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Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs Sophos Home 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

Microsoft Defender for Endp...
Ranking in Anti-Malware Tools
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
210
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (2nd), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (3rd), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (3rd), Microsoft Security Suite (3rd)
Sophos Home
Ranking in Anti-Malware Tools
16th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.1
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Anti-Malware Tools category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is 9.1%, down from 17.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sophos Home is 1.7%, up from 1.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Anti-Malware Tools Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint9.1%
Sophos Home1.7%
Other89.2%
Anti-Malware Tools
 

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.
GC
IT at a retailer with 11-50 employees
Ease of application management and feature richness impress
With Sophos Home, it's easy to implement; you just log in and manage the various computers as to what you want to detect. You can set up the type of security you want and reject things such as firearms, drugs, and porn, so I find it's very easy to use, very reasonably priced, and they give you Sophos Home for free when we use some of the other products that they recently changed over on the commercial side. I really don't have much comment on the banking protection or keylogger security feature, but I do realize that Sophos Home is good protection for us, and I'm just about to install a Sophos hardware firewall in our company as well.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It shows us the risky sign-ins, and if a user's password has been compromised."
"The performance of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint has been good."
"The solution integrates very well with Windows applications and Microsoft endpoint products."
"The solution is highly scalable."
"It's effective against most types of infection, and the firewall is perfect for protection."
"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."
"Defender is a part of Windows; you just need to enable it. There is no need to install anything."
"The automatic attack disruption feature in Microsoft Defender for Endpoint works great."
"The tool's most valuable feature is ransomware protection. Its integration with other Sophos security products is good, and the AI features have made it an efficient product."
"With Sophos Home, it's easy to implement; you just log in and manage the various computers as to what you want to detect."
 

Cons

"It makes your Surface devices hot. It is resource-intensive. It strains your CPU, not more than other file scanners around, but it also does a lot more. When you are transmitting files or data, it is continuously scanning the traffic and analyzing it bit by bit to see what's going on, and that, of course, is costly in terms of CPU. It is CPU intensive, and if you are on battery, it drains your battery fast. That's the only drawback that it has."
"The central management console should be improved because it provides limited options to configure Windows Defender."
"Defender could be more secure and stable."
"Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is secure but when it comes to security all solutions could improve security."
"It would be helpful if they offered video tutorial guides."
"The UI for Microsoft Defender for Endpoint needs to be better. Integration with client dashboards is also lacking in this product, e.g. client dashboards shouldn't just be viewable from the cloud, because when the client's computer is offline, you won't be able to see the client dashboard."
"Sometimes it is a little lacking, but for the most part, they are able to provide exactly what I need."
"Right now, there's a portal for Azure, portals for Microsoft Office, and portals for endpoints. It would be good to have only one portal and integrate everything."
"For homeowners, determining ROI is challenging. With personal emails or maybe a few business emails, if you don't get hacked, then you're good."
"I expect an improvement with mobile integration. I want mobile devices to have better security, like Sophos Home's total security. Users often need to connect to a cloud platform to manage or change settings, which can be difficult. To improve this, providing minimal local settings could help users."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The subscription is part of Windows, so we don't have to pay anything extra for this product."
"The license for Microsoft Windows covers Microsoft Defender for Endpoint."
"The solution is an open source version and was free with a paid version of Windows 10."
"There is no license needed, the solution comes with Microsoft Windows."
"This solution is part of an enterprise license we have."
"If you don't purchase the advanced threat protection then there is no additional charge."
"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."
"The licensing costs for Microsoft Defender for Endpoint are reasonable."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Comms Service Provider
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
9%
Retailer
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business80
Midsize Enterprise40
Large Enterprise92
No data available
 

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 ...
What needs improvement with Sophos Home?
For homeowners, determining ROI is challenging. With personal emails or maybe a few business emails, if you don't get hacked, then you're good. If you do get hacked, then your return on investment ...
What advice do you have for others considering Sophos Home?
I would have to check the new features because AI is constantly evolving, and a lot of these companies come out with their AI products now. For the enterprise side of Sophos, AI MDR is your best op...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sophos Home?
Sophos Home is very cheap, and I find it to be a no-brainer for that type of security.
 

Also Known As

Microsoft Defender ATP, Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection, MS Defender for Endpoint, Microsoft Defender Antivirus
No data available
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Petrofrac, Metro CSG, Christus Health
1. Acer 2. Adidas 3. Aetna 4. Aflac 5. Airbus 6. AIG 7. Amazon 8. American Express 9. American Airlines 10. Amex 11. Apple 12. AT&T 13. Audi 14. Avaya 15. Bank of America 16. Barclays 17. Bayer 18. Ben & Jerry's 19. BMW 20. Boeing 21. Bristol-Myers Squibb 22. Cadbury 23. Campbell Soup 24. Capital One 25. Caterpillar 26. Cisco 27. Coca-Cola 28. Comcast 29. ConocoPhillips 30. Dell 31. Disney 32. Dominion Energy 33. DuPont 34. eBay 35. ExxonMobil 36. FedEx 37. Ford 38. General Electric 39. General Motors 40. Google 42. Halliburton 43. Home Depot 44. Honda 45. Intel 46. Johnson & Johnson 47. JPMorgan Chase 48. Kellogg's 49. KeyCorp 50. Kraft Heinz 52. L'Oréal 53. Lockheed Martin 54. McDonald's 55. Merck 56. Microsoft 57. Morgan Stanley 58. Nike 59. PepsiCo 60. Pfizer 61. Qualcomm 62. RBC 63. Red Bull 64. Reebok 65. Siemens 66. Tesla 67. Toyota 68. Visa 69. Wells Fargo 70. Xerox 71. Yum! Brands
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs. Sophos Home and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.