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Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence [EOL] vs VirusTotal comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 16, 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 Threat I...
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
32
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
VirusTotal
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
Anti-Malware Tools (5th), Threat Intelligence Platforms (TIP) (6th)
 

Featured Reviews

Charles Mokoena - PeerSpot reviewer
Mobility & IT Project Manager at Voicevine Pty Ltd
Has strengthened our ability to detect threats in real time and improved internal security decision-making
The features that I find most valuable in Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence include the Sentinel part of it. There are several features we've looked at, including Sentinel as well as extended Defender, which is XDR. I've used those two, and that's what I've found quite useful for us, especially in the hardening and analysis part of the whole threat analysis. We use the real-time threat detection features in Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence. If it wasn't for that real-time threat detection on the vulnerability, I think we would not have survived the attack. The integration capabilities of Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence with other Microsoft security tools have benefited our organization's threat management process by initially being quite a challenge, especially coming from other security tools such as Fortinet and Check Point. However, once you've gotten used to it, it's quite easy and user-friendly. The dashboard, especially the threat analysis dashboard, is quite detailed in terms of providing a view of which areas in our environment need attention, making it quite useful.
reviewer2588199 - PeerSpot reviewer
Security Specialist at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Improves security alerts and analysis with comprehensive insights
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 category of websites. The addition of a file selection option to analyze files would also enhance the service.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It is very scalable. There are approximately 2,000 endpoints and up to 200 servers in our company."
"The tool is managed from the cloud, because of which the maintenance is very low."
"The solution blocks incoming threats on the local PC or any cloud-based threats."
"They have a very transparent roadmap for the product."
"The solution is one suite covering everything from email protection to threat intelligence and vulnerability scanning."
"The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the insight it provides."
"The solution is well integrated with other Microsoft security products."
"The product’s most valuable feature is the ability to provide threat detection and protection simultaneously."
"I have never had any problems with stability or bugs while using VirusTotal."
"The product is easy to use with coding, such as Python or Java, via its API."
"VirusTotal provides 95% to 98% accurate information."
"It provides detailed insights into possible malicious behavior, dropped files, and TCP connections."
"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 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."
"With VirusTotal, I can check for any hash, malware, file, domain, IP URL, or malicious URL, and Kaspersky stays clean."
"It is quite simple for anyone if they just want to check some suspicious URLs."
 

Cons

"I would like to see more frequent updates, which is always better for security because of daily threats."
"Having up-to-date documentation and real-time reflections in all portals would be beneficial to keep users informed about any changes. Additionally, the frequent changes in Microsoft's UI and the movement of features between different products in the set pose difficulties."
"I would like to see more AI features and capabilities."
"I would like for there to be extra confirmation that there aren't viruses. Even if the virus detection software is always running there could be hidden applications that are using the computer."
"While the current setup meets our needs, Microsoft can constantly improve customization and adaptability to rapidly evolving cybersecurity threats."
"The software is expensive."
"The stability of the product is an area of concern where improvements are required."
"The price point is something they can improve slightly for those who don't have an M 365 E5."
"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 improvements in the score consistency and accuracy."
"VirusTotal is hard to understand because you need to know Google Docs to create queries, and it doesn't have documentation for that."
"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."
"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."
"VirusTotal has predefined reports, but there is a lot of manual effort involved."
"The platform could improve in the areas of endpoints and networks."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is a part of my Microsoft 365 subscription, so there is no additional cost. It is cost-effective."
"The solution can be licensed, but most users would already have it in their Office 365 license."
"The solution is relatively expensive; however, our status as a gold partner provides us with several complimentary licenses, which offsets the cost."
"They offer two license plans: Microsoft Defender for endpoints and Microsoft Defender for businesses."
"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’s pricing is worth it."
"It's reasonably priced, though there's room for further improvement."
"The pricing of the solution is good."
"VirusTotal is an expensive solution."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"The pricing is very economical."
"We are using VirusTotal with free licenses, managing the license limits across three or four accounts, thus incurring no costs."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
15%
Outsourcing Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Educational Organization
8%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business17
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise15
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise5
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence?
From the telemetry data standpoint, I would prefer Defender data to be more open in future updates.
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence?
We have tried Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence. I have expertise with Microsoft Defender products. I am not familiar with Microsoft Defender for IoT because we did not use that in our environ...
What advice do you have for others considering Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence?
I will recommend Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence because it is a complete automation solution for threat production detection and an end-to-end solution for client security. Unfortunately, s...
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...
What is your primary use case for VirusTotal?
As I work in an incident response role, my daily task is to mitigate the security alert and perform the analysis part. When any alerts come, I check the IPs from where they originate and the locati...
 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about Recorded Future, Anomali, SOCRadar and others in Threat Intelligence Platforms (TIP). Updated: October 2026.
915,325 professionals have used our research since 2012.