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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)
60th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
Authentication Systems (40th), Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (38th)
Microsoft Defender for Endp...
Ranking in Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
197
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (1st), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (2nd), Anti-Malware Tools (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) category, the mindshare of ESET EDR/XDR is 0.6%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is 10.5%, down from 14.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
 

Featured Reviews

PB
Achieves robust data protection and reliable security with the help of advanced automation features
We promote customers to purchase our ESET EDR_XDR and Data Loss Prevention (DLP) solutions. In our office, with about one hundred and fifty people, we use ESET EDR_XDR personally to protect data from unauthorized threats and gain early awareness to protect against cyber attacks The cost and basic…
AnuragSrivastava - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides detailed visibility into threats but the ability to add exceptions needs improvement
One major item for improvement is the ability to add exceptions. We can add some exceptions, but not at the level we need to. The second major area for improvement involves enhanced capabilities for different operating systems or platforms. That is, even though we have coverage for different operating systems or platforms such as Linux, we don't get all of the controls and enhanced capabilities that are available with Windows devices. Reporting could also be improved because, at present, we get limited results at times. For example, in an environment with more than 100,000 devices, you may just get 10,000 results when you run a report.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution is easy to use."
"The initial setup of ESET EDR_XDR is very simple, easy to deploy, and manage."
"The technical support from Microsoft is very good. We are part of the Microsoft Suite, and from being part of this we have consistent news regarding Microsoft Defender for Endpoint."
"Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is a comprehensive and scalable solution for protecting on-premises and hybrid infrastructure."
"Defender for Endpoint has significantly improved our security posture."
"The solution's threat protection is mostly AI and machine-learning based. That is the most important feature of the product. It also offers centralized management so I can remotely manage devices."
"This product is flexible, and it is very easy to get updates from the Microsoft website."
"In terms of the installation, ease of use, and user interface, Defender has been great so far."
"We had certain compliance and usage issues. For example, our company wanted to go with CIS, but we didn't have a proper way of measuring whether the endpoints have the right standards in place or whether they were compliant with CIS. Microsoft Defender was like a one-stop for most things because it gave us the vulnerability and patching scores so that our vulnerability management teams can focus on covering up the vulnerabilities and the patching team can check the vulnerable versions and deploy the right versions."
"We can run the virus scan across our entire environment."
 

Cons

"The solution could improve how it scours each website."
"ESET EDR_XDR needs to conduct more research and development and innovations in early detection of attacks."
"Where we stand right now, compared to other products that are there in the market, they still have to work on their threat intelligence and the overall maturity of detecting the malware."
"In terms of improvement, they update the platform it seems quite a bit. Every month something is in a new spot or something changed somewhere. There should be less of that."
"We need better support to learn about the product. Documentation is available, but we need some kind of training program so that we can get a better understanding of the product."
"The integration and effectiveness of email security could be better. It's already built-in to the solution and checks emails, scans the links they contain etc."
"In terms of improvements for their technical support, a focus on enhancing response times could be beneficial."
"The initial setup can be a bit complex."
"There are likely some technical improvements or features that could be added, however, I cannot say, off the top of my head, what they would be."
"Microsoft Defender for Endpoint could improve by providing more user-friendly dashboards. They may be complicated for some."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I rate the solution’s pricing a six or seven out of ten.."
"Microsoft has different plans for buying this product. The price depends on the configuration of the full set of products that you buy and on the licensing program in your contract."
"The license for Microsoft Windows covers Microsoft Defender for Endpoint."
"It is free."
"The price is higher than others because it is doing more than what the others are doing."
"Most people don't realize M365/E5 licenses are an amazing deal. They think "Oh, it's expensive," and I'll ask, "Compared to what?" If you don't have it you will have to buy licenses for multiple products to fill the same security space that you would have gotten with the Microsoft product. Go figure out how much it costs you per product, per user, and then come back and tell me how things add up financially."
"The solution comes as a part of Windows 10 and it is covered under its license."
"Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is an expensive solution."
"We are using the free version."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
22%
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Educational Organization
24%
Computer Software Company
12%
Government
7%
Financial Services Firm
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with ESET EDR/XDR?
ESET EDR_XDR needs to conduct more research and development and innovations in early detection of attacks. Improvements in preventive maintenance and early detection of cyber attacks are necessary ...
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: April 2025.
851,491 professionals have used our research since 2012.