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Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs Norton Security Premium [EOL] comparison

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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

Microsoft Defender for Endp...
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
212
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (1st), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (4th), Anti-Malware Tools (1st), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (3rd), Microsoft Security Suite (3rd)
Norton Security Premium [EOL]
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Featured Reviews

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.
RC
Project Manager at Amdocs
User-friendly solution with good blocking
I mainly use Security Premium as an antivirus.  Security Premium's best features are blocking, notifications, and the user interface. Security Premium's cost could be lower. I've been using Security Premium for a year. Security Premium is stable - I haven't faced any issues or bugs while using…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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 product is very good when it comes to vulnerability assessment and, as a Microsoft flagship product, it integrates with Office 365, Azure, and Windows Server, offering far superior attack identification compared to Symantec."
"It does not make Windows slow, as compared to all of the third part antiviruses."
"What the Defender platform does is that it reduces the size of the haystack, and it'll say that the needle is over here."
"It automatically detects intrusion and malware."
"It's a very complete application. I have all the controls in one site. I can track emails, attacks, and threats, and I can research information. I really like this configuration because I have all the information in place."
"Real-time detection and cloud-based delivery of detections are highly efficient."
"The most valuable aspect is information, specifically the automatic investigation of packages."
"Protects me from internet vulnerability."
"The most valuable feature is the quick installation."
"We like how it can check for issues, including files and web browsers, as it is a full-stack solution for antivirus for personal use and it is pretty effective."
"When I'm using the solution in my personal space, I can see that it secures my laptop, it works fast, and it actually does what I want."
"The ransomware protection that they have now is worth considering."
"The internet security was a plus, and it's pretty good."
"The most valuable feature is the multifunctional protection."
"Security Premium's best features are blocking, notifications, and the user interface."
 

Cons

"It can be more secure."
"There is complexity in accessing the dashboard."
"It is currently more suitable for end-users rather than enterprises with lots of other processes and third-party tools. It needs improvement on that front. We had many issues while integrating it with our enterprise solutions, such as Splunk, and third-party tools. It provides everything via APIs. Other vendors provide integration with third-party tools, but Microsoft doesn't do that. It is also logging too much and is not serialized from the process aspect. It has all the data, but it is not in a proper format or not properly indexed, which doesn't make it easier for enterprises to use this data. Other vendors provide troubleshooting information that can be used to troubleshoot issues, but Microsoft doesn't provide anything like that."
"Something that is unique to Microsoft is its licensing model. When you go out and you buy McAfee or Symantec, you know what you're getting out of the box, but with Microsoft, often, when you're looking to achieve a certain set of capabilities, those capabilities are spread across different products. You might try to do something you could do with CrowdStrike, but then find out that you also need to purchase Microsoft Defender for Identity or Microsoft Defender for Azure. You realize that when they talk about what they can offer within the Microsoft platform, it's really the suite of investments. So, sometimes, you may find yourself buying Defender for Endpoint thinking that it matches CrowdStrike, but then you find that Microsoft really needs to sell you something else. One plus one will equal three, but when you have a very concise platform, such as CrowdStrike, you know what you're going to get."
"One area where the product could be improved is that I don't think it can be used all by itself, if you are working with a business."
"The solution could be more friendly for end-users, with different type of scans or scheduled scans for it."
"It can get a bit laggy sometimes."
"Its detection is not as quick. There should also be more frequent updates."
"The product could always be more secure."
"The product is an antivirus, it should be updated automatically when needed."
"Sometimes the program is too complex, and simplifying it might be an improvement."
"Security Premium's cost could be lower."
"The solution can improve the security modules."
"The only problem with Norton Antivirus is that it consumes a lot of resources like CPU and memory in the background."
"The only problem with Norton Antivirus is that it consumes a lot of resources like CPU and memory in the background. Whenever it's scanning, my laptop becomes very slow, and the worst part is you cannot do anything about it. As this product is secured by my local IT team, you cannot even kill that process, and that's what I've felt about many other antivirus solutions. I'm using McAfee for personal use, and I have the same problem."
"As far as improvement to the product, perhaps the price could be better."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We have been using the free version."
"The solution is free and comes with Windows."
"It is an expensive solution. It would be nice if it could be included with the Microsoft Office package."
"There is an annual license required."
"Licensing options vary. Some customers buy it as an enterprise agreement and pay yearly. Others buy it as a CSP, so they pay per month. It completely depends on the customer's needs."
"This is an expensive product and licensing for all Microsoft products is a big issue."
"Microsoft Defender for Endpoint can be costly as a standalone solution."
"When compared with other vendors, the pricing is very high."
"As I have been a long-time customer, I was given a fair price of $49.95 per month for the first four to six months."
"Pricing for this software is competitive."
"If they could come down in price that would be good. It's not exactly the lowest."
"The solution gives the value for the money."
"We have a yearly license, and each license is around 20 or 30 Jordanian Dinars plus taxes."
"The licensing fee for this solution is not expensive."
"Security Premium is highly-priced."
"I don't pay for a license."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Computer Software Company
8%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business82
Midsize Enterprise44
Large Enterprise97
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise6
 

Questions from the Community

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 ...
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Also Known As

Microsoft Defender ATP, Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection, MS Defender for Endpoint, Microsoft Defender Antivirus
Norton Internet Security
 

Interactive Demo

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Overview

 

Sample Customers

Petrofrac, Metro CSG, Christus Health
Temple University
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, SentinelOne, OPSWAT and others in Anti-Malware Tools. Updated: August 2026.
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