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Bitdefender Total Security vs Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
4.5
Businesses achieve 80% ROI with Bitdefender Total Security, benefiting from cost-effective protection and 20% time savings over three years.
Sentiment score
5.2
Cortex XDR enhances security and cost efficiency by reducing malware incidents, consolidating solutions, and ensuring data protection.
They appreciate the rich telemetry data from the solution, as it provides in-depth threat identification.
Cyber Security Manager at Welab bank
Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks helps to reduce my total cost of ownership significantly.
Detection and Response Consultant at Inovasys
I have seen a return on investment with Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks, as this product is offered at a minimal cost, and we can find a good ROI from it.
Cyber Security Information Security Specialist at MHM Holding GmbH
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
8.2
Bitdefender Total Security offers extensive support with responsive service, though faster response times and clearer communication are desired.
Sentiment score
6.9
Customer opinions on Cortex XDR support vary, praising expertise yet noting slow resolutions and regional language challenges.
The technical support is good, with a rating of eight out of ten.
Business Development & Marketing Manager at a tech vendor with 11-50 employees
The technical support from Palo Alto deserves a mark of ten because they reach out within an hour whenever assistance is needed.
Head of data centers at a non-profit with 10,001+ employees
There is no back and forth, and they know what we are asking for and come up with the best resolution for a solution.
Senior Process Expert at A.P. Moller - Maersk
If any of these services are missed, it becomes a problem in terms of support tickets, follow-up, or special configuration that needs to be done in the system.
Chief of IT Architecture at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.4
Bitdefender Total Security scales well for small businesses, praised for efficiency, easy device addition, and robust protection.
Sentiment score
7.5
Cortex XDR scales efficiently across diverse environments, enabling rapid deployment and seamless expansion for various company sizes.
The scalability of Bitdefender Total Security is impressive, and I would rate it a nine out of ten due to its strong capabilities.
Business Development & Marketing Manager at a tech vendor with 11-50 employees
Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks can be expanded anytime by purchasing another license without any issues related to scalability.
Head of data centers at a non-profit with 10,001+ employees
I think scalability for Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is good.
Threat Analyst II at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.7
Bitdefender Total Security is praised for its stability and reliability, with users experiencing smooth updates and no major issues.
Sentiment score
8.0
Cortex XDR is reliable, stable, easy to deploy, with some minor issues in updates and heavy data loads.
The stability of Bitdefender Total Security is high, and I would rate it at nine out of ten.
Business Development & Marketing Manager at a tech vendor with 11-50 employees
Cortex remains fast and responsive, even with increasing data and alerts.
Final Year Student at Gitam University
The thresholds we've seen on our firewall boxes at some instances reached 80% to 85%, but even at that level of utilization, we don't observe any latency or any issues reported with respect to accessing the application.
Senior Process Expert at A.P. Moller - Maersk
Cortex XDR is stable, offering high quality and reliable performance.
Cyber Security Manager at Welab bank
 

Room For Improvement

Bitdefender Total Security needs enhancements in stability, resource usage, ransomware flexibility, and better online privacy, support, and VPN options.
Cortex XDR needs better reporting, UI, integration, reduced resource use, enhanced support, and more automation for improved usability.
There is a commercial aspect where having an unlimited VPN would enhance the product.
Business Development & Marketing Manager at a tech vendor with 11-50 employees
VPN is becoming a lot more commonplace and needed, and some competitors are now including it as part of their offering.
MSP Partner Manager at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Improving reporting and dashboard customization, along with the addition of real-time and exportable reports, would help SOC teams greatly.
Final Year Student at Gitam University
The inclusion of this feature would allow the application of DLP policies alongside antivirus policies via a single agent and console, making it more competitive as other OEMs often offer DLP solutions as part of their antivirus products.
Pre-Sales Architect at network techlab
If the per GB data could be provided at a certain level free of cost or at the same cost which the customer is taking for the entire bundle, that would be better.
Cyber Security Information Security Specialist at MHM Holding GmbH
 

Setup Cost

Bitdefender Total Security offers value with moderate pricing, strong features, and flexible license options, despite mixed affordability opinions.
Cortex XDR is costly but offers flexible licensing and robust security, with discounts available for long-term commitments.
The pricing is considered to be a good value for money.
Business Development & Marketing Manager at a tech vendor with 11-50 employees
The pricing on SentinelOne is far more reasonable and cheaper than Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks.
Consultant at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
I would say it is definitely not a cheap product, considering how mature it is and how scalable all Palo Alto products are together.
Senior Process Expert at A.P. Moller - Maersk
Cortex XDR is perceived as expensive by some customers, yet offers dynamic pricing.
Cyber Security Manager at Welab bank
 

Valuable Features

Bitdefender Total Security offers comprehensive protection and enhancement features, including a VPN, password manager, and centralized management console.
Cortex XDR offers AI-driven threat detection, seamless integration, and intuitive features for robust, adaptive endpoint and network protection.
It also offers robust protection against next-generation threats like ransomware and phishing.
Business Development & Marketing Manager at a tech vendor with 11-50 employees
It stops the endpoints from being exploited.
MSP Partner Manager at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
It incorporates AI for normal behavior detection, distinguishing unusual operations.
Cyber Security Manager at Welab bank
The product provides automation responses in case of a threat attack, severity assessments, centralized manageability, and comprehensive compliance features, resulting in reduced costs.
Pre-Sales Architect at network techlab
It includes machine learning to easily analyze data and detect complex threats across endpoints, networks, or clouds.
Final Year Student at Gitam University
 

Categories and Ranking

Bitdefender Total Security
Ranking in Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
17th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Net...
Ranking in Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
5th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
103
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (8th), Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (7th), Ransomware Protection (2nd), AI-Powered Cybersecurity Platforms (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) category, the mindshare of Bitdefender Total Security is 2.9%, up from 2.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is 3.3%, down from 4.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks3.3%
Bitdefender Total Security2.9%
Other93.8%
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
 

Featured Reviews

Robin Cook - PeerSpot reviewer
MSP Partner Manager at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Protects personal devices effectively and prevents access to fraudulent websites
The only thing that it does not include, which I would like to see in it, is the VPN. If VPN was included in Bitdefender Total Security, that would be a really valuable feature to add to the product. The VPN is handy, but to pay quite a lot more on top is costly. VPN is becoming a lot more commonplace and needed, and some competitors are now including it as part of their offering. I have no intention of moving away from Bitdefender Total Security, but I just think that could be quite a valuable addition to have as part of the product.
ABHISHEK_SINGH - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Process Expert at A.P. Moller - Maersk
Gained full visibility and streamlined threat detection through behavior-based insights and AI integration
Initially, we got to have a lot of false positives when we onboarded, but nowadays it's quite smooth. We have fine-tuned our security policies and allowed different levels of policies to get rid of those false positives. Currently, we are getting a fairly good amount of incidents that are not false positives or benign, but actionable items. The process is streamlined. In the initial days, the operations used to get involved in a lot of benign and other activities, but now the process is streamlined. We are leveraging the auto-detection and remediation plans. The operations teams are now more involved in other business roles as well, not just looking into the logs and fetching out what's happening there. They have fixed a lot of things. Initially, they didn't have IAC code drift detection, cloud posture management, or security posture management, but they have those now. They purchased different vendors and did a merger with that. They have now Prisma Cloud that gets integrated and now they are working with Cortex Cloud. Everything that was negative has now been addressed, and the product altogether looks to be in a very better and mature shape now. Currently, it's more or less detecting the workloads with AI-based best practices. Since most organizations are consuming AI agents and other things, we are looking forward to seeing what other feature enhancements Palo Alto can support in that.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
19%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
5%
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise2
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business43
Midsize Enterprise20
Large Enterprise44
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Bitdefender Total Security?
I found Bitdefender Total Security easy to use. The interface is straightforward, and it runs silently in the background.
What needs improvement with Bitdefender Total Security?
The only thing that it does not include, which I would like to see in it, is the VPN. If VPN was included in Bitdefender Total Security, that would be a really valuable feature to add to the produc...
Cortex XDR by Palo Alto vs. Sentinel One
Cortex XDR by Palo Alto vs. SentinelOne SentinelOne offers very detailed specifics with regard to risks or attacks. The ability to reverse damage caused by ransomware with minimal interruptions to...
Comparing CrowdStrike Falcon to Cortex XDR (Palo Alto)
Cortex XDR by Palo Alto vs. CrowdStrike Falcon Both Cortex XDR and Crowd Strike Falcon offer cloud-based solutions that are very scalable, secure, and user-friendly. Cortex XDR by Palo Alto offers ...
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...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Cyvera, Cortex XDR, Palo Alto Networks Traps
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
CBI Health Group, University Honda, VakifBank
Find out what your peers are saying about Bitdefender Total Security vs. Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.