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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 Softcell Technologies Limited
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

"The performance of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint has been good."
"My advice for anybody who is looking into using this product is that it's a good and easy way to secure your PC."
"The best feature is the fact that for certain mobiles you can control your corporate profiles versus your personal profiles. That is amazingly important. Apple just supported the separation of corporate and personal profiles, whereas Android has been doing that for quite some time... Because Android supports that, if an Android phone is lost or stolen, I can wipe out all the corporate-related information from that phone and not touch the personal side. I can separate the apps and I can separate the ability to cut and paste between apps."
"The most valuable aspect lies in its automation capabilities, particularly within security automation."
"We use Microsoft Defender for the antivirus."
"It's effective against most types of infection, and the firewall is perfect for protection."
"Auto-remediation: When the product sees malware, it resolves the issue immediately."
"The most valuable feature is its ability to effectively detect threats."
"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 easy to use through interfaces and easy to configure each of the customizations we created based on the characteristics that we wanted."
"It is quick and easy to configure."
"The product's most valuable feature is the detection engine due to its ability to identify threats."
"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 is one of the best rated security products from Checkpoint, which comprises of inbuilt antivirus, anti spyware, anti phishing, and advanced threat protection features."
 

Cons

"A challenge is that it is not a multi-tenant solution. Microsoft's tenant is a licensed tenant. I'm an MSSP. So, I have multiple customers. In Microsoft's world, that means that I can't just buy an E5 license and give that out to all my customers. That won't work because all of the customer data resides within a single tenant in Microsoft's world. Other products—such as SentinelOne, Palo Alto Cortex, CrowdStrike, et cetera—are multi-tenant. So, I can have it at the top of the pyramid for my analyst to look into it and see all the customers, but each customer's data is separate. If the customer wants to look at what we see, they would only see their data, whereas in the Microsoft world, if I've got multiple customers connected to the same Microsoft tenant, they would see everybody else's data, which is a privacy problem in Europe. It is not possible to share the data, and it is a breach of privacy."
"It is inexpensive but could be cheaper like anything else."
"It can get a bit laggy sometimes. Other than that, we don't have any issues. They constantly tweak it and fix it up based on users' feedback. It has improved a lot over the past four years. Defender for Endpoint never really used to be a good endpoint security solution, but over the past couple of years, Microsoft has invested heavily in it. So, it has come a long way in all aspects of endpoint security. If they want to make it better, they should just continue investing in the current path of what they've been doing over the past couple of years."
"I would like the solution to be able to prevent unauthorized programs from installing and to block unauthorised URLs which is similar to web filtering product."
"The central management console should be improved because it provides limited options to configure Windows Defender."
"I personally haven't experienced any pain points, but some of my coworkers feel that it isn't secure enough."
"The GUI is very complex and could be more user friendly."
"The scalability could be improved - I would rate it between a seven and an eight."
"We'd like better performance of the network equipment. There are high-speed environments where an immediate response is required."
"Perhaps the primary area for potential enhancement is to make it faster, ensuring a more seamless experience while maintaining robust security features."
"ZoneAlarm should be a light application that does not take too much memory in mobile phones."
"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."
"Some of our users say that the interface is a little bit outdated for 2020, and want it to be more modern and cozy."
"I would like it to be integrated with the Check Point centralization solution like Infinity Portal. It would be great to be able to manage it through the same website."
"They should release a single update with all the necessary characteristics to avoid being in a cycle of consecutive updates."
"They need to update and improve the features available for Mac."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Because Microsoft Defender comes as an add-on, it can be a bit expensive if you're trying to buying it separately. Another option is to upgrade, but the enterprise licenses for Microsoft can also be quite a bit pricey. Overall, the cost of Microsoft Defender compared to that of other endpoint detection solutions is slightly higher."
"The solution is included with Microsoft Windows."
"Pricing can always be lower."
"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."
"It's included with the Windows Operating System, I don't pay for any licensing fees."
"The solution is free and comes with Windows."
"There is no licensing fee."
"The license for Microsoft Windows covers Microsoft Defender for Endpoint."
"This is a freeware product and I recommend using it."
"We have to pay a yearly licensing fee for ZoneAlarm, which is cheap."
"I rate the product pricing a seven out of ten."
"We use the free version of the software, but it can be upgraded to the paid Extreme Security edition."
"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.
892,646 professionals have used our research since 2012.