Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs WatchGuard Gateway AntiVirus comparison

Microsoft and WatchGuard are both solutions in the Anti-Malware Tools category. Microsoft is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.3, while WatchGuard is ranked #26 with an average rating of 8.0. Microsoft holds a 17.0% mindshare in Anti-Malware Tools, compared to WatchGuard’s 0.3% mindshare. Additionally, 94% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of WatchGuard users who would recommend it.

Microsoft Defender for Endp...

Read 192 Microsoft Defender for Endpoint reviews

9,125 Views
6,975 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

WatchGuard Gateway AntiVirus

Read 5 WatchGuard Gateway AntiVirus reviews

229 Views
169 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Microsoft Defender for Endp...

WatchGuard Gateway AntiVirus

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 3, 2024

WatchGuard Gateway AntiVirus and Microsoft Defender for Endpoint are both contenders in the cybersecurity market. Despite WatchGuard’s competitive pricing and robust support, Microsoft Defender takes the lead with its rich features and seamless integration with Microsoft products.

Features: WatchGuard Gateway AntiVirus focuses on solid malware detection, real-time scanning, and strong integration capabilities for businesses prioritizing layered security. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint shines with advanced threat intelligence, automated investigation, and cross-platform security integration, providing an extensive feature set that ensures its competitive advantage.

Room for Improvement: WatchGuard could enhance its user interface and expand integration with third-party tools. Improvements in threat intelligence analytics and customization options are also areas to consider. Microsoft Defender could benefit from refining its support services, improving resource consumption efficiency, and enhancing detailed threat analytics for broader visibility.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: WatchGuard offers easy deployment with well-documented assistance, beneficial for businesses wanting minimal disruption. Microsoft Defender, with its seamless integration into the Microsoft ecosystem, offers easy adoption for organizations already utilizing other Microsoft services, aligning smoothly with existing systems.

Pricing and ROI: WatchGuard Gateway AntiVirus presents a value-centric pricing structure for budget-conscious organizations, focusing on a reasonable initial cost and ROI. Microsoft Defender, possibly requiring higher initial investment, leverages its extensive security capabilities to justify the cost, offering long-term value by including comprehensive security features as part of its offering.

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

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs. WatchGuard Gateway AntiVirus

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)

WatchGuard Gateway AntiVirus

Ranking in Anti-Malware Tools

26th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

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 WatchGuard Gateway AntiVirus is 0.3%, down from 0.7% 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.

Read full review

Petri Alhainen

Administrator at Sulbana Oy

Reasonably priced and simple to use

During the product's installation phase, you just put the tool in the right place, and it works. The solution is deployed on an on-premises model. The solution can be deployed in a couple of minutes. The installation process is so basic that I don't even remember what you need to do. You just put the tick marks in the tool and ask the tool to use them. In the rules, where you see the files go through is where you can think over what to do with the files. With the tool, you just need to put it on, and then the default rules make sure that there is some indication that something is wrong.

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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's an enterprise solution that provides a centralized console and it supports all the platforms that we use, including Windows, Linux, Mac, iOS, and Android."

"The patch updates and version updates are very good. Those happen on an automated basis whenever I'm connecting to the organization network, either through LAN or through the VPN."

"A few years ago, when I was using a different product, I was affected by a virus that destroyed everything. Since using Microsoft Defender, I have not had this kind of problem."

"Defender for Endpoint has significantly reduced our SOC team's workload by automating threat detection and response, allowing them to focus on other critical projects."

"The most important feature is the way it monitors the threats and blocks them. About 10 days ago, we were implementing SOC for a particular client. The SOC was not yet implemented, but they had Microsoft Defender. That organization was hit by some ransomware, but the hacker could not succeed. Because of the EDR, the hacker could not install the hacking tools. They were trying to do that, but Microsoft Defender completely blocked that. The hacker could log into the system, but they could not install anything."

"I like the fact that it has the ransomware solution in there. I'm glad that the ransomware solution is built into it. That's probably the biggest thing that I see in Microsoft Defender."

"Its simplicity is the most valuable. It also has very good integration. We like it."

"You can query and access useful information from logs and events, which is powerful and efficient."

More Microsoft Defender for Endpoint pros

"I haven't a problem with anti-virus stability using WatchGuard for over two years."

"It does its job very well, and it is quite easy to put to use."

"WatchGuard is easy to implement and inexpensive. When we get a bulk-off license, we get a very discounted price that is competitive with alternative or competitor solutions."

"It is the most effective on non-encrypted traffic and it is able to determine some threats through deep packet inspection."

"The pricing of the solution is okay. It's not the most expensive option."

Cons

"On the Mac OS platform, there is no parity between Windows and Mac OS. The solution is very feature-rich and very well-integrated into Windows, and I guess baked into Windows 10 and Windows 11. Whereas, on the Mac OS platform, there is still some work there to give it a more feature-reach platform."

"The only issue I would say is our mobile endpoints do not have Defender installed for part of them. An additional feature that could be included in the next release is free Copilot."

"The frequency of the patching, and the frequency of the updates, are not included with the free version."

"It seems there are challenges associated with IP addresses at times."

"This solution needs to move beyond relying on virus definitions alone and protect the system using behavioral analysis of the processes that are running."

"I would like to see improvements made to how it secures activities on web pages."

"The solution could always be more secure."

"Defender for Endpoint is complex, and the documentation is detailed. At the same time, it's hard to navigate sometimes. You have to go through tons of documentation to find what you want."

More Microsoft Defender for Endpoint cons

"Since WatchGuard acquired Panda, there may be synergies in consolidating both solutions under a single name to reduce customer confusion."

"The solution isn't what I would consider feature-rich."

"It doesn't offer the best protection and it's incompatible with a lot of China's websites. It makes a lot of mistakes when it is detecting items as it's not recognizing items correctly."

"WatchGuard technical support requires a license."

"There were a little bit of problems with the tool's updates, making it an area where improvements are needed."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution comes as part of Microsoft Windows."

"I do not have to purchase antivirus solutions anymore because Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is integrated into Windows and comes free."

"Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is included with a Microsoft E5 license."

"Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is cost-effective because there's one unified license, and with this unified license, you get the capabilities for your cloud applications, servers, and endpoints as well. Therefore, it saves us a lot of money because the cost with other solutions is for just one piece of OS or maybe an urban environment. The licensing process is not complex as well."

"Pricing can always be lower."

"We sell this product as part of Office 365 and it is not expensive."

"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."

"We pay a yearly license for Microsoft Defender. We also have a support contract with them."

More Microsoft Defender for Endpoint pricing and cost advice

"For what we use, the tool's price has been reasonable, but it is not the cheapest. The tool has been quite reasonable."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

27%

Computer Software Company

11%

Government

Financial Services Firm

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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...

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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...

See all answers

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 ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with WatchGuard Gateway AntiVirus?

It is a basic tool tool, and it does very well for what it is supposed to do. It does simple checks against signatures. I think it is very much what it needs to be, and it is a basic tool that you ...

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What is your primary use case for WatchGuard Gateway AntiVirus?

The solution is used when you want to handle policies with the file. There are different ways you can use it, like in the firewall rules and in proxy rules, and to secure emails. The tool was used ...

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What advice do you have for others considering WatchGuard Gateway AntiVirus?

It is the basic starting tool. We used different tools in the company. In our gateway, we used WatchGuard because we used WatchGuard's firewalls. It was very easy to set it up. It was used so that ...

See all answers

Comparisons

CrowdStrike Falcon vs Microsoft Defender for Endpoint

Compared 8% of the time

Microsoft Intune vs Microsoft Defender for Endpoint

Compared 5% of the time

Symantec Endpoint Security vs Microsoft Defender for Endpoint

Compared 5% of the time

F-Secure Total vs Microsoft Defender for Endpoint

Compared 4% of the time

HP Wolf Security vs Microsoft Defender for Endpoint

Compared 4% of the time

More Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Competitors

No data available

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint

March 2025

Download Microsoft Defender for Endpoint product report

Buyer's Guide

Anti-Malware Tools

January 2025

Download WatchGuard Gateway AntiVirus product report

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

WatchGuard

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

Keeping your network free of malware is more challenging than ever before as an increasing number of new and ever-changing threats are emerging each day. Ensure your network and devices remain free of malware with WatchGuard Gateway AntiVirus. It uses advanced, multi-layered threat detection engines to identify and block malware at the network gateway. Using industry-leading, high-performance scanning of traffic on all major protocols, WatchGuard Gateway AntiVirus provides real-time protection against known viruses, trojans, worms, spyware, and rogueware.

WatchGuard

Sample Customers

Petrofrac, Metro CSG, Christus Health

Star Cargo

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs. WatchGuard Gateway AntiVirus

March 2025

Free Report: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs. WatchGuard Gateway AntiVirus

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs. WatchGuard Gateway AntiVirus and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.

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