanners: Collaborates with numerous antivirus and blacklisting services.
API systems for reputation checks: Multiple API systems to verify reputations.
Detecting, blocking, and removing threats: Robust threat mitigation capabilities.
Blocking phishing attempts: Effective in preventing phishing attacks.
Scanning the dark web: Monitors dark web for compromised emails.
Privacy in threat data collection: Ensures privacy while gathering threat data.

What benefits should users look for in VirusTotal reviews?

Enhanced threat detection: Improved accuracy in identifying threats.
Increased productivity: Streamlined processes and faster incident response.
Seamless integration: Compatibility with existing security frameworks.
Comprehensive threat intelligence: Access to extensive threat data.
Privacy assurance: Ensures user data confidentiality.

VirusTotal is highly valued in industries like retail and FinTech, where it assists in examining malware hashes, creating alerts, and utilizing IOCs and YARA rules for advanced threat detection. Despite its valuable features, there is room for improvement in its interface, automation, AI integration, and API connectability, areas where competitors sometimes offer more advanced solutions.

Sample Customers

Petrofrac, Metro CSG, Christus Health

Information Not Available