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Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs ZoneAlarm comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 8, 2026

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
7.0
Number of Reviews
215
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (2nd), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (4th), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (3rd), Microsoft Security Suite (3rd)
ZoneAlarm
Ranking in Anti-Malware Tools
21st
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Anti-Malware Tools category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is 6.9%, down from 16.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ZoneAlarm is 1.7%, down from 2.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Anti-Malware Tools Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint6.9%
ZoneAlarm1.7%
Other91.4%
Anti-Malware Tools
 

Featured Reviews

Kalpesh Pawar - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Head Cloud Services at a media company with 501-1,000 employees
Unified threat visibility has reduced incident impact and streamlines response across our endpoints
From a customer or SOC perspective, the best features Microsoft Defender for Endpoint offers are the EDR with deep telemetry, which helps us with continuous behavioral monitoring. The automated investigation and remediation feature includes auto-isolation, file quarantine, and incident-level correlation. The advanced hunting KQL-based feature along with Attack Surface Reduction and vulnerability management proactively hardens exposures and provides visibility to reduce attack paths before exploitation. The advanced hunting and vulnerability management features in Microsoft Defender for Endpoint help my team day to day by allowing us to utilize Advanced hunting KQL for proactive threat hunting and validation of alerts, querying process trees, lateral movement, and IOC swipes across all endpoints in seconds. The vulnerability management feature gives us a real-time exposure view with risk-based prioritization. We align it with patching cycles and use security recommendations to reduce attack surface before exploitation. Device isolation and live response provide real operational value. This capability allows a SOC to instantly isolate compromised hosts and run remote forensics or commands without user impact, which is critical during active incidents.
Bala_Krishna - PeerSpot reviewer
Director at esupport Solutions Pvt ltd
Security suite has protected individual devices from threats, while installation and network features require improvements
BIG-IP is actually the LTM, Link Load Balancer, which comes with ASM, meaning Application Security Module. It consists of multiple modules, such as ASM, SWG, and a domain DNS manager. ZoneAlarm allows defining trusted and public networks, which helps maintain security in public Wi-Fi environments. It offers comprehensive protection, securing PCs against threats. Users do not experience any system slowdowns while scanning. Harmony Browser protects all your browsing activity and is bundled with Harmony Endpoint and Harmony Connect. It provides a small but effective security layer and sometimes comes packaged with the larger Harmony suite.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Microsoft Defender for Endpoint's threat intelligence has helped us prepare for potential threats before they hit and take proactive steps."
"It's really stable. I've used a lot of stuff, a lot of products, like ESET and Kaspersky. None of them are comparable with this one. This one is much better."
"The features of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint that I prefer most are the detections. It just works."
"Defender is stable, I haven't had any problems with viruses when using it, and it's easy to update."
"It's not really visible for the user - which is a benefit."
"It depends on the licensing. Most of the customers have got at least a 365 E3 license, and they can use most of the features of Windows 10 Defender. So, anyone who has got an enterprise license can start using those features. Some of the customers have got E5 licenses, and they can use all advanced features. Customers with E5 licenses use the advanced site protection (ATP) features and web content filtering without going via a proxy, which gives the benefit of replacing the proxy. They can get the benefit of MCAS and integration with Intune and the endpoint manager. It is a kind of single platform for all 365 technologies. It helps customers in managing everything through a unified portal."
"The performance of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint has been good."
"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."
"This antivirus is regularly updated, and the updates can be scheduled."
"I strongly recommend ZoneAlarm as a simple but efficient solution, especially if your organization doesn't have a dedicated budget for providing a security solution for BYOD devices."
"It gives us security for the users' mobiles and ends up protecting us in a significant way."
"ZoneAlarm protects all computers from viruses, spyware, and hackers."
"ZoneAlarm provides us with very good security and we are using both of the modules, including antivirus as well as firewall features, and it is very easy and stable for us."
"It is quick and easy to configure."
"The solution maintains reasonable scalability."
"User friendly design and interface"
 

Cons

"Microsoft Defender in the basic form is not very useful for managing the security environment."
"Integration with third-party vendors could be better. It would be better if it integrates with other protection solutions or other products outside of Microsoft. Nowadays, anti-virus protection doesn't really have to be planned as overall protection for your environment in terms of security. There are really different avenues that bad actors can take to wreak havoc on your machine."
"Defender for Endpoint is complex, and the documentation is detailed. At the same time, it's hard to navigate sometimes. You have to go through tons of documentation to find what you want."
"Sometimes it is a little lacking, but for the most part, they are able to provide exactly what I need."
"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."
"I would like to have additional features such as DNS lookup, which would help for detecting malicious sites."
"The solution has minimal customization options, especially compared to Mandiant, so we want to see more scope for customization. A single portal for customization would also be a welcome addition."
"The solution could be even more secure and provide an even higher level of security."
"Some of our users say that the interface is a little bit outdated for 2020, and want it to be more modern and cozy."
"They need to update and improve the features available for Mac."
"The solution's efficiency in threat containment and overall protection needs improvement."
"We'd like better performance of the network equipment. There are high-speed environments where an immediate response is required."
"I have used it in the past for personal desktops and for systems at small startups, but I would not recommend it as an enterprise level firewall security solution."
"Currently, the client is only available for the Windows Operating System but it would be good if it were released for Mac OS as well."
"They should release a single update with all the necessary characteristics to avoid being in a cycle of consecutive updates."
"Some of our users say that the interface is a little bit outdated for 2020, and want it to be more modern and cozy."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We have an enterprise agreement so from my perspective, this is a product that ships with Windows and it is not priced standalone."
"The license cost is around $35 per machine, which is not expensive compared to other products."
"This is an expensive product and licensing for all Microsoft products is a big issue."
"The price is higher than others because it is doing more than what the others are doing."
"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."
"Its price at the moment is very good because you get a lot of value for your money, especially with the subscriptions. If you have the E1, E3, or E5 enterprise subscription, you pay per month per user, and you get almost an infinite number of solutions. If you compare the price to the number of solutions that you get, it is a very good deal."
"If you don't purchase the advanced threat protection then there is no additional charge."
"The cost is competitive and reasonable because most of the expense is log analytics, storage, and data consumption and ingestion. These things can be throttled and controlled, so they are highly flexible. Defender has a lot of advantages over competing products."
"This is a freeware product and I recommend using it."
"We use the free version of the software, but it can be upgraded to the paid Extreme Security edition."
"I rate the product pricing a seven out of ten."
"We have to pay a yearly licensing fee for ZoneAlarm, which is cheap."
"The pricing is reasonable, with a yearly renewal license costing seventy dollars."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
8%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Hospitality Company
10%
Construction Company
6%
Performing Arts
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business82
Midsize Enterprise43
Large Enterprise95
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business14
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise4
 

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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ZoneAlarm?
ZoneAlarm has an acceptable price. Not much detail can be provided as I am not the one to judge the price.
What needs improvement with ZoneAlarm?
Check Point support needs improvement. Currently rated at 9 out of 10, more support is required. There are some concerns on support that need addressing. The integration of new products with their ...
What is your primary use case for ZoneAlarm?
I work with vendors such as F5 and deal with F5 as a reseller. I work with F5 BIG-IP regarding F5 Shape Security. BIG-IP Advanced WAF is what I work with regarding BIG-IP DNS or BIG-IP AFM. Advance...
 

Also Known As

Microsoft Defender ATP, Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection, MS Defender for Endpoint, Microsoft Defender Antivirus
No data available
 

Interactive Demo

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Petrofrac, Metro CSG, Christus Health
Terma, Optix, Samsung Research Amercia, SF Police Credit Union, Independence Care System, Mattias Thomsen, Carmel Partners, Desert Research Institute, CRIF, FXCM Inc, US State Agency
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs. ZoneAlarm and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
892,776 professionals have used our research since 2012.