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Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks vs Malwarebytes 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

Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Net...
Ranking in Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
4th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
91
Ranking in other categories
Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (7th), Ransomware Protection (2nd), AI-Powered Cybersecurity Platforms (4th)
Malwarebytes
Ranking in Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
15th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
37
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) category, the mindshare of Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is 3.7%, down from 4.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Malwarebytes is 2.0%, up from 1.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
 

Featured Reviews

NiteshSharma - PeerSpot reviewer
Automated threat response and behavioral control improve security measures
I recommend adding a data loss prevention (DLP ( /categories/data-loss-prevention-dlp )) solution to Cortex XDR ( /categories/extended-detection-and-response-xdr ) by Palo Alto Networks. The inclusion of this feature would allow the application of DLP ( /categories/data-loss-prevention-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. Additionally, multi-tenancy and multi-cloud features are not available and should be considered for inclusion.
George Tsepelis - PeerSpot reviewer
A highly stable and easy-to-deploy product that keeps organizations safe
The product keeps our company safe Recently, a user tried to open an unsafe link, and Malwarebytes stopped them. They kept trying and trying, but they could not open it. Later, it turned out to be a fake Microsoft account. So far, we have faced no issues with the product. It is doing what it…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature is that you can select remote access of any machine for sandboxing."
"Best solution for avoiding security breaches, malware attacks, and other kinds of security issues."
"The solution helps find bugs, and it is safe to use to prevent attacks by hackers."
"Cortex XDR is a very capable solution for protecting large networks and a lot of endpoints. It's very useful because the automation is very high, and if you combine it with the features on Palo Alto firewalls, it provides very strong protection."
"The stability of the solution is very good. We have about 100 users on it right now, and we use it twice a week."
"The stability of this product is very good."
"The solution doesn't need a high level of technical training."
"Cortex XDR's most valuable feature is its intelligence-based dashboards."
"I was very satisfied with Malwarebytes in terms of its antivirus abilities."
"The protection is really good with Malwarebytes. It's also user friendly and quite easy to set up."
"It's very versatile and thorough."
"The central management of devices from different sites is a very good feature; this has made them much easier to manage."
"We don't have to spend any time remediating bad things happening: Not viruses nor ransomware."
"It gets the job done, and they are consistently updating it monthly."
"It allows us to have better knowledge of the way people use the tool and how we can improve their workflows."
"The platform is straightforward to install."
 

Cons

"It should support more mobile operating systems. That is one of the cons of their infrastructure right now."
"It is an enterprise-level solution. Its price could be less expensive."
"Product might have some bugs."
"The playbooks could be improved to include more functionalities or actions."
"It tends to do 99.9% of things. The only thing I'd like is single sign-on authentication into their cloud platform so that my users can be properly authenticated against it."
"The product's pricing needs improvement. They could provide more discounts. Additionally, the dashboard and control panel could be enhanced."
"Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR does not detect malicious activity like in other anti-virus solutions like Trend Micro and Windows with Cisco."
"Cortex does not offer an on-premises solution. However, some customers would prefer not to be on the cloud. It would be ideal if it could offer something on-prem as well."
"They could come up with better reporting capabilities."
"Requires increased efficiency in terms of detecting false positives."
"It's not good in search hunting."
"There are no built-in backups or integrated backup options, which could be an opportunity."
"Every once in a while, it gets clobbered by updates from other places. I don't think this should happen."
"The interface could be improved. Currently, you need to really dig around to find the elements you need."
"Malwarebytes can improve its network database. Malwarebytes can scan the files and registry. It can scan the system with a light agent. It will not impact the performance of your PC. You can do the full scan and database scan using the EDR, and the RAM and CPU consumption will not increase."
"The free version is effective, however, the paid version is pricey compared to it."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Very costly product."
"I feel it is fairly priced."
"It has a higher cost than other solutions, like CrowdStrike or Microsoft’s EDR tools, but it reduces the cost of our operations because it’s a new generation antivirus tool."
"It has a yearly renewal."
"Traps pays for itself within the first 16 months of a three-year subscription. This is attributed to OPEX savings, as security teams spent less time trying to identify and isolate malware for analysis as a result of a reduction in malware incidents, false positives, and breach avoidance."
"The solution is expensive. It's pricing is on a yearly-basis."
"I don't like that they have different types of licenses."
"When we first bought it, it was a bit expensive, but it was worth it. The licensing was straightforward."
"Its licensing is annual. There are no additional costs beyond the standard licensing fee."
"We expect to pay $1,000 USD a month, depending on the number of users."
"Malwarebytes is a cost-effective product."
"The licensing is per seat, with clients being a little less expensive than servers. If we need more licenses, we can accomplish that within a day. As Malwarebytes adds new features to their product, such as DNS filtering and a patching module, they want to charge us more even though we're a premium user, which isn't ideal."
"I would say that it's affordable. It costs much less than Sentinel One, CrowdStrike, or anything of that nature. But, at the same time, you are getting what you pay for. So I would say it's one of the best when you're comparing traditional NextGen AVs like Webroot that aren't the best in the bunch."
"The platform pricing is competitive with other antivirus products."
"The cost may be something in the ballpark of $20-25 a year per computer."
"I rate the tool's pricing a five out of ten."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
13%
University
11%
Government
6%
Comms Service Provider
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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...
What do you like most about Malwarebytes?
Ten times a day, improved signatures will be downloaded, so it is very up-to-date in terms of malware experience.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Malwarebytes?
I really hate the automatic rebilling without officially confirming it with me. It's an annoyance and they should at least confirm with me, like a month before they bill me.
What needs improvement with Malwarebytes?
It takes up too much space when it's trying to run in the background.
 

Also Known As

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

Overview

 

Sample Customers

CBI Health Group, University Honda, VakifBank
Knutson Construction
Find out what your peers are saying about Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks vs. Malwarebytes and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
860,592 professionals have used our research since 2012.