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CylanceOPTICS vs WatchGuard EPDR comparison

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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
4.9
Cortex XDR reduces security incidents, personnel needs, and costs, offering quick ROI, enhanced performance, and competitive pricing.
Sentiment score
3.2
Users saw positive ROI from CylanceOPTICS with improved threat detection, cost savings, faster responses, and a user-friendly interface.
Sentiment score
3.7
WatchGuard EPDR optimizes operations, reduces costs, enhances security, and provides efficient endpoint management, especially valued in Latin America and schools.
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
In Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks, most of the remediation is automated and the accuracy is quite good.
Network Security Engineer at Cyberwell Solution
Many customers observe a return on investment with CylanceOPTICS since it works effectively without the need for an internet connection.
Account Manager at Teksalah
I can say that knowing you have a product like WatchGuard EPDR that's working 24/7 to help protect students in a school is good for ROI.
IT Manager at Redeemer Baptist School
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.0
Cortex XDR support is effective and fast but faces issues with language, delays, and high costs, yet generally satisfactory.
Sentiment score
5.2
CylanceOPTICS' customer service is mixed, with effective higher-tier support but lacking initial assistance and geographical challenges.
Sentiment score
6.2
WatchGuard EPDR's customer service is praised for knowledge and resolution speed, but some experience inefficiencies and availability issues.
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
When it comes to technical support provided by BlackBerry, my experience has been somewhat slow; if a problem arises, we often have to wait for a reply.
Account Manager at Teksalah
They create a case, tell me to refer to articles, and if not resolved, they take a remote session to solve the issue.
Solution Architect at Simvicitsolutions
Technical support for Panda Adaptive Defense 360 is provided by the reseller, and they also do preventive maintenance yearly.
Section Head, Information Technology at a transportation company with 201-500 employees
The technical support from WatchGuard would rate at about an eight on a scale of 1 to 10, where one is the worst technical support and 10 is the best technical support.
Citrix Solutions Architect at Digital Generation
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
Cortex XDR is scalable, supports diverse enterprises, integrates with endpoints, and enables easy expansion with cloud infrastructure.
Sentiment score
4.5
CylanceOPTICS is praised for scalability but faces mixed reviews, especially with larger enterprises and virtual machine demands.
Sentiment score
7.6
WatchGuard EPDR offers excellent scalability and integration, efficiently supporting diverse users across platforms, particularly small to medium businesses.
You can onboard 10,000 endpoints in just hours, which demonstrates the excellent scalability of this product.
Assistant Security Architect at Cloudnomics
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
WatchGuard EPDR is very competitive regarding its scalability.
Citrix Solutions Architect at Digital Generation
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.0
Cortex XDR is highly regarded for stability, reliable performance, and well-received updates, despite minor occasional disruptions.
Sentiment score
9.2
CylanceOPTICS is praised for its stability, reliability, and compatibility, excelling over McAfee despite minor issues with SentinelOne.
Sentiment score
8.3
WatchGuard EPDR and Panda Security Adaptive Defense are stable, with high user satisfaction, minor update issues, and effective malware detection.
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
Regarding stability, I have no complaints as CylanceOPTICS has proven to be totally stable, and as of now, we have not encountered any instability.
Account Manager at Teksalah
It is very stable with no hanging problems.
Solution Architect at Simvicitsolutions
WatchGuard EPDR is a very stable solution and is not resource intensive.
Citrix Solutions Architect at Digital Generation
The stability is approximately a seven to eight out of ten.
IT System Support Administrator at a non-profit with 501-1,000 employees
 

Room For Improvement

Cortex XDR requires enhancements in UI, integration, reporting, and pricing, while addressing false positives and improving automation and mobile support.
CylanceOPTICS needs enhancements in threat automation, detection, and management, facing issues with false positives and scalability.
WatchGuard EPDR needs improved integration, data protection, intuitive administration, DNS security, stability, deployment, reporting, and lower processor load.
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
Whenever a ticket is raised by one of our customers, we have to wait for responses which can take a whole day due to the time zone differences, and a local team could expedite this process.
Account Manager at Teksalah
Panda Adaptive Defense 360 is not compatible with certain network devices like access points, switches, or routers, which would be an area for improvement.
IT System Support Administrator at a non-profit with 501-1,000 employees
Other firewalls allow adding categories and in-app controls which WatchGuard currently lacks.
Solution Architect at Simvicitsolutions
An area for improvement would be the software deployment to seamlessly deploy software packages across multiple machines simultaneously.
Citrix Solutions Architect at Digital Generation
 

Setup Cost

Cortex XDR offers flexible pricing from $55 to $90 per endpoint annually, considered cost-effective for its advanced features.
CylanceOPTICS pricing is competitive and affordable, with annual costs under $100 per client, often bundled with services.
WatchGuard EPDR offers flexible subscription pricing that's seen as reasonable, with advanced features justifying higher costs.
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
In terms of cost, I find CylanceOPTICS to be reasonable; it's not overly expensive, nor is it at the lower end of the market—it's positioned in the medium range.
Account Manager at Teksalah
It is worth the money and provides good return on investment.
The pricing is slightly high, but the product quality justifies it.
Solution Architect at Simvicitsolutions
Regarding pricing, I am not sure because I did not compare it with other antivirus; maybe it is pricey.
Section Head, Information Technology at a transportation company with 201-500 employees
 

Valuable Features

Cortex XDR provides advanced threat detection with AI analytics, real-time blocking, and seamless integration for enhanced security.
CylanceOPTICS provides AI-driven threat detection with auto-containment, script control, and behavior analytics, offering trusted, real-time security solutions.
WatchGuard EPDR simplifies threat detection and enhances IT productivity with advanced search, real-time insights, and robust endpoint protection.
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
The cloud of WatchGuard lets me see all my devices, updating me to minute levels with detailed information, such as patch status and vulnerabilities.
Solution Architect at Simvicitsolutions
The detection capabilities for malicious activities are effective.
IT System Support Administrator at a non-profit with 501-1,000 employees
The EDR has a high accuracy rate with only a few false positives.
 

Categories and Ranking

Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Net...
Sponsored
Ranking in Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
7th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
108
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (5th), Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (6th), Ransomware Protection (2nd), AI-Powered Cybersecurity Platforms (2nd)
CylanceOPTICS
Ranking in Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
53rd
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
5.2
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
WatchGuard EPDR
Ranking in Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
13th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
37
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (10th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) category, the mindshare of Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is 3.4%, down from 4.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of CylanceOPTICS is 0.6%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of WatchGuard EPDR is 1.8%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks3.4%
WatchGuard EPDR1.8%
CylanceOPTICS0.6%
Other94.2%
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
 

Featured Reviews

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.
GauthamVakapalli - PeerSpot reviewer
Account Manager at Teksalah
Provides reliable threat detection and response but requires better regional support
One improvement I suggest for CylanceOPTICS is more robust marketing efforts from their side. Many customers gravitate towards popular EDRs like CrowdStrike or Sophos, largely due to better marketing, despite BlackBerry Cylance being a superior product. The lack of marketing from distributors or vendors is a critical area where they are falling short. Apart from marketing, it would be beneficial for CylanceOPTICS to establish a dedicated team in GCC since I coordinate with the UK team to handle support. Whenever a ticket is raised by one of our customers, we have to wait for responses which can take a whole day due to the time zone differences, and a local team could expedite this process. In terms of scalability, CylanceOPTICS is indeed easy to scale, but one issue I face is related to visibility; while it is scalable, the security teams struggle with limited visibility as we need to gather data from multiple sources.
NJ
Section Head, Information Technology at a transportation company with 201-500 employees
Using cloud-based console for software inventory management and email alerts
I have no idea if I use some automation functions. I can't find any disadvantages; maybe that is because many companies haven't used it. I would prefer to see some features such as AI in antivirus solutions. I appreciate reporting, but it could be better with monthly reporting or auto-generated monthly reports.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Healthcare Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Hospitality Company
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business44
Midsize Enterprise20
Large Enterprise47
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise4
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business26
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise2
 

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. ...
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 th...
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,...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Blackberry Optics?
In terms of cost, I find CylanceOPTICS to be reasonable; it's not overly expensive, nor is it at the lower end of the...
What needs improvement with Blackberry Optics?
One improvement I suggest for CylanceOPTICS is more robust marketing efforts from their side. Many customers gravitat...
What is your primary use case for Blackberry Optics?
One of the main use cases for CylanceOPTICS is endpoint detection and response, which even works without internet, un...
What needs improvement with WatchGuard EPDR?
I would not be able to say what areas of WatchGuard EPDR have improved, as I do not work with the product myself so m...
What is your primary use case for WatchGuard EPDR?
My clients use Panda Adaptive Defense 360 for security purposes.
 

Also Known As

Cyvera, Cortex XDR, Palo Alto Networks Traps
No data available
Panda Adaptive Defense 360
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

CBI Health Group, University Honda, VakifBank
Cerdant, Washoe County School District
Indra, Valea AB, Fineit, Aemcom, Data Solutions INC., Gloucestershire NHS, Golden Star Resources Ltd, Hispania Racing Team, Instituto Dos Museus e da ConserÊo, Escuelas Pias Provincia Emaus, Axiom Housing Association, Municipality of Bjuv, Lesedi Nuclear, Mullsj_ municipality, Eng. skolan Norr AB, Dalakraft AB, Peter Green Haulage Ltd
Find out what your peers are saying about CylanceOPTICS vs. WatchGuard EPDR and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
884,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.