We compared Microsoft Defender for Endpoint and VirusTotal based on users' reviews in six categories. We reviewed all of the data and you can find the conclusion below.
Features: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint excels in file protection, encryption, and ransomware defense. It integrates seamlessly with other Microsoft security products. Users appreciate its user-friendly interface and scalability. VirusTotal is highly praised for its extensive global malware information database.
Room for Improvement: Users say Microsoft Defender for Endpoint should improve its central console and auto-recovery feature. Users also requested better reporting capabilities and integration with third-party platforms. VirusTotal users want more automation capabilities and improvements in the solution’s look and feel.
Service and Support: Microsoft customer service garnered mixed feedback. Some praised the fast response times and expertise of the support engineers, while others were dissatisfied with slow replies and a lack of coordination among the support teams. Users say that VirusTotal’s technical support is satisfactory, but customers would like faster case resolution.
Ease of Deployment: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint's setup is straightforward. While it can be more complex for larger organizations, it is mostly considered simple, particularly for smaller companies or those familiar with Microsoft environments. The setup process for VirusTotal was relatively easy and can be completed in a few days.
Pricing: Reviewers say Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is fairly priced, noting that it is typically included for free with Windows or Microsoft Office 365 subscriptions. However, some users believe that Microsoft's pricing could be more affordable, and others noted that their licensing models can be complex.
ROI: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint delivers cost savings, enhanced efficiency, and heightened threat management. VirusTotal has a positive ROI.
Comparison Results: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint offers sophisticated protection against ransomware, easy deployment, and smooth integration with Microsoft solutions. However, Microsoft’s customer support has received middling reviews, and users would like better compatibility with third-party solutions. VirusTotal is considered a cost-effective solution that's easy to set up. However, some users complained about slow response times from technical support.
"There are a couple of features, such as isolating the devices or connecting the device and connecting live response."
"Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is beneficial because we are using Microsoft Windows and all the core solutions are made by Microsoft, such as the authentic platform, operating system, and antivirus protection. It is a heterogeneous environment. We had to use third-party solutions before and update everything separately. For example, the policy for antivirus. With Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, when Microsoft Windows receives updates it will update with it. This is one main advantage of this solution."
"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."
"The protection that it provides is quite good."
"It depends on the licensing. Most of the customers have got at least a 365 E3 license, and they can use most of the features of Windows 10 Defender. So, anyone who has got an enterprise license can start using those features. Some of the customers have got E5 licenses, and they can use all advanced features. Customers with E5 licenses use the advanced site protection (ATP) features and web content filtering without going via a proxy, which gives the benefit of replacing the proxy. They can get the benefit of MCAS and integration with Intune and the endpoint manager. It is a kind of single platform for all 365 technologies. It helps customers in managing everything through a unified portal."
"The solution integrates very well with Windows applications and Microsoft endpoint products."
"We have very good visibility on our endpoints. The level of information it throws back is helpful."
"I like the real-time protection features. Windows Defender will detect if there's a threat like a Trojan or something like that but Kaspersky lets it run normally."
"The most valuable feature is the worldwide malware information database."
"The product is easy to use with coding, such as Python or Java, via its API."
"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."
"Features like device inventory continue to lack essential workstation drill-downs showing the entire device information with the least effort."
"I would like MDE to have the ability to isolate a certain amount of time on the timeline."
"If there were more template queries in the library, that would make it much easier. They could have basic things, like, "Where's the IP for this user?" or, "What file was downloaded from this user?" If there were more of those basic queries that would help."
"The product itself does not necessarily need improvement, but the support and implementation of the product are the disaster cases."
"There is a lot of information to take in, and the portals tend to change quickly due to the fast-paced nature of the industry."
"Phishing and Malware detection could be better."
"The file scanning has room for improvement. Many people use macros within their files, so there should be a mechanism that helps us to scan them for malicious payloads."
"It can get a bit laggy sometimes. Other than that, we don't have any issues. They constantly tweak it and fix it up based on users' feedback. It has improved a lot over the past four years. Defender for Endpoint never really used to be a good endpoint security solution, but over the past couple of years, Microsoft has invested heavily in it. So, it has come a long way in all aspects of endpoint security. If they want to make it better, they should just continue investing in the current path of what they've been doing over the past couple of years."
"VirusTotal is hard to understand because you need to know Google Docs to create queries, and it doesn't have documentation for that."
"I would like to see an improved user interface and some automation."
"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 Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Pricing and Cost Advice →
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is ranked 1st in Anti-Malware Tools with 182 reviews while VirusTotal is ranked 7th in Anti-Malware Tools with 4 reviews. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is rated 8.0, while VirusTotal is rated 8.8. The top reviewer of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint writes "Eliminates the need to look at multiple dashboards by automatically providing one XDR dashboard to show the security score of each subscription". On the other hand, the top reviewer of VirusTotal writes " Helps businesses collect threat data while keeping privacy in mind and apable of detecting, blocking, and removing viruses and malware". Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is most compared with Symantec Endpoint Security, Intercept X Endpoint, Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks, Trellix Endpoint Security and SentinelOne Singularity Complete, whereas VirusTotal is most compared with Cuckoo Sandbox, MetaDefender, Recorded Future, ReversingLabs and ANY.RUN. See our Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs. VirusTotal report.
See our list of best Anti-Malware Tools vendors.
We monitor all Anti-Malware Tools reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.