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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) (4th)
 

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

"The solution is well integrated with other Microsoft security products."
"The product provides efficient email security for sending links and file attachments."
"Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence helps to make sure that our systems are intact and not vulnerable."
"The tool is managed from the cloud, because of which the maintenance is very low."
"You can use it to monitor third parties and ensure they are not under threat attacks. It is beneficial in the GRC model."
"The tool can proactively detect potential incidents."
"They have a very transparent roadmap for the product."
"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."
"It is quite simple for anyone if they just want to check some suspicious URLs."
"The initial setup is easy."
"The product is easy to use with coding, such as Python or Java, via its API."
"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."
"It provides detailed insights into possible malicious behavior, dropped files, and TCP connections."
"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."
"It allows us to see if there have been previous reports on certain indicators of compromise, providing insights from other security professionals."
"With VirusTotal, I can check for any hash, malware, file, domain, IP URL, or malicious URL, and Kaspersky stays clean."
 

Cons

"Technical support could be a bit better."
"The software is expensive."
"One area where Microsoft Defender could be improved is in its support for non-Microsoft products, particularly for systems running Linux or other open-source platforms across ecosystems."
"I would like to see more integration with other solutions. For example, integration well with Microsoft but not with other solutions."
"We encounter problems connecting the product deployed on the user endpoints with the servers."
"It's a bit complicated to manage because you have many dependencies of servers, many dependencies in queue, and so on. Entries or different endpoints, and you make different configuration topics for each one. So that's a major problem."
"The price of the solution is an area of concern where improvements are required. In general, the solution's price needs to be reduced."
"The price point is something they can improve slightly for those who don't have an M 365 E5."
"VirusTotal needs better advertisement and promotion, especially in the Middle East, since it is not yet widely recognized or popular in that region."
"They can improve the telemetry. Whenever we handle a sample, they cannot provide any information about a victim."
"They can improve the telemetry. Whenever we handle a sample, they cannot provide any information about a victim."
"The platform could improve in the areas of endpoints and networks."
"I would like to see improvements in the score consistency and accuracy."
"I would like to see improvements in the score consistency and accuracy."
"VirusTotal has predefined reports, but there is a lot of manual effort involved."
"There is room for improvement, particularly in making some of the most useful features more accessible in the non-paid version."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Considering Microsoft is constantly changing licensing, I would give it a seven out of ten. It can be difficult to get your head around it, especially for small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)."
"It is an expensive product."
"I use the product's default version, which is a free one and not the licensed version."
"It's reasonably priced, though there's room for further improvement."
"The pricing of the solution is good."
"The solution is relatively expensive; however, our status as a gold partner provides us with several complimentary licenses, which offsets the cost."
"They offer two license plans: Microsoft Defender for endpoints and Microsoft Defender for businesses."
"The tool is expensive as a stand-alone solution. However, it is not cheap when you purchase it as a bundle."
"The pricing is very economical."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"VirusTotal is an expensive solution."
"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
18%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
8%
Marketing Services Firm
7%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Comms Service Provider
8%
University
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 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 advice do you have for others considering Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence?
I will recommend Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence because it is a complete automation solution for threat production detection and an end-to-end solution for client security. Unfortunately, s...
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: April 2026.
893,221 professionals have used our research since 2012.