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Bitdefender GravityZone Extended Detection and Response (XDR) vs Microsoft Defender for Endpoint comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 9, 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

Bitdefender GravityZone Ext...
Ranking in Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
38th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
Network Detection and Response (NDR) (18th), Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (29th)
Microsoft Defender for Endp...
Ranking in Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
210
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (2nd), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (3rd), Anti-Malware Tools (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) category, the mindshare of Bitdefender GravityZone Extended Detection and Response (XDR) is 0.5%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is 7.9%, down from 11.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint7.9%
Bitdefender GravityZone Extended Detection and Response (XDR)0.5%
Other91.6%
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer2165952 - PeerSpot reviewer
Company Advisor
Automated protection has reduced our management time and keeps all client environments consistently secure
Reporting in Bitdefender GravityZone Extended Detection and Response (XDR) could be improved. It has some reporting in it, but it's a little cumbersome to work with, so the reporting that is there could be improved. The analytics dashboards of Bitdefender GravityZone Extended Detection and Response (XDR) are quite useful, and they are nice in that we can see an overview very quickly and drill down into specific issues or specific clients. The dashboards are quite good, though it would be nice if we had the same with automated reports. It would be much more useful for us to have that via email or having a report. The only downside that we find is that the product is a little bit slow.
Robert Arbuckle - PeerSpot reviewer
Security Analyst III at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
Automatically isolates threats and integrates with logging to reduce response time
Overall, I would evaluate the Microsoft support level that I receive at probably about a seven, but that depends on the day. It has been spotty. We have had issues where the urgency level of the Microsoft support is not as high as ours, especially during a data breach or potential data breach situation. We have had issues with some of the offshore support being lackluster. One specific thing that comes to mind is we were on a support call with our CISO on the call, and the Microsoft agent, who did not actually work for Microsoft, is one of the vendors that Microsoft uses for support, said, "Just to set expectations, my lunch break is in an hour and I am going to go away then." For us, it was already ten o'clock at night and we had been working on this for a couple of hours, trying to get a security engineer on with us. For him to tell us that he was going to go away and have lunch, it was, "Okay, but go find somebody else if you need to." It was just the lackluster approach, and it seemed like he did not really care. We seem to get a lot of this when we get non-Microsoft support. I can identify areas for improvement with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, as it is kind of a convoluted mess to try to take care of false positives. Especially when they have been identified as false positives but they keep going off over and over again. It is great for my pocketbook because it generates a lot of on-call action, but I would really prefer more sleep at two o'clock in the morning than dealing with false positives. I would say that the unified portal for managing Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is suitable for both teams as they are all in there. It would be great if they would stop moving things around and renaming things, which makes sense. The new XDR portal is pretty nice. Being able to have it central again inside of the regular Security Center without having to open up two windows is helpful. Overall, I think it is pretty good. There is always going to be something that could be improved, such as alerting and the ability to modify alerts would be a little bit helpful to have. Being able to add more data into the alerts and turn off alerts that are not as useful would be beneficial. It is hard to say what the quantitative impact the security exposure management feature has had on our company's security, because a lot of it is kind of subjective. I think we are sitting at around a fifty percent score still, and a lot of it is just kind of unusual circumstances that we cannot really implement without breaking the organization.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The best thing about Bitdefender is that it has got top-notch features and it is not tied to specific countries like some other antivirus tools."
"The product is easy to use."
"The solution has best-in-breed technology and scores very highly on efficacy rates."
"Bitdefender GravityZone Ultra Plus is highly stable."
"We moved from Sophos antivirus to Bitdefender GravityZone Extended Detection and Response (XDR), and ever since then, we've been very happy with the product."
"The best features in the product, as a reseller, are the integrated SOC; integration with a SOC is one of the advantages."
"The quarantine computer functionality is very good for me."
"The threat detection rates are exceptionally good, better than most of the competition."
"It doesn't cause the slowness of the system, which is one of the reasons why I like it."
"The EDR feature is most valuable."
"Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is a robust platform."
"The ransomware and malware protection is the most valuable feature."
"The automatic attack disruption feature in Microsoft Defender for Endpoint works great."
"It's a very solid security system, and the advanced hunting and everything really lets you dive deep into things."
"The attack surface reduction capabilities stand out as the feature I appreciate most, particularly the manner in which they can be customized to organizational functions, such as having separate policy elements and provisions for finance versus IT versus standard end users."
"Because it has been integrated with the OS, we get the entire software inventories, and we even get access to the registries. Those are the primary features."
 

Cons

"The solution seems to be pretty amateur for an EDR solution, and it should be more in sync in terms of features, with solutions such as FireEye and SentinelOne."
"Reporting in Bitdefender GravityZone Extended Detection and Response (XDR) could be improved."
"I would like automatic issue fixing for users without needing to physically open the PC. I'd prefer updates and fixes from the cloud to avoid headaches and save time."
"Adding a feature like Data Loss Prevention would be beneficial."
"The solution must improve its management features."
"Some customers would like additional features that aren't available through the current GravityZone platform."
"Detection and response is a disadvantage that could be improved."
"Some customers would like additional features that aren't available through the current GravityZone platform. Some feedback has been about the deletion of other software not going smoothly during the installation of Bitdefender, particularly the removal of previous software like Sophos."
"Microsoft Defender in the basic form is not very useful for managing the security environment. The free version is not capable of covering the needs of centralized management, EDR, and behavioral analysis. If you don't have the commercial version, you can't have centralized management and set up the policies and other things. Each client is a standalone installation, which is not useful for security in an enterprise model."
"The management console is something that can be improved."
"Microsoft Defender for Endpoint could improve by providing more user-friendly dashboards. They may be complicated for some."
"The frequency of the patching, and the frequency of the updates, are not included with the free version."
"The solution can be more user-friendly."
"Our team's knowledge of the solution needs to be improved, and Microsoft could do a better job conveying the necessary information to users. We could proactively use the tool more and explore capabilities we are not yet utilizing."
"I would like to see better integration with their other security products to give better visibility from a higher level."
"Microsoft Defender for Endpoint's licensing is confusing. It has conflicting information on the website. We also faced integration issues with other systems. It makes laptops slower than traditional antivirus systems."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We have purchased licenses for the use of Bitdefender GravityZone Ultra Plus. The price of the solution is reasonable but could be better."
"Bitdefender GravityZone Ultra Plus is pretty average, meaning it's not cheaper, but it's pretty good. It has average pricing."
"The solution is free."
"Compared to ESET, the pricing for Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is on the higher side."
"There is no license needed, the solution comes with Microsoft Windows."
"Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is more affordable compared to some other endpoint solutions."
"I recently switched from education to private business, and all I can say is that private business licensing from Microsoft is not cheap until you hit certain quantities or scale. That does not mean that it is not comparable to other industries. It is similar pricing, but it is still crazy to me how much you pay for a client. I feel it is high, but it is in line with other vendors."
"The pricing is competitive."
"The price was a problem for me three years ago, but they improved their E3, E5, and a la carte licensing. In other words, you have to get all of E5. That used to be a problem because you had E3, Defender, and guardrails, but you needed an E5 license to get the management suite and the analytics. It's more flexible now. You can switch from a la carte to the entire suite when it starts to make sense. It's becoming more economically competitive to go that route."
"The solution comes as a part of Windows 10 and it is covered under its license."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Comms Service Provider
14%
Educational Organization
8%
University
7%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Large Enterprise1
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business80
Midsize Enterprise40
Large Enterprise92
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Bitdefender GravityZone Ultra Plus?
Detection and response is a disadvantage that could be improved. It could be improved by the technical teams of Bitdefender GravityZone Extended Detection and Response (XDR). I think the detection ...
What is your primary use case for Bitdefender GravityZone Ultra Plus?
I work as a reseller for Bitdefender GravityZone Extended Detection and Response (XDR). My clients are using the Endpoint Risk Analytics feature. I use Bitdefender GravityZone Extended Detection an...
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 ...
 

Also Known As

GravityZone Ultra Plus
Microsoft Defender ATP, Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection, MS Defender for Endpoint, Microsoft Defender Antivirus
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Archdiocese, Northstar, SeSa, W&W Informatik, Yamaha Motor Europe
Petrofrac, Metro CSG, Christus Health
Find out what your peers are saying about Bitdefender GravityZone Extended Detection and Response (XDR) vs. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.