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Microsoft Defender for Business vs Symantec Endpoint Security Enterprise comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 25, 2026

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
4.7
Cortex XDR reduces operational costs, offers better value than Microsoft Defender, and enhances ROI via automation and integration.
Sentiment score
6.1
Microsoft Defender for Business improves security, enhances productivity, and reduces costs but may have delays in financial returns.
Sentiment score
4.1
Symantec Endpoint Security's robust protection minimizes ransomware impact, ensuring data security and ROI for manufacturing firms against cyber threats.
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
Using Microsoft Defender for Business results in cost reductions as it consolidates various features under one product, saving around 20% to 30% of the budget.
Consultant at Dell Technologies
The value I see in Microsoft Defender for Business is in its ability to track and respond to application usage and security threats through its CASB and automation features, which are cost-beneficial.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.0
Cortex XDR support is praised for expertise and responsiveness, but faces inconsistency and regional communication issues. Ratings: 8-9/10.
Sentiment score
5.2
Microsoft Defender for Business support is efficient but inconsistent, with variable responsiveness and differing opinions on staff knowledge and resolution times.
Sentiment score
5.5
Symantec Endpoint Security's technical support is mixed, with responsive service overall but variations in speed and costlier advanced support.
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
It is rated ten out of ten for its quality and assistance.
Solution Consultant at BIM Group of Companies
The onboarding support is exceptional, ensuring seamless integration and implementation.
Chief Cybersecurity Architect at cytek-security
Faster support is needed for endpoint security solutions.
The support site for accessing new software is complicated, despite necessary multi-factor authentication.
IT Consultant at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
I rate the technical support from Symantec as eight out of ten because they have comprehensive and clear documentation that can be easily found on search engines if someone knows how to search.
Information Technology Infrastructure Consultant Associate at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
Cortex XDR efficiently manages extensive workloads across company sizes, praised for scalability, cloud capabilities, and high user satisfaction.
Sentiment score
7.6
Microsoft Defender for Business offers scalable, cloud-driven security for diverse organizations, adaptable to various configurations and endpoint quantities.
Sentiment score
8.0
Symantec Endpoint Security Enterprise scales well for all business sizes, though costly and affected by network configuration challenges.
You can onboard 10,000 endpoints in just hours, which demonstrates the excellent scalability of this product.
Assistant Security Architect at Cloudnomics
Activating the newly purchased licenses is instantaneous, allowing installations without adjustments since it's cloud-based.
Junior Security Analyst at ITSEC Asia
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
The cloud-based nature of the solution ensures high scalability.
Solution Consultant at BIM Group of Companies
The scalability of Microsoft Defender for Business is rated as ten, indicating it is very scalable.
Consultant at Dell Technologies
In terms of scalability, I would rate Microsoft Defender for Business a ten.
Public Cloud Engineer at Prudential
Regarding scalability, since Symantec Endpoint Security Enterprise is a cloud solution, it is very scalable.
Information Technology Infrastructure Consultant Associate at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
In my experience supporting approximately 10 different companies with up to 100 workstations each, scalability has never been a concern with Symantec Endpoint Security Enterprise.
IT Consultant at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.0
Cortex XDR is praised for reliable stability and improved performance, despite rare lag during high-stress data loads.
Sentiment score
7.2
Microsoft Defender for Business is highly rated for stability, despite minor errors and complexity issues not significantly impacting confidence.
Sentiment score
8.9
Symantec Endpoint Security Enterprise is praised for reliability but has occasional issues, mainly with Windows updates and scans.
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
No customer complaints about its functionality or reliability.
Solution Consultant at BIM Group of Companies
Although it generally works, there are occasional issues and errors that sometimes require a complete system format to rectify.
I would rate the stability of Microsoft Defender for Business with a three out of ten, where one is very bad.
Public Cloud Engineer at Prudential
I rate the stability of Symantec Endpoint Security Enterprise as excellent, giving it a nine for all the new possibilities and features that can be implemented.
Information Technology Infrastructure Consultant Associate at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
The solution is exceptionally stable.
IT Consultant at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
 

Room For Improvement

Cortex XDR needs better integration, pricing, UI, feature parity, and automation, while reducing resource use and false positives.
Microsoft Defender for Business needs improved reporting, threat protection, support, and integration, with attention to pricing and update communication.
Symantec Endpoint Security Enterprise needs user-friendliness upgrades, better Mac compatibility, and improved pricing, threat notifications, and support services.
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
Microsoft should provide batch management solutions with the application, integrating pass management with roles.
Solution Consultant at BIM Group of Companies
Features related to Advanced Persistent Threat detection vectors and cyber kill chain integrations are not available out-of-the-box.
CISO at a financial services firm with 11-50 employees
There can be improvements in the user interface to make it more intuitive.
Information Technology Security Consultant at Navaio IT Security
Many customers are seeking modern protection features such as MDR (managed detection and response).
IT Consultant at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
The centralized management console is intuitive, but the threat intelligence aspect could be more incorporated and developed, especially with AI integration and news directly in the platform.
Information Technology Infrastructure Consultant Associate at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
 

Setup Cost

Cortex XDR offers competitive pricing between $55-$90, though setup costs are high, with flexible licensing for cloud and on-prem use.
Microsoft Defender for Business offers integrated security in Office 365, with competitive pricing but some note higher costs than competitors.
Symantec's pricing is seen as reasonable by some but expensive by others, particularly when upgrading to EDR.
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
Single-year pricing remains good.
Solution Consultant at BIM Group of Companies
The pricing is quite affordable at the enterprise level with no extra expenses noted.
Consultant at Dell Technologies
Although the cost can be slightly higher, it expedites deployment, which is beneficial, especially for startups.
CISO at a financial services firm with 11-50 employees
 

Valuable Features

Cortex XDR offers advanced AI-driven analytics, multi-layered security, and automation, enhancing threat detection and incident response efficiency.
Microsoft Defender for Business provides robust, scalable security with seamless Azure integration and effective threat management at a cost-effective price.
Symantec Endpoint Security Enterprise offers proactive threat protection, ease of use, scalability, and cost-effective basic security with frequent updates.
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 threat detection capabilities are robust, with a dedicated research team and a continuously updated threat feed.
Information Technology Security Consultant at Navaio IT Security
Its vulnerability management is regarded as one of the best in the industry.
Solution Consultant at BIM Group of Companies
The most effective features of Microsoft Defender for Business include its threat detection and response capabilities in managing vulnerabilities and ransomware attacks.
Consultant at Dell Technologies
What I appreciate the most about Symantec Endpoint Security Enterprise is the integration with the workstations and the around-the-clock monitoring.
Information Technology Infrastructure Consultant Associate at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Symantec Endpoint Security Enterprise is highly compatible and rarely causes disruptions in production.
IT Consultant at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Net...
Sponsored
Ranking in Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
4th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
112
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (6th), Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (4th), Ransomware Protection (2nd), AI-Powered Cybersecurity Platforms (1st)
Microsoft Defender for Busi...
Ranking in Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
14th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
Microsoft Security Suite (15th)
Symantec Endpoint Security ...
Ranking in Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
38th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
32
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) category, the mindshare of Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is 3.7%, down from 3.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Business is 1.6%, down from 2.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Symantec Endpoint Security Enterprise is 0.6%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks3.7%
Microsoft Defender for Business1.6%
Symantec Endpoint Security Enterprise0.6%
Other94.1%
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
 

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.
Paritosh Jani - PeerSpot reviewer
Associate VP (Managed Information Technology Services) at Dev Information Tech Pvt Ltd
Has delivered automated threat response and streamlined integration with advanced tools
The best features of Microsoft Defender for Business include it coming as an XDR solution which provides automated investigations, remediations, and endpoint detection and response. Moreover, it can be tightly integrated with vulnerability management or detecting vulnerabilities and pushing them to the SIEM solution. I utilize the advanced threat hunting feature of Microsoft Defender for Business and find it helpful; it's good and improving with every update. Microsoft Defender for Business integrates effectively with the Microsoft ecosystem as with Azure Sentinel, and it has a two-way natural integration. Apart from that, it also integrates with industry SIEM solutions such as Splunk.
reviewer2162541 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Consultant at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Provides stable and resource-efficient protection but lacks clear modern security features
Symantec Endpoint Security Enterprise is highly compatible and rarely causes disruptions in production. It operates transparently and is easy to maintain. The automated response feature helps to mitigate breaches effectively. When comparing with ThreatDown agent, I have noticed that ThreatDown detects behaviors more readily and flags suspicious user activities more clearly. While Symantec Endpoint Security Enterprise remains effective, ThreatDown's user interface is more manageable and provides a clearer system overview. The management interface is crucial for maintaining Symantec Endpoint Security Enterprise effectively. A significant advantage of Symantec Endpoint Security Enterprise is its lightweight resource usage. It consumes less memory, CPU, and IO compared to alternatives such as ThreatDown and Bitdefender.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Computer Software Company
15%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Outsourcing Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Marketing Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business46
Midsize Enterprise20
Large Enterprise52
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business15
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise4
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business16
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise9
 

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 Microsoft Defender for Business?
Our thoughts on the pricing for Microsoft Defender for Business are that we wish it could be better. If the pricing w...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender for Business?
I see room for improvement in Microsoft Defender for Business, particularly regarding the consolidation of all securi...
What needs improvement with Symantec Endpoint Security Enterprise?
I have not experienced integrated threat intelligence benefits with Symantec Endpoint Security Enterprise. Many custo...
What is your primary use case for Symantec Endpoint Security Enterprise?
The primary use case for Symantec Endpoint Security Enterprise for my clients is basic antivirus protection.
What advice do you have for others considering Symantec Endpoint Security Enterprise?
Several of my customers continue to use Symantec Endpoint Security Enterprise. As a system consultant, I recommend an...
 

Also Known As

Cyvera, Cortex XDR, Palo Alto Networks Traps
No data available
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

CBI Health Group, University Honda, VakifBank
Information Not Available
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Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Defender for Business vs. Symantec Endpoint Security Enterprise and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
900,644 professionals have used our research since 2012.