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Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence [EOL] vs VirusTotal comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 16, 2025

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 Threat I...
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
32
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
VirusTotal
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
Anti-Malware Tools (4th), Threat Intelligence Platforms (TIP) (5th)
 

Featured Reviews

Charles Mokoena - PeerSpot reviewer
Mobility & IT Project Manager at Voicevine Pty Ltd
Has strengthened our ability to detect threats in real time and improved internal security decision-making
The features that I find most valuable in Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence include the Sentinel part of it. There are several features we've looked at, including Sentinel as well as extended Defender, which is XDR. I've used those two, and that's what I've found quite useful for us, especially in the hardening and analysis part of the whole threat analysis. We use the real-time threat detection features in Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence. If it wasn't for that real-time threat detection on the vulnerability, I think we would not have survived the attack. The integration capabilities of Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence with other Microsoft security tools have benefited our organization's threat management process by initially being quite a challenge, especially coming from other security tools such as Fortinet and Check Point. However, once you've gotten used to it, it's quite easy and user-friendly. The dashboard, especially the threat analysis dashboard, is quite detailed in terms of providing a view of which areas in our environment need attention, making it quite useful.
Chinmay Banerjee - PeerSpot reviewer
Advisor Adtech/Martech/API product/project Engineering at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence assesses machines for vulnerabilities and gives remediations."
"One of the best features is that it provides a certain level of customization, allowing us to set our spam confidence levels."
"The global review and remediation of malicious code is probably the most valuable feature."
"They have a very transparent roadmap for the product."
"The technical support services are excellent."
"The solution is well integrated with other Microsoft security products."
"The solution blocks incoming threats on the local PC or any cloud-based threats."
"The tool can proactively detect potential incidents."
"The initial setup is easy."
"The most valuable feature is the worldwide malware information database."
"It is quite simple for anyone if they just want to check some suspicious URLs."
"VirusTotal provides 95% to 98% accurate information."
"VirusTotal provides 95% to 98% accurate information."
"I have never had any problems with stability or bugs while using VirusTotal."
"It gives detailed information about suspicious IPs, which is one of its most valuable features."
"It provides detailed insights into possible malicious behavior, dropped files, and TCP connections."
 

Cons

"The price could be improved."
"One area that can be improved is reducing false positives."
"Some of the customization features could be improved by providing a portion of it as open source."
"From the telemetry data standpoint, I would prefer Defender data to be more open in future updates."
"It would be beneficial to enhance the pricing structure and make it more affordable."
"The tool's onboarding of users that use on-premise or hybrid environments needs to be improved."
"We encounter problems connecting the product deployed on the user endpoints with the servers."
"I would like to see more frequent updates, which is always better for security because of daily threats."
"VirusTotal has predefined reports, but there is a lot of manual effort involved."
"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."
"VirusTotal needs better advertisement and promotion, especially in the Middle East, since it is not yet widely recognized or popular in that region."
"VirusTotal has different versions, and sometimes the parameters of the API are not very clear."
"I would like to see improvements in the score consistency and accuracy."
"They can improve the telemetry. Whenever we handle a sample, they cannot provide any information about a victim."
"VirusTotal is hard to understand because you need to know Google Docs to create queries, and it doesn't have documentation for that."
"The platform could improve in the areas of endpoints and networks."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is a need to make yearly payments towards the licensing charges attached to the product."
"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a six or seven out of ten."
"It's reasonably priced, though there's room for further improvement."
"I use the product's default version, which is a free one and not the licensed version."
"The solution can be licensed, but most users would already have it in their Office 365 license."
"I rate the product's price a six or seven on a scale of one to ten, where one is expensive, and ten is cheap."
"The solution is relatively expensive; however, our status as a gold partner provides us with several complimentary licenses, which offsets the cost."
"The tool is expensive as a stand-alone solution. However, it is not cheap when you purchase it as a bundle."
"VirusTotal is an expensive solution."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"The pricing is very economical."
"We are using VirusTotal with free licenses, managing the license limits across three or four accounts, thus incurring no costs."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
16%
Computer Software Company
11%
Educational Organization
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business17
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise15
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise5
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence?
It just runs in the background. I don't have to worry about, making sure it's Intelligence. So, you know, this kind of makes it very easy, have to worry about installing. It is easy to use.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence?
From the telemetry data standpoint, I would prefer Defender data to be more open in future updates.
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence?
We have tried Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence. I have expertise with Microsoft Defender products. I am not familiar with Microsoft Defender for IoT because we did not use that in our environ...
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...
What is your primary use case for VirusTotal?
As I work in an incident response role, my daily task is to mitigate the security alert and perform the analysis part. When any alerts come, I check the IPs from where they originate and the locati...
 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about CrowdStrike, Recorded Future, Check Point Software Technologies and others in Threat Intelligence Platforms (TIP). Updated: January 2026.
881,733 professionals have used our research since 2012.