ESET Endpoint Protection Platform vs Microsoft Forefront [EOL] comparison

ESET and Microsoft are both solutions in the Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) category. Additionally, 91% of ESET users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 85% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between ESET Endpoint Protection Platform and Microsoft Forefront [EOL] based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about CrowdStrike, Microsoft, SentinelOne and others in Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP).

To learn more, read our detailed Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) Report (Updated: June 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)

June 2026

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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...

Featured Reviews

ABHISHEK_SINGH

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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Marko-Stojanovic

Owner at Online IT

Cloud-based protection has simplified daily client support and keeps threats under control

The problems that we are facing with policy adoption include slow adoption, as it takes more than five minutes to adopt policy on client computers. ESET Network Attack Protection sometimes helps in reducing network-level intrusions, but sometimes it prevents local devices on the network, which are well-known and good devices, from being recognized, treating them as a threat. So it requires more administration than usual. ESET could implement a good solution for remote support in ESET Endpoint Protection Platform for improvement in the future. Since you have the cloud console, ESET could have something similar to AnyDesk or TeamViewer, but from ESET.

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it_user772620

Systems Consultant at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees

There is simplicity in the management of the product compared to its competitors

Web proxy services along with the integrated firewall VPN Intrusion prevention Malware inspection URL filtering The simplicity of managing the product compared to its competitors, like BIG-IP F5 and Citrix NetScaler The ease of deploying mobile functionality through the web proxy has…

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It'll not slow down your system when compared to others."

"Once you become familiar with it, Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is a more powerful tool and I would say that I prefer it over MDE because it is a stronger tool for me."

"Cortex is the best tool for endpoint detection, and I have used it to verify hashes or domains to identify malicious activity, trigger playbooks that automate and gather endpoint logs, block malicious processes, and update incident tickets, showcasing end-to-end processes with automation in investigation and reducing the analysis workflow."

"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 protection offered by this product is good, as is the endpoint reporting."

"The solution allows control over the user and his machine through Cortex XDR security policies."

"The tool's use cases are relevant to security."

"The anti-exploit is impenetrable."

More Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks pros

"We are managed risk providers, a MRSP, and we have a partnership with ESET, which is a good solution and perfect for small and medium-sized organizations."

"The software and hardware inventory that you can create by using the console is valuable. It is also very light on hardware resources."

"The stability is good."

"Overall, I like this product and I am satisfied with what it does."

"The protection and device control features are the most valuable, and I found its user interface and integration pretty good, as it is very user friendly as compared to other products."

"I really like the solution and how it works."

"Endpoint Security currently meets our needs; all of our devices are integrated with the solution, and it is working so well that we renewed the contract for two more years."

"It was amazing."

More ESET Endpoint Protection Platform pros

"It cost us approx. US$250k to set up and is roughly US$200 day to day."

"The snort engine, which is the muscle behind the Sourcefire IPS technology, has always been a joy for me to work with."

"Performance wise, it's one of the most effective anti-virus solutions we have ever used."

"Product has been enough for our customers’ requirements."

"The simplicity of managing the product compared to its competitors, like BIG-IP F5 and Citrix NetScaler, is a valuable feature."

"To date we have not had a virus infecting a desktop with Forefront installed - this is the main reason why we will not use another anti-virus solution."

"It has automated the entire user and group management process, thus reducing manual work and help desk cost to a great extent."

"Our ROI is that we can provision users accounts within 30 minutes of them being put into the system."

Cons

"The solution should offer more dashboards and they should be better customized."

"We would also like to have advanced tech protection and email scanning."

"Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is a strong tool, but it is true that digesting information sometimes makes the tool go a little bit slower."

"It is not easy to sell Cortex XDR, not because it isn't a good tool. Its marketing needs to be improved."

"We had a problem with getting our older endpoints up to date, but their newest updates have been really good. I've been pleased with it in terms of what our needs are. It's doing what we want it to do."

"The only issues that we have are, one the cost, two the dashboard is not very intuitive, even though you can drill down within the dashboard, we usually have to gather information from other sources to determine locations and if its a false positive."

"They are charging for Network Traffic Analyzer (NTA) services, so 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."

"I would like to see improvement in the tool's user interface, particularly in the area of managing alerts and providing more reporting capabilities."

More Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks cons

"The solution lacks the automation I need."

"The solution could have a more user-friendly interface."

"The new versions only support no operative systems in Mac and do not support operative systems."

"Everything has some kind of room for improvement."

"In terms of areas for improvement, I didn't see any from ESET Endpoint Security because what's important is that it works as an antivirus solution. I do find its pricing expensive here in Hungary, so if the price could be lower, that would be good. ESET Endpoint Security is an antivirus, so it only needs to stop the virus. If it had other features, I wouldn't need it. Every program or solution has specific functions and in this case, ESET Endpoint Security is worth it as an antivirus, though in the next release of the solution, it would be better if there's some improvement in its antivirus database."

"I would like for the solution to be simpler to understand. While it satisfies our needs at the moment, it is really only understandable to those with a strong computer background."

"The problems that we are facing with policy adoption include slow adoption, as it takes more than five minutes to adopt policy on client computers."

"When users renew licenses, they should offer a discount."

More ESET Endpoint Protection Platform cons

"Web user interface from 1990s. Users laugh at it."

"One of the biggest pain points was that username changes were not automated and caused problems."

"I’d personally like to see some additional customization capabilities in the reporting section."

"More out of box connectors and conducting awareness of the product along with more marketing."

"When using Forefront in a domain network, it is quite difficult to create the group policies needed for definition/engine updates using WSUS."

"Without a local Windows Update Server, the client seems to update very slowly and may take a lot of time."

"The product has unfortunately reach its End-Of-Life (EOL) at Microsoft and is now replaced by several products."

"Pretty awful. A large initial investment with something that could have been done by one person full time over six years with less hassle."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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 cost of Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is $55 to $90 USD per endpoint per month."

"The return on investment is from the user side because we have seen the performance of it increase the delivery time of the product if we are using too many web-based and on-premise applications. In indirect ways, we saw the return of investment in terms of performance and user satisfaction increase."

"The tool's price is moderate."

"It's way too expensive, but security is expensive. You pay for your licensing, and then you pay for someone to monitor the stuff."

"The pricing is a little bit on the expensive side."

"I did PoCs on products called Cylance and CrowdStrike. Although, I consider these products and they were also good, when it come to cost and budgetary factors, Traps has been proven to be better than the other two products. It is quite cost-effective and delivers all the entire solution which we require."

"The solution has one subscription for endpoint protection and one subscription for detection and response. The two licenses combined give you the BRO version."

More Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks pricing and cost advice

"I pay about $100 a year, so it's really cheap. I'm sure that if I need something else beyond more technical support, I'll need to pay more."

"There is a license required to use ESET Endpoint Security."

"The price of ESET Endpoint Antivirus is fair compared to the performance of other solutions."

"It is not expensive, but it is also not inexpensive."

"The price is okay and I don't have any issues with it."

"I'd have to look through my records, however, we paid maybe $600 to $1000 for this product."

"It is not expensive; the pricing model is fine."

"The license is annually, and the price is low compared to competitors."

More ESET Endpoint Protection Platform pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Construction Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Comms Service Provider

14%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

Construction Company

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	46
Midsize Enterprise	20
Large Enterprise	52

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	69
Midsize Enterprise	18
Large Enterprise	21

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	2
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	2

Questions from the Community

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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...

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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,...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ESET LiveGuard Advanced?

The pricing, setup cost, and licensing of ESET Endpoint Protection Platform are good with no issues. The price is ver...

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What needs improvement with ESET LiveGuard Advanced?

ESET Endpoint Protection Platform could be improved by offering integrations and user-friendly dashboards that could ...

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What is your primary use case for ESET LiveGuard Advanced?

My main use case for ESET Endpoint Protection Platform is preventing malware and preventing outside attackers. When a...

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Comparisons

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CrowdStrike Falcon vs Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks

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Cortex XSIAM vs Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks

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Symantec Endpoint Security vs Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks

June 2026

Download Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks product report

Buyer's Guide

ESET Endpoint Protection Platform

June 2026

ESET Endpoint Protection Platform report

Download ESET Endpoint Protection Platform product report

Buyer's Guide

Universal Access Gateways

May 2026

Download Microsoft Forefront [EOL] product report

Also Known As

Cyvera, Cortex XDR, Palo Alto Networks Traps

Smart Security, ESET PROTECT Advanced, ESET LiveGuard Advanced, ESET PROTECT Platform

MS Forefront [EOL]

Overview

Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks provides advanced threat detection with AI-driven endpoint protection and seamless integration, ensuring multi-layered security and automatic threat response.

Cortex XDR is designed to safeguard endpoints against malware and suspicious activities. It offers advanced threat detection and response capabilities using behavioral analysis, AI, and machine learning. It seamlessly integrates with security infrastructures, providing endpoint security, firewall integration, and enhanced visibility in both cloud-based and on-premises environments.

What are the key features of Cortex XDR?

Advanced Threat Detection: Uses AI and machine learning for proactive threat identification.
Multi-layered Security: Combines various security measures for comprehensive protection.
Endpoint Protection: Safeguards against malware and exploits.
Behavioral Analysis: Monitors suspicious activity for early detection.
Automatic Threat Response: Automates responses to neutralize threats.

What benefits should users expect?

Ease of Use: Simplifies security management with intuitive design.
Resource Efficiency: Minimizes impact on system resources.
Integration Capabilities: Works well with existing security setups.
Reduced Analyst Workload: Automates processes to decrease manual intervention.

Organizations in diverse sectors deploy Cortex XDR to protect against malware, leveraging its advanced threat detection capabilities. Its integration with existing security infrastructures appeals to those seeking comprehensive protection in both cloud and on-premises environments, providing enhanced visibility and threat intelligence.

Palo Alto Networks

ESET Endpoint Protection Platform offers comprehensive security with minimal CPU and RAM impact, effective malware protection, and seamless updates, making it ideal for organizations needing reliable digital security.

ESET Endpoint Protection Platform is highly regarded for its effective ThreatSense technology, advanced firewall, and central control capabilities. Users benefit from its lightweight design and efficient notification system, enjoying customizable management through its management console. Despite its strengths, there are opportunities to enhance malware repair, update processes, and AI integration. The platform's compatibility across operating systems and integration with systems like ESET PROTECT allows organizations to effectively secure endpoints and servers against threats like malware, viruses, and ransomware.

What are the key features of ESET Endpoint Protection Platform?

Minimal CPU and RAM Impact: Designed for efficient use of resources.
ThreatSense Technology: Provides reliable threat detection and response.
Advanced Firewall: Offers enhanced network security.
Central Control: Allows for organized management from a single point.
Cloud Integration: Seamlessly integrates with cloud services for expanded functionality.

What benefits should users look for in reviews?

Reliable Malware Protection: Ensures effective defense against diverse threats.
Seamless Updates: Facilitates stress-free upgrading to maintain security.
Lightweight and Efficient: Provides strong security without compromising system performance.
Customizable Management: Allows for tailored security management to suit specific needs.
Affordable Pricing: Offers value-driven pricing without compromising on protection quality.

Organizations deploy ESET Endpoint Protection Platform to safeguard laptops, desktops, and servers from cyber threats. Its use extends to antivirus protection, firewall configuration, and network monitoring. Companies often integrate it with ESET PROTECT and Apache HTTP Proxy for optimized management and updates, making it a versatile choice in industries requiring robust endpoint security.

ESET

Our agile methodology and our integration expertise brings you the best catalyst to craft solutions of exceptional quality and distinctive success.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

CBI Health Group, University Honda, VakifBank

ERSTE Group Bank, Miller Solutions, Wesleyan University, The Hospital Center of Luxembourg, Deer Valley USD, SPAR, Industrial Federal Credit Union, Honda, City Hall of Palmela, Hays CISD, Lester B Pearson School Board

EUROVIA CS, a. s., King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Public Education Devel, Bank Alfalah Ltd., CLEAResult, St. Lucie County Public Schools, Wiltshire Council

Buyer's Guide

Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)

June 2026

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