


Forescout Platform and Microsoft Defender XDR are prominent competitors in the field of network and endpoint security. Forescout excels in network access control and integration with third-party products, while Microsoft Defender XDR offers a comprehensive suite of security tools with a strong focus on threat detection within the Microsoft ecosystem.
Features: Forescout Platform provides excellent device visibility, flexible network access control without relying on 802.1x protocols, and seamless integration with top security products. Its strengths lie in endpoint visibility and policy flexibility. Microsoft Defender XDR integrates well with the Microsoft ecosystem, offering advanced threat detection through EDR and XDR technologies and comprehensive protection for users within the Microsoft suite.
Room for Improvement: Forescout Platform requires better reporting features, improved third-party integrations, and a more intuitive management interface. There are also issues with false positives and the responsiveness of technical support. Microsoft Defender XDR could enhance its product with better third-party integration and reduced dashboard complexity. Additionally, more transparency in pricing and improved documentation of features would be beneficial.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Forescout Platform is most suited for on-premises deployments, offering some hybrid options. It presents challenges with deployment complexity, and customer service responsiveness is occasionally criticized. Microsoft Defender XDR is a cloud-native solution supporting multiple deployment options and is noted for excellent customer service, particularly within the Microsoft ecosystem.
Pricing and ROI: Forescout's flexible licensing can be costly, being device-based, which is not ideal for environments with numerous IPs per user. Its ROI is linked to improved network security and operational efficiency. Microsoft Defender XDR provides cost-effectiveness within the Microsoft 365 bundle but can be expensive if purchased individually. It offers enhanced value for those heavily invested in Microsoft products, leveraging integration and bundled benefits.
They appreciate the rich telemetry data from the solution, as it provides in-depth threat identification.
Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks helps to reduce my total cost of ownership significantly.
In Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks, most of the remediation is automated and the accuracy is quite good.
We can quarantine and isolate a device within minutes.
Microsoft Defender XDR has saved me at least 50% of my time.
It helped stop multiple intrusion points where we would have had millions in lost revenue if the attackers got in.
The technical support from Palo Alto deserves a mark of ten because they reach out within an hour whenever assistance is needed.
There is no back and forth, and they know what we are asking for and come up with the best resolution for a solution.
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.
We have had experience with their technical support and must pay additionally for maintenance, support, and regional service.
You get stuck in low-level support for way longer than you should, instead of them escalating the issue up the chain.
It's critical to escalate SEV B issues immediately to a domestic engineer.
Once issues are escalated to the second or third layer, the support is much better.
You can onboard 10,000 endpoints in just hours, which demonstrates the excellent scalability of this product.
Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks can be expanded anytime by purchasing another license without any issues related to scalability.
I think scalability for Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is good.
Scalability can be costly since a physical box needs to be installed for every site.
My concern is about the scale of events and alerts being generated, and the product is doing a very good job of only surfacing the important items for us.
Microsoft Defender XDR shows tremendous scalability, much more so than on-premises solutions.
Microsoft Defender XDR scales pretty well.
Cortex remains fast and responsive, even with increasing data and alerts.
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.
Cortex XDR is stable, offering high quality and reliable performance.
I would rate its stability as 9.5 out of ten.
The service has remained consistently online, with any issues isolated to specific components, suggesting a well-designed and modular architecture.
The services within our ecosystem have been reliable, meeting their SLAs.
It provides high-fidelity signals.
Improving reporting and dashboard customization, along with the addition of real-time and exportable reports, would help SOC teams greatly.
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.
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.
It would help if during integration, an admin user could check the password or credential used, as they currently cannot see the password after it is entered and saved.
Forescout Platform could enhance its integration of AI to improve IoT and OT device security to better meet our needs.
The console is a fat client, and a web interface would be preferable.
The licensing process needs improvement and clarification.
Improvements are needed in automated response capabilities.
If you have a central location where you perform one isolation method, all other potentially affected systems that have been touched may also be isolated simultaneously.
The pricing on SentinelOne is far more reasonable and cheaper than Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks.
I would say it is definitely not a cheap product, considering how mature it is and how scalable all Palo Alto products are together.
Cortex XDR is perceived as expensive by some customers, yet offers dynamic pricing.
Installing a physical box on each site can be expensive.
The overall pricing of Forescout Platform is reasonable for the functionality it provides.
The price of Forescout Platform is reasonable and not overly costly.
There are certainly savings when using Microsoft Defender XDR, which can range from 30%, 40%, and even up to 50%.
I would rate the pricing as eight out of ten, indicating it is a reasonable cost for the product.
Microsoft purposefully obfuscates this through marketing ploys to hide costs.
It incorporates AI for normal behavior detection, distinguishing unusual operations.
The product provides automation responses in case of a threat attack, severity assessments, centralized manageability, and comprehensive compliance features, resulting in reduced costs.
It includes machine learning to easily analyze data and detect complex threats across endpoints, networks, or clouds.
One of the most valuable features of Forescout Platform is its automation, particularly the ability to automate remediation of rogue devices on the network.
The most effective feature has been network access management, which has been crucial for our primary use cases in the organization.
When it comes to the effectiveness of Forescout Platform's real-time visibility in reducing the overall attack surface, I give it a 9 out of 10.
With Microsoft threat intelligence information, it detects various types of threats, including insider attacks, malicious content, and data exfiltration.
This allows us to secure our systems in advance and proactively improve security, rather than waiting for incidents to occur.
Once we have it on the security dashboard, we can see a real-time storyline.
| Product | Mindshare (%) |
|---|---|
| Microsoft Defender XDR | 4.9% |
| Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks | 4.9% |
| Forescout Platform | 1.0% |
| Other | 89.2% |


| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 44 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 20 |
| Large Enterprise | 47 |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 30 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 10 |
| Large Enterprise | 44 |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 46 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 26 |
| Large Enterprise | 39 |
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?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.
Forescout Platform provides today’s busy enterprise organizations with policy and protocol management, workflow coordination, streamlining, and complete device and infrastructure visibility to improve overall network security. The solution also provides concise real-time intelligence of all devices and users on the network. Policy and protocols are delineated using gathered intelligence to facilitate the appropriate levels of remediation, compliance, network access, and all service operations. Forescout Platform is very flexible, integrates well with most of today’s leading network security products, and is a very cost-effective solution.
Forescout Platform Features
Real User Reviews
An important main feature of Forescout is the visibility the solution offers.
One reviewer who is a Consultant at a tech services company, says, "Within three or four days, you can have complete visibility of your infrastructure on the network. Compared to other solutions, the deployment of the solution is easier and we can close the project quickly."
Users also appreciate that the user interface is clear and easy to understand.
An Instructor at a tech services company, shares, "The most valuable feature of the Forescout Platform is the large capacity it can handle. Additionally, the interface of the platform is good."
Microsoft Defender XDR is a comprehensive security solution designed to protect against threats in the Microsoft 365 environment.
It offers robust security measures, comprehensive threat detection capabilities, and an efficient incident response system. With seamless integration with other Microsoft products and a user-friendly interface, it simplifies security management tasks.
Users have found it effective in detecting and preventing various types of attacks, such as phishing attempts, malware infections, and data breaches.
Watch the Microsoft demo video here: Microsoft Defender XDR demo video.
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