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Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence vs VirusTotal comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 11, 2024

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 Threat I...
Ranking in Threat Intelligence Platforms
4th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
31
Ranking in other categories
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (11th), Microsoft Security Suite (18th)
VirusTotal
Ranking in Threat Intelligence Platforms
3rd
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
Anti-Malware Tools (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Threat Intelligence Platforms category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence is 2.7%, up from 2.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VirusTotal is 4.1%, down from 4.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Threat Intelligence Platforms
 

Featured Reviews

Nim Nadarajah - PeerSpot reviewer
A native Microsoft solution the provides great ROI and continuously improves its offering
We have Microsoft bias. We generally don't have any significant negative feedback or improvement points around Defender, EDR and CMDR platforms. It does a good job across the board. The price point is something they can improve slightly for those who don't have an M 365 E5. I believe it's a $2.80 cents add-on. In Canadian, that's expensive. If they can drop it to a dollar, for those who don't have M 365 E5, they're going to open up market share and increase affordability for an entire market segment in the medium business category. Other than that, we have no major negative feedback.
Chinmay Banerjee - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The product is stable."
"Offers easy integration with a cloud-based infrastructure"
"I would rate Microsoft Defender ATP as nine out of ten."
"The solution is well integrated with other Microsoft security products."
"The solution blocks incoming threats on the local PC or any cloud-based threats."
"The tool can proactively detect potential incidents."
"The user interface is pretty user-friendly."
"Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence assesses machines for vulnerabilities and gives remediations."
"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 can scan the dark web and find if an email ID has been compromised. This is another area that we have not explored yet."
"The most valuable feature is the worldwide malware information database."
"VirusTotal provides 95% to 98% accurate information."
"VirusTotal provides 95% to 98% accurate information."
"It is quite simple for anyone if they just want to check some suspicious URLs."
"The initial setup is easy."
"The product is easy to use with coding, such as Python or Java, via its API."
 

Cons

"I would like to see more frequent updates, which is always better for security because of daily threats."
"It takes time for the support team to understand the issue, and they then respond with a delay at times, which causes a lot of trouble."
"The price could be improved."
"I would like to see more integration with other solutions. For example, integration well with Microsoft but not with other solutions."
"Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence should integrate with different platforms."
"The stability of the product is an area of concern where improvements are required."
"It's a bit complicated to manage because you have many dependencies of servers, many dependencies in queue, and so on. Entries or different endpoints, and you make different configuration topics for each one. So that's a major problem."
"There could be AI functionality included for features like reporting and dashboard preparation."
"VirusTotal needs better advertisement and promotion, especially in the Middle East, since it is not yet widely recognized or popular in that region."
"VirusTotal has predefined reports, but there is a lot of manual effort involved."
"They can improve the telemetry. Whenever we handle a sample, they cannot provide any information about a victim."
"There is room for improvement, particularly in making some of the most useful features more accessible in the non-paid version."
"I would like to see an improved user interface and some automation."
"VirusTotal has different versions, and sometimes the parameters of the API are not very clear."
"There should be room for improvement, particularly in the API side of things."
"I would like to see improvements in the score consistency and accuracy."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"They offer two license plans: Microsoft Defender for endpoints and Microsoft Defender for businesses."
"The solution is relatively expensive; however, our status as a gold partner provides us with several complimentary licenses, which offsets the cost."
"The product’s pricing is worth it."
"Microsoft's pricing structure involves annual fees."
"Considering Microsoft is constantly changing licensing, I would give it a seven out of ten. It can be difficult to get your head around it, especially for small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)."
"The product is a part of my Microsoft 365 subscription, so there is no additional cost. It is cost-effective."
"It's reasonably priced, though there's room for further improvement."
"I rate the product's price a six or seven on a scale of one to ten, where one is expensive, and ten is cheap."
"We are using VirusTotal with free licenses, managing the license limits across three or four accounts, thus incurring no costs."
"VirusTotal is an expensive solution."
"The pricing is very economical."
"The pricing is reasonable."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Educational Organization
11%
Government
10%
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Government
8%
University
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence?
It just runs in the background. I don't have to worry about, making sure it's Intelligence. So, you know, this kind of makes it very easy, have to worry about installing. It is easy to use.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence?
Some of the customization features could be improved by providing a portion of it as open source. This would allow integration with other solutions, enhancing Threat Intelligence. Providing code cu...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence?
We are using Microsoft Defender ATP specifically as an email security solution, as well as for our critical servers as a web security solution. We have almost eleven hundred users utilizing it for ...
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...
 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence vs. VirusTotal and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
848,716 professionals have used our research since 2012.