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ThreatLocker Zero Trust Endpoint Protection Platform vs VMware Carbon Black App Control comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 23, 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

ThreatLocker Zero Trust End...
Ranking in Application Control
2nd
Average Rating
9.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
39
Ranking in other categories
Network Access Control (NAC) (5th), Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (6th), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (6th), ZTNA (3rd), Ransomware Protection (3rd)
VMware Carbon Black App Con...
Ranking in Application Control
1st
Average Rating
9.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Application Control category, the mindshare of ThreatLocker Zero Trust Endpoint Protection Platform is 15.4%, up from 2.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware Carbon Black App Control is 24.6%, down from 32.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Control
 

Featured Reviews

Johnathan Bodily - PeerSpot reviewer
Ensures ransomware protection and reduces phishing chaos
The application control has been great so far, and while I am still exploring the network access controls, I unfortunately don't have access to one module I would love to have due to licensing restrictions. It's easy to use in regard to reducing attack surfaces. For me, it's a piece of cake. We can have something approved within 30 seconds, thanks to the mobile app. We haven't eliminated security solutions. We just add to it, and ThreatLocker has been a great addition. We also have Kaseya and ThreatLocker as a supplement to that. It's useful. They have overlap, and we look at the overlap as a good thing. It's helped your organization save on operational costs or expenses by ensuring that many fewer hours are spent dealing with ransomware nonsense. I cannot count the amount of hours that I personally have not had to put in to recovering an environment from a ransomware event. The last big one took us about three weeks to completely recover from. Since we've grouped ThreatLocker in, the management of that whole setup has gone down to just daily help desk tasks and general server maintenance instead of having the whole system on fire. There are probably thousands of hours of saved time between our teams. It's been great so far. ThreatLocker Zero Trust Endpoint Protection Platform's ability to block access to unauthorized applications is great. It's my biggest protection, the blocked applications. In a lot of cases, you go to install something yourself that you need for management, and it comes in and says, nope. And then I have to log into the portal and approve it. I get our other guys saying, hey, why are you trying to approve something? Any of the tools that I'm using on a day-to-day basis that haven't been in the environment during the whole learning mode initially, I could go through and set extensions and all that. So, while it's a headache on that end, the amount of saved time I can't even count. It is a little frustrating on my end since I like to go as quickly as I possibly can, and it slows me down. However, that's a really good thing. Depending on the site, it can save a lot of time and cut down headaches. It's likely saved a week's worth of time. It's cut down the amount of sever help desk tickets. Those have become minimal.
reviewer1535181 - PeerSpot reviewer
Very stable, reasonable price, works well, and provides good visibility and reporting
We are small potatoes. We only have around 200 machines. We are actually in the middle of a review with it, which we are doing for the first time since we installed it. We're having the original guy who helped us through the implementation, which is rare these days because people usually don't stick around or you wouldn't get them back. He is an excellent security guy who works for VMware, and he told me of a 30,000 plus installation that he has done with 30,000 devices, machines, and servers, which is pretty big.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Being able to protect and trust nothing by default, known as zero trust, is the most important feature to me."
"The biggest improvement has been knowing that something unauthorized isn't going to get installed on anyone’s machines."
"The unified alerts are useful."
"I would rate it a ten out of ten."
"The most valuable feature is probably the ability to block programs from running. ThreatLocker has some built-in features that make it super easy. You can also contact their support within the program. If you're having issues, you can click on that button and connect with someone in five to 10 seconds."
"While it can be frustrating at times, we appreciate the low-level security provided by the application whitelist."
"I really enjoy ringfencing and elevation features. It makes my life easier because I do not have to get on a computer to elevate a prompt to allow users to run something they run every day as an admin."
"Using ThreatLocker is effortless because I can access it from an app on my phone, so I can help clients after hours. My client had an issue while I was at dinner, and I didn't have a tech on the problem, but I could deal with it from my phone. I can see what the client is doing and approve or deny it. It helps me deliver better service to my clients when they need it."
"The API integration is good."
"The effectiveness of application whitelisting is very good."
"If any malicious activity, like VAT viruses, anything RNE, ZOD malware, or something similar, comes in we know that unless we approve it, it's going to be blocked."
"All the functions within VMware Carbon Black App Control are valuable."
"I use the console to check for threats and I find it to be very user-friendly."
"The visibility is valuable."
"We use App Control to scan the network for virtual machines that have unauthorized applications. We can isolate the problem VMs and control application access."
"The visibility, reporting, and the ability to stop or prevent malicious or undesired applications from being installed are the most valuable features."
 

Cons

"The company should strive to stay ahead of all the developments happening externally. If their progress accelerates more rapidly than the ongoing changes outside, it would prove advantageous."
"We also have customers who are frustrated because they cannot do what they used to do, which was run anything they wanted to."
"I was discussing with someone the other day, and it seems there is currently no solution for mobile users."
"I'm not sure if I'm using it wrong; however, I find that I have to babysit it too much."
"We identified several areas that we would like to see improved."
"It would be beneficial to have a tighter integration into PSA systems so that approvals can be done directly without having to leave the PSA."
"Something we have come up against a couple of times is that we have two clients that are software developers. They create software that doesn't have digital signatures and that's not easy to categorize or whitelist with ThreatLocker. We have to go in and make custom rules to allow them to do their work and to be protected from malicious threats."
"Their product is solid. I have a hard time complaining much about it because when we do find little things, they are usually interface-related or related to things that would be nice to have."
"Another issue is that even sometimes if you approve, for example, Adobe as a publisher, you say any product or anything that's from Adobe has to run. It generally runs, but especially in a large environment and with a lot of users, sometimes, due to some certification validation issues or some other issue, it might stop the process from running. Genuine processes like Adobe and Chrome can get blocked. so that needs to be improved."
"The solution should have overhead in keeping lists of applications that you want don't want to run."
"Its setup is very complex, and it requires guidance from the support team, but it is well worth the effort."
"I rate App Control six out of 10 for scalability."
"Carbon Black does not use the database for identifying the file, the fields, or malware."
"The initial setup is somewhat complex."
"I would like to see the addition of some more features that are in other, similar solutions."
"The reporting is not good and needs to be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is pretty fair, considering other solutions. Licensing-wise, it did not take long."
"We have not had any real issues with the pricing. As they have added more features, due to the way our contracts are structured with our customers, we have had to hold off on adopting the new features because they do add costs."
"I can't complain. Cheaper would always be nice, but I think it's reasonable compared to other software in the cybersecurity market."
"Its price is fair. They have added some additional things to it beyond allowlisting. They are up-charging for them, but in terms of the value we get and the way it impacts us, we get a bang for our buck with ThreatLocker than a lot of our other security tools."
"We have encountered a few challenges regarding pricing, contract renewals, and additions. As we explored adding features like Cyber Hero, it proved to be an increased expense for our clients. This was primarily a mistake on our part due to how we initially priced it to clients."
"Although the pricing seems good, there have been inconsistencies in contract negotiations."
"I do not know about the licensing and price as it comes bundled from our MSP. However, it seems fairly reasonable for us, which is why we chose it."
"The pricing is fair and there is no hard sell."
"We pay a fee for support, which is renewed annually."
"Its price is reasonable and what is expected for these types of products."
"The pricing for this product is competitive and our customers who told us that often, Carbon Back is the cheaper solution."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
37%
Retailer
8%
Financial Services Firm
5%
Manufacturing Company
5%
Educational Organization
48%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Computer Software Company
7%
Government
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about ThreatLocker Allowlisting?
The interface is clean and well-organized, making it simple to navigate and find what we need.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ThreatLocker Allowlisting?
Pricing, setup costs, and licensing have been pretty accessible and manageable. It was not too expensive to get started, especially at a small scale for a smaller MSP. It is very accessible, easy t...
What needs improvement with ThreatLocker Allowlisting?
For the space that it's in, it's already there. I don't know of another product that compares to its level. Even recently, with the addition of the detect module is a very nice add-on to the packet...
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Also Known As

Protect, Allowlisting, Network Control, Ringfencing
CB Protection, Carbon Black CB Protection
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Kaas Tailored, Core-Mark, Indeed, Hologic, Landmark Credit Union, Project Worldwide
Find out what your peers are saying about ThreatLocker Zero Trust Endpoint Protection Platform vs. VMware Carbon Black App Control and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
848,989 professionals have used our research since 2012.