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ESET EDR/XDR vs Microsoft Defender for Endpoint comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

ESET EDR/XDR
Ranking in Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
28th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
4.7
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
Authentication Systems (18th), Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (23rd)
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 February 2026, in the Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) category, the mindshare of ESET EDR/XDR is 1.1%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is 7.3%, down from 11.1% 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 Endpoint7.3%
ESET EDR/XDR1.1%
Other91.6%
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
 

Featured Reviews

GirdharMishra - PeerSpot reviewer
Program Manager at iONE IT Solutions
Centralized monitoring has improved threat visibility and reduced incident response time
In terms of valuable features in ESET EDR/XDR, we focus on endpoint device management as well as for the firewall team, including our log analysis and monitoring the firewall, which are three significant functions for us. ESET EDR/XDR has automated threat detection that gives us real-time incident alerts, and it helps us proactively receive and work on incidents that could have an impact. Regarding the usefulness of ESET EDR/XDR's behavior-based analysis in detecting potential breaches, we have identified some files or configuration files that should remain static, and if any changes occur without proper change management, we are able to identify those changes, including detecting zero-day attacks. The integration of threat intelligence feeds has helped our response strategies, as we are using Oracle OCA-based data analysis, and we have integrated it so that logs are forwarded to our SIEM, allowing us to analyze the data effectively. I evaluate the impact of centralized management on our security operations as very useful because it eliminates the need to log into individual systems to find sources, allowing us to identify all types of risks and vulnerabilities from a single desk.
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

"ESET EDR/XDR has automated threat detection that gives us real-time incident alerts, and it helps us proactively receive and work on incidents that could have an impact."
"ESET EDR/XDR has automated threat detection that gives us real-time incident alerts, and it helps us proactively receive and work on incidents that could have an impact."
"The solution is easy to use."
"It is pretty easy to install without any hassles, and ESET EDR_XDR has its own cloud portal where everything is available."
"The initial setup of ESET EDR_XDR is very simple, easy to deploy, and manage."
"It is stable and easy to use. Everything is okay, and there are no performance issues."
"The installation is straightforward."
"We apply the DLP policies across a range of endpoints and it is very accurate when reporting vulnerabilities, including those in email attachments."
"The feature I find most valuable in Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is that it blocks the process and keeps the endpoint from getting infected with malware."
"The integration with all variations of Microsoft Defender, for Endpoint, 365, and Cloud is valuable."
"Provides good security features and you can view it in the central console."
"The integration of Defender, Security Center, and the Microsoft compliance score, is the feature we use most to share the results with our clients and to create a roadmap together."
"Defender for Endpoint has significantly improved our security posture."
 

Cons

"ESET EDR_XDR needs to conduct more research and development and innovations in early detection of attacks."
"The solution could improve how it scours each website."
"The memory and CPU footprint can affect performance. It sometimes slows down the CPU performance."
"We encountered some misbehavior between Microsoft Office Suite and Defender. We had issues of old macros being blocked and some stuff going around the usage of Win32 APIs. There is some improvement between the Office products and Defender, and there is a bunch of stuff that you can configure in your antivirus solutions, but you have several baselines, such as security baselines for Edge, security baselines for Defender, and security baselines for MDM. You have configuration profiles as well. So, there a lot of parts where we can configure our antivirus solution, and we're getting conflicting configurations. This is the major part with which we're struggling in this solution. We are having calls and calls with Microsoft for getting rid of all configuration conflicts that we have. That's really the part that needs to be improved."
"It would be nice to have a paid upgrade that would provide additional screening of the day-to-day activities."
"Defender for Endpoint is complex, and the documentation is detailed. At the same time, it's hard to navigate sometimes. You have to go through tons of documentation to find what you want."
"It can get a bit laggy sometimes. Other than that, we don't have any issues. They constantly tweak it and fix it up based on users' feedback. It has improved a lot over the past four years. Defender for Endpoint never really used to be a good endpoint security solution, but over the past couple of years, Microsoft has invested heavily in it. So, it has come a long way in all aspects of endpoint security. If they want to make it better, they should just continue investing in the current path of what they've been doing over the past couple of years."
"They should bring back the feature of a dedicated proxy device for communication to the cloud. As of now, all the agents are required to send the logs directly to the cloud. There should be a solution where you can put a proxy and all the logs are consolidated, like a forwarder."
"Its interface can be improved a little bit. We would like to have some sort of centralization. It should have something like a central server that is managing all the other clients. There are solutions from Kaspersky or ESET NOD32 that are really doing this kind of thing currently. We would like to see something similar from Microsoft."
"The central console needs improvement. Both McAfee and Symantec antivirus have dashboards. These integrate with a server and work on my antivirus or some other product. However, with Microsoft Defender, you use Microsoft Group Policy Object. Defender does not provide a central console. Therefore, if you implement Defender, then maybe use another tool for the central view."
"There are still some things where I think they don't quite match up or are a bit hard to find or understand."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I rate the solution’s pricing a six or seven out of ten.."
"As we operate in the educational sector, we are eligible for an educational discount."
"Microsoft Defender is an expensive product in my country."
"The base price for an E5 license, which includes Enterprise Mobility + Security E5, is $57 per user per month."
"We have seen ROI. Most of the other competing alternatives will cost up to around $30 per user device. We average 400 devices. Therefore, the amount that we save each year is 400 times $30."
"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 cost is high for E5 licenses, but if we go with the E3 license, most of the features are not covered."
"Because Microsoft Defender comes as an add-on, it can be a bit expensive if you're trying to buying it separately. Another option is to upgrade, but the enterprise licenses for Microsoft can also be quite a bit pricey. Overall, the cost of Microsoft Defender compared to that of other endpoint detection solutions is slightly higher."
"The solution is free."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
15%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
8%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business80
Midsize Enterprise40
Large Enterprise92
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ESET EDR/XDR?
I find the price of ESET EDR/XDR to be competitive to the market, which is a reasonable aspect for us.
What needs improvement with ESET EDR/XDR?
I just deploy and forget it, so I don't get into much detail about improvements. The major setback we face with ESET EDR_XDR is related to costing limitations.
What advice do you have for others considering ESET EDR/XDR?
We might get good pricing one year, and then the next year there could be significant pricing issues. Integration with ESET EDR_XDR is easy, though we don't integrate it with many products. It is p...
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

ESET Secure Authentication
Microsoft Defender ATP, Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection, MS Defender for Endpoint, Microsoft Defender Antivirus
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Mitsubishi Motors, Canon
Petrofrac, Metro CSG, Christus Health
Find out what your peers are saying about ESET EDR/XDR vs. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,733 professionals have used our research since 2012.