Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs VirusTotal comparison

Microsoft Defender for Endp...

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 12, 2025

VirusTotal and Microsoft Defender for Endpoint are complementary products in the cybersecurity category. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint seems to have the upper hand for enterprise environments due to its comprehensive suite of integrated security solutions.

Features: VirusTotal features an extensive virus scanning engine network, insights from multiple sources including crowdsourced input, and integration with over 70 antivirus scanners. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint offers integration within Microsoft's ecosystem, advanced threat protection, and automated investigation and remediation capabilities.

Room for Improvement: VirusTotal could improve by adding dedicated customer support, expanding its integration services, and enhancing its threat behavior analysis. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint can enhance its deployment simplicity, reduce the resource impact, and improve its user documentation quality.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: VirusTotal requires minimal setup and is accessible via a web-based platform but lacks dedicated customer support. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint requires a more detailed deployment process typical for enterprise software, providing substantial support for enterprise IT environments.

Pricing and ROI: VirusTotal offers a free base version but incurs additional costs for premium services. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint involves setup and subscription fees as part of Microsoft's subscription services but provides a strong ROI through comprehensive protection and integration, maximizing security investment in enterprise settings.

To learn more, read our detailed Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs. VirusTotal Report (Updated: March 2025).

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs. VirusTotal

March 2025

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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

Microsoft Defender for Endp...

Ranking in Anti-Malware Tools

1st

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

192

Ranking in other categories

Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (1st), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (2nd), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (3rd), Microsoft Security Suite (5th)

VirusTotal

Ranking in Anti-Malware Tools

3rd

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Threat Intelligence Platforms (3rd)

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Anti-Malware Tools category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is 17.0%, down from 22.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VirusTotal is 5.4%, down from 7.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Anti-Malware Tools

Featured Reviews

AnuragSrivastava

Information Security Engineering Lead at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees

Provides detailed visibility into threats but the ability to add exceptions needs improvement

One major item for improvement is the ability to add exceptions. We can add some exceptions, but not at the level we need to. The second major area for improvement involves enhanced capabilities for different operating systems or platforms. That is, even though we have coverage for different operating systems or platforms such as Linux, we don't get all of the controls and enhanced capabilities that are available with Windows devices. Reporting could also be improved because, at present, we get limited results at times. For example, in an environment with more than 100,000 devices, you may just get 10,000 results when you run a report.

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Chinmay Banerjee

Advisor Adtech/Martech/API product/project Engineering at Fiserv

Helps businesses collect threat data while keeping privacy in mind and apable of detecting, blocking, and removing viruses and malware

There are two gray areas I still need to explore. I have worked with VirusTotal because it easily integrates with over seventy antivirus scanners and blacklisting services. In addition to those there is much scope to improve and add other services or integrations. The areas for improvement are that VirusTotal is not using much AI or generative AI models, while other competitors are starting to build them. For example, VirusTotal's work is based on the setup done by their engineers. If you want to do scanning or protection activities for a specific site, app, or device, that is the area VirusTotal is currently focused on. But other competitors are building AI models that can do things like left-side scanning and provide auto-generated reports. VirusTotal has predefined reports, but there is a lot of manual effort involved. Secondly, the API is very limited if I want to integrate VirusTotal with other applications. They need to build more connectors and provide support for Webhook connectors for the API. If you can't build your own connector, it's always good to have provisions for Webhook setup connectors across platforms. Thirdly, Kaspersky, a competitor of VirusTotal, is using a methodology called "gatekeeper." A gatekeeper is a security system that protects the inside of a building from outside threats. This is the model Kaspersky is currently using. You have your website set up, but the entire army of VirusTotal or Kaspersky is standing guard, protecting you from the first gate itself. Right now, VirusTotal detects threats from your domain, but it is always better to verify inside the domain and protect it from the first level when people or malware are entering. This first level of protection is lacking in VirusTotal right now. The security bridge and protection gate are missing.

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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 is already integrated with Windows 10, so you don't need to worry about that."

"Stable endpoint manager, antivirus, and antimalware, with fast technical support and a straightforward setup."

"The ransomware and malware protection is the most valuable feature."

"The most valuable features are that it is flexible, and it is integrated with Microsoft products."

"The most valuable aspect lies in its automation capabilities, particularly within security automation."

"The folders and files protection are its most valuable features. These have been valuable because of the increase in ransomware attacks. With these two features, I can ensure that no changes have been made to our system or endpoint folders and files without the user being aware."

"The most important and the most relevant features of Defender for Endpoint are the malware and ransomware protection."

"The investigation aspect is the most useful. It's user friendly and has a good user interface."

More Microsoft Defender for Endpoint pros

"The feature I like the most is the ability to see the MD5 or SHA-256 signature of the file, and also the composition of the file according to its segments."

"VirusTotal provides 95% to 98% accurate information."

"The product is easy to use with coding, such as Python or Java, via its API."

"I have never had any problems with stability or bugs while using VirusTotal."

"It can scan the dark web and find if an email ID has been compromised. This is another area that we have not explored yet."

"With VirusTotal, I can check for any hash, malware, file, domain, IP URL, or malicious URL, and Kaspersky stays clean."

"It is quite simple for anyone if they just want to check some suspicious URLs."

"It gives detailed information about suspicious IPs, which is one of its most valuable features."

More VirusTotal pros

Cons

"It could be easier when it comes to managing exceptions."

"It can be more secure."

"The system can always be simplified and have a better integration check. More detailed reports would be good. When it does the integrated check, it just shows if the system is okay but I want to know what happened."

"The management console is something that can be improved."

"Additional security would be beneficial."

"Its detection is not as quick. There should also be more frequent updates."

"The automation could be simpler on the mitigation side. It has a learning curve. Otherwise, it's pretty easy."

"I would just like them to have more consistency, and that's a comment that's across the board with Microsoft. They change things a lot."

More Microsoft Defender for Endpoint cons

"They can improve the telemetry. Whenever we handle a sample, they cannot provide any information about a victim."

"There is room for improvement, particularly in making some of the most useful features more accessible in the non-paid version."

"I would like to see improved correlation with other threat intelligence sources, not just reliant on its own database, to enhance the database of threat intelligence that VirusTotal offers."

"I would like to see an improved user interface and some automation."

"VirusTotal is hard to understand because you need to know Google Docs to create queries, and it doesn't have documentation for that."

"There should be room for improvement, particularly in the API side of things."

"VirusTotal has predefined reports, but there is a lot of manual effort involved."

"The platform could improve in the areas of endpoints and networks."

More VirusTotal cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Everybody would like to see a lower price on everything. The Slovenian market is basically an SME market with clients having up to 100 seat licenses, comprising 90% of the company. They're very price sensitive. So, the price could be cheaper."

"The price for Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is about three euros, which is considered reasonably priced."

"I pay for it through the Windows Professional or Standard license. It is a one-time cost for me, and I use the same license."

"Even if you are not registered as a not-for-profit, the offering that they have is definitely worth consideration. This is in the sense that the E5 stack just gives you so many benefits. You get your entire productivity suite through Microsoft 365 apps. You get all your security and identity protection. You get the Defender for Endpoint and Defender for Identity. You get the cloud access security broker as well. You get Azure Active Directory Premium P2, which gives you so many good things that you can configure and deploy. You don't have to configure them on day one, but you have access to so many different tools that will protect your data, security, endpoints, and identities that you could build out a security strategy 18 months long, and slowly work your way through it, based on what you have available to you through your license."

"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."

"It is within the same range as other products. It is not too expensive, and it is also not cheap. Its price can be better, but, well, it is Microsoft."

"They are now doing it on an endpoint basis. It is based on the number of endpoints, which is good."

"We mostly use Microsoft products. We use Office 365, and we use Azure. We're also a Microsoft partner. So, the licensing was much cheaper for us, and at the same time, a lot of the features that we were looking for were included in Defender."

More Microsoft Defender for Endpoint pricing and cost advice

"We are using VirusTotal with free licenses, managing the license limits across three or four accounts, thus incurring no costs."

"The pricing is reasonable."

"VirusTotal is an expensive solution."

"The pricing is very economical."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

27%

Computer Software Company

11%

Government

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

17%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Government

University

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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 do you like most about VirusTotal?

With VirusTotal, I can check for any hash, malware, file, domain, IP URL, or malicious URL, and Kaspersky stays clean.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for VirusTotal?

I do not know about the pricing or licensing as our organization services VirusTotal for our clients.

What needs improvement with VirusTotal?

I would like to see improvements in the score consistency and accuracy. VirusTotal should add more details like those from competitors such as URL Void or Symantec URL Checker, which show the categ...

CrowdStrike Falcon vs Microsoft Defender for Endpoint

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Compared 4% of the time

HP Wolf Security vs Microsoft Defender for Endpoint

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Compared 16% of the time

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Compared 13% of the time

Cuckoo Sandbox vs VirusTotal

Compared 10% of the time

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Compared 8% of the time

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Compared 5% of the time

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Product Reports

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint

March 2025

Download Microsoft Defender for Endpoint product report

Download VirusTotal product report

Anti-Malware Tools

January 2025

Also Known As

Microsoft Defender ATP, Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection, MS Defender for Endpoint, Microsoft Defender Antivirus

No data available

Interactive Demo

Microsoft

Demo not available

Overview

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is a comprehensive security solution that provides advanced threat protection for organizations. It offers real-time protection against various types of cyber threats, including malware, viruses, ransomware, and phishing attacks.

With its powerful machine-learning capabilities, it can detect and block sophisticated attacks before they can cause any harm. The solution also includes endpoint detection and response (EDR) capabilities, allowing organizations to quickly investigate and respond to security incidents. It provides detailed insights into the attack timeline, enabling security teams to understand the scope and impact of an incident.

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint also offers proactive threat hunting, allowing organizations to proactively search for and identify potential threats within their network. It integrates seamlessly with other Microsoft security solutions, such as Microsoft Defender XDR, to provide a unified and holistic security approach. With its centralized management console, organizations can easily deploy, configure, and monitor the security solution across their entire network.

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is a robust and scalable security solution that helps organizations protect their endpoints and data from evolving cyber threats.

Microsoft

VirusTotal is an essential tool for gathering malware information, analyzing compromised data, and monitoring malicious campaigns.

VirusTotal enables users to examine malware hashes, create alerts for targeted attacks, and utilize IOCs and YARA rules to detect threats. Its private scanning capabilities ensure discreet file analysis, while the API assesses IP address threats. Widely used in sectors like retail and FinTech, VirusTotal significantly boosts productivity.

What are the most valuable features of VirusTotal?

Worldwide malware information database: Extensive global repository of malware data.
Integration with 70+ antivirus scanners: Collaborates with numerous antivirus and blacklisting services.
API systems for reputation checks: Multiple API systems to verify reputations.
Detecting, blocking, and removing threats: Robust threat mitigation capabilities.
Blocking phishing attempts: Effective in preventing phishing attacks.
Scanning the dark web: Monitors dark web for compromised emails.
Privacy in threat data collection: Ensures privacy while gathering threat data.

What benefits should users look for in VirusTotal reviews?

Enhanced threat detection: Improved accuracy in identifying threats.
Increased productivity: Streamlined processes and faster incident response.
Seamless integration: Compatibility with existing security frameworks.
Comprehensive threat intelligence: Access to extensive threat data.
Privacy assurance: Ensures user data confidentiality.

VirusTotal is highly valued in industries like retail and FinTech, where it assists in examining malware hashes, creating alerts, and utilizing IOCs and YARA rules for advanced threat detection. Despite its valuable features, there is room for improvement in its interface, automation, AI integration, and API connectability, areas where competitors sometimes offer more advanced solutions.

Sample Customers

Petrofrac, Metro CSG, Christus Health

Information Not Available