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Symantec Endpoint Detection and Response vs VMware Carbon Black Endpoint comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 9, 2024

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

Symantec Endpoint Detection...
Ranking in Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
28th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
30
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
VMware Carbon Black Endpoint
Ranking in Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
20th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
63
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (27th), Security Incident Response (2nd), Ransomware Protection (6th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) category, the mindshare of Symantec Endpoint Detection and Response is 0.5%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware Carbon Black Endpoint is 1.7%, down from 3.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
 

Featured Reviews

YusufAhmed - PeerSpot reviewer
Easy to use and competitively priced
Honestly, the product needs to continue the way it is, and I feel that everything will be fine. I haven't had any reasons to complain about the product. The product doesn’t offer MDM functionality under its current licensing model. In the future, I want the product to offer MDM. It can allow me to manage my mobile device more efficiently and effectively. Currently, there is a need for a separate license to be added to Symantec Endpoint Detection and Response to be able to use the MDM part. If both are bundled up under the same license, the administration part can be made easier.
Nikunj Kamboj - PeerSpot reviewer
Integrates well with our existing SIEM tool and helps in identifying suspicious activities
The solution's integration with our existing security infrastructure is good. Whenever we have any alert in VMware Carbon Black Endpoint, we can easily that alert in our SIEM tool and check logs from the SIEM tool itself. VMware Carbon Black Endpoint is just a secondary security tool for us, and we are just monitoring the alerts from it. The solution's behavioral analytics feature helps in identifying suspicious activities pretty well. Whenever we have even a small thing, we get an alert. The solution is deployed on the cloud in our organization. Performance-wise, the solution is doing great in terms of connecting to the host directly. Performing a malware scan usually takes a lot of time, more than 24 hours. A malware scan is something that we do only on Carbon Black for the old endpoint devices and servers. It used to take sometimes three days to perform. I would recommend the solution to other users. Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable features are that it is easy to connect and global settings are good."
"I like Symantec EDR's device control and USB security features."
"The Detection vulnerability is very effective."
"It is mostly used for malware detection and antivirus purposes."
"The pricing is pretty reasonable."
"The most valuable feature is that the same agent can act as the endpoint detection and response agent."
"I've mainly found the antivirus and antispyware features valuable. The documentation is okay as well."
"The security is good."
"The whole purpose of the product, like application control, is very good, and also if you need to update some policies, it works well and instantly."
"The initial setup is very easy."
"It is a scalable solution...The initial setup was straightforward."
"One of the most valuable features is that it will block vulnerable sites. If there was a connection between one of our devices to a known malware site, it will block it."
"The solution is stable."
"It uses machine learning and behavioral analytics for advanced threat detection and response."
"VMware Carbon Black Endpoint is a highly stable solution."
"Carbon Black CB Defense has helped improve my organization by allowing us to have better data so that we can do correlation and get visibility into the alerts."
 

Cons

"It would be nice to see more granular timeline analysis."
"The Symantec portfolio is not big enough to cover the organization in all 360 degrees."
"I think we have experienced some technical issues because the company focuses mainly on bigger clients. Also, sometimes the solution fails to detect zero-day attacks, so that feature needs some enhancement because it is lacking compared to other solutions."
"While they are quite dynamic, they need to ensure they are detecting threats faster in the future to keep people safer."
"The interface is very complicated."
"In the future, it would be nice to have playbooks in the tool, to allow for some of the common activities to be automated. For example, some of the scannings of the malware can be too manual for a specific device. Additionally, a vulnerability manager would be beneficial."
"A significant deterioration in customer support."
"It would be good if it can anticipate zero-day attacks. I don't know how it can be done and if it is even a feature of this product."
"The local technical support is very poor, but the support from headquarters is very nice."
"It could be a bit complicated. You have to be very familiar with Carbon Black to understand what it is doing and why it is doing. I would like to have more explanations and simplification in the user interface. It would be good to get help and see more explanations. It should tell us that a software is blocked and the reason for it. It would be good to be able to build chains in terms of what caused what, what worked, and what caused an issue. We are now moving from Carbon Black to Cortex XDR. While choosing antivirus software, we were also looking at Carbon Black because it also has an antivirus package, and it is next-generation, but we were told that Carbon Black doesn't support firewalls. We have Palo Alto firewalls. We would have chosen this solution if it supported firewalls, in particular next-generation firewalls, but unfortunately, it doesn't. Therefore, we decided on Cortex XDR because it integrates with Palo Alto firewalls."
"The initial setup is complex."
"In the past, we've seen some stability issues in the latest version releases. We tend to hang back one version just to make sure issues are fully resolved to avoid user disruption."
"The solution needs expanded endpoint query tools."
"As far as I know, Carbon Defense has nothing that can be installed on mobile devices. It lacks a defense solution for mobile devices, especially mobile tablets. I would like to see support for mobile devices and the pricing should be less than the pricing for a normal workstation."
"Adding an application and a device control feature would be a great help for this solution."
"Based on all the security roles and the release privilege, it could take time for an application to be whitelisted and approved for use."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price is okay, but it really depends on the customer's requirements."
"The more devices we have the more expensive it becomes, which is where the challenge is."
"We have a yearly subscription, and the pricing is fair."
"We pay around $100,000 for 5000 licenses every year."
"The price is reasonable."
"Symantec Endpoint Detection and Response is expensive."
"The price is really high and it should be lower."
"It's a yearly subscription."
"The solution has almost the same price as other different kinds of infrastructures, but it offers a lot of different features."
"Its pricing was very good, which is one of the reasons I went to it as an alternative. It is on a yearly basis. There are no additional fees."
"The pricing is annually based and operates through another department than mine."
"We have branches, we have different companies, but we cannot buy less than 100 licenses. This does not make sense to me... It should be more flexible. I can understand their saying, "Okay, to be a customer you need 100," but to add on to that number it should be something very straightforward. If I need to add five, for example, I shouldn't need to add 100."
"Carbon Black provides competitive pricing."
"This is a really expensive product and we pay licensing fees on a yearly basis."
"VMware Carbon Black Endpoint is an expensive product."
"The licensing cost is on the more expensive side, but I thought it was worth it because they did a good job. It was one of the vendors I truly didn't have to worry about too much until this latest upgrade."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
12%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
University
8%
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Symantec Endpoint Detection and Response?
I am not aware of the pricing details, as that falls under the management's responsibility.
What needs improvement with Symantec Endpoint Detection and Response?
There are several areas where Symantec Endpoint Detection and Response can improve, including shell features, web control, asset management, and device control. Specifically, the application contro...
What to choose: an endpoint antivirus, an EDR solution or both?
I can recommend Carbon Black, an award-winning next-gen anti-virus (NGAV) and endpoint detection and response (EDR) security solution. The CB Predictive Security Cloud platform combines multiple hi...
What's the difference between Carbon Black CB Response and Carbon Black CB Defense?
Carbon Black offers two different levels of Endpoint Detection and Response. One is the VM Carbon Black Cloud Endpoint Standard (CB Defense), and the other is the Carbon Black Endpoint Detection an...
What do you like most about Carbon Black CB Defense?
VMware Carbon Black Endpoint is a highly stable solution.
 

Also Known As

No data available
Carbon Black CB Defense, Bit9, Confer
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Netflix, Progress Residential, Indeed, Hologic, Gentle Giant, Samsung Research America
Find out what your peers are saying about Symantec Endpoint Detection and Response vs. VMware Carbon Black Endpoint and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
860,592 professionals have used our research since 2012.