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BigFix vs Symantec Endpoint Security Enterprise 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

BigFix
Ranking in Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
26th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
97
Ranking in other categories
Configuration Management (6th), Patch Management (3rd), Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) (4th)
Symantec Endpoint Security ...
Ranking in Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
23rd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
30
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) category, the mindshare of BigFix is 1.2%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Symantec Endpoint Security Enterprise is 0.5%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
 

Featured Reviews

Bella Yakoby - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers third-party patching feature, good scalability, and enhance endpoint management capabilities
From the perspective of the team that's handling the environment, it's not so user-friendly compared to other solutions, the competitors. We hire new teams from time to time, and they are complaining, look, although BigFix is very robust and cross-platform, it's not so fun to work with. The user interface for the technical teams is not so advanced. It's not so intuitive compared to SCCM, compared to ManageEngine. And this is the fact that they have, with the teams, because they have the rejection. The look and feel of the system are old-fashioned. For new employees, it's less easy to find someone I don't need to educate on how to work with BigFix. Although it's easy, it's not as intuitive as the other solutions, and the functionality of the other solutions is less advanced. Let's summarize: The user interface has to be changed from the perspective of the teams that are managing the product. It's old school.
Intekhab Ahmad. - PeerSpot reviewer
A product that offers good threat detection capabilities to its users
The product has improved my company through its area of threat detection. The other applications use the same engine as Symantec Endpoint Security Enterprise. Symantec Endpoint Security Enterprise does not have a set of 100 percent useful things in the tool. Sometimes, a user may know that a file system does not contain any viruses, but it is labeled as a virus by Symantec Endpoint Security Enterprise, making it an issue for users. The aforementioned problem prompts me to contact the product support team via email so that my company can get some help dealing with such problems. I would say that my experience with deploying the product across multiple devices in my company is not tough and can be easy, especially if you have domain environments. The feature of the product that is the most effective for threat prevention stems from the fact that the tool provides updates. The main problem with the solution is that a user has to do the updates manually, so at times, the product is not useful, especially when the machine has to be shut down for updates when new viruses are introduced on the market. I rate the solution's ease of use and administration a seven and a half out of ten. I suggest that those who plan to buy the solution periodically update the product, especially in the area of the virus engine. I rate the tool 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

"We rely on BigFix as part of our consulting engagements. It's more efficient from a visibility and discovery standpoint on the initial phase, the consulting engagement. It also increases our efficiencies on the remediation phase of our engagements."
"Prior to BigFix we used Altiris, which was distributed. We had to manage multiple servers, and duplicate the tasks that we did on each server. BigFix tremendously reduced the amount of work that we had to do on each server in a centralized manner. We could minimize the work that we had to do, and we had a lot more control over the tasks and what machines they ran on."
"BigFix has drastically reduced the maintenance window period to patch and reboot servers."
"Having higher visibility on patching level, on patching successful, and non-successful has been a way that BigFix has improved my organization. Also, the ability to customize the content to do what we need it to do is very powerful and very flexible for us. Finally, in the area of custom interfaces like REST API really gives us the ability to provide for our external customers."
"This has very much improved our organization by saving time to deploy thousands of endpoints to our customers."
"It covers multiple operating systems and helps with patch management."
"We found the implementation partner to be very supportive in terms of explaining and training the in-house resources and deploying the solution."
"We receive the patches automatically, and BigFix spreads them automatically to our endpoints."
"Stable with good customer service."
"Device Control is very user-friendly."
"Anti-malware is the most valuable feature. We trust Symantec for protection, and we like the idea that Symantec is preventing us from accessing certain websites that are known for containing malware."
"The overall solution is good, particularly the detection engine. It performs well in identifying malware and conducting regular network scans. The product is easy to use."
"The support from Symantec Endpoint Security Enterprise is good, they have a quick response time."
"The solution has integrated some AI tools for the automation of tasks."
"The solution is very cheap."
"The primary feature of the solution is antivirus scanning with IPS. It blocks viruses and uses a signature database, ensuring robust protection when configured correctly to meet our requirements."
 

Cons

"Needs to improve Network Access Protection (NAP) technologies to prevent computers with vulnerabilities from gaining access to networks."
"The only thing that I don't like about BigFix is that it does not support other devices such as printer firmware, router firmware, and things like that. I will be happy if I can control everything and get everything else in there, even if it is just a line item. They can do some enhancements to the Web UI. I am trying to get customers to be able to manage their environment by using Web UI, and it would be good if we can delete endpoints by using Web UI. We should also be able to generate Excel content or data tables from the Web UI without having to go to the console. It is small stuff, and it drives me crazy that I have to go to another console to do these things."
"The sub-capacity licensing was a challenge for some of it. We had trouble getting it to calculate right."
"They don't have a proper mobile device management capability. They're working on it, however, that's the one thing that needs improvement so that you can have full unified endpoint management."
"The solution should have some kind of a local caching methodology, where the patches can be taken locally into a localized relay server, and from there, the patch can be applied, so that there is not much usage of the network required."
"I'd like to see better API integration with BigFix. We have some tremendous API capability inside of CyFIR and the ability to take textual search results, for example, and bring that back into the BigFix dashboard. This would be of extreme interest to us and our customers."
"We're a partner, so we deliver technical support to customers. When we need to talk to the product support, traditionally, with the product over the last five years, I would not say support has been supportive. I hope that changes."
"I would like to see SDK for Web UI included in the next release."
"Unlike traditional tools, Symantec Endpoint Security Enterprise does not provide trigger alerts based on user behavior-based traffic."
"The solution's browser protection in Chrome needs to be improved, as it's the most troublesome aspect of the tool. I have two devices where the browser protection failed, an issue that has yet to be fixed for two months. When updates occur, the client restarts, and the browser protection for Chrome malfunctions. Broadcom needs to improve their ability to hijack a browser session to filter web traffic because that's important, as well as site blocking. This element is missing in the product; most companies have firewalls with web content filtering to prevent employees from accessing specific sites."
"Symantec Endpoint Security Enterprise used to be a stable product, but now that aspect needs improvement. They also used to provide good technical support, but now not so much, so that needs improvement."
"Symantec should revamp its graphical user interface."
"It could be more responsive and have fewer delays."
"The solution's management dashboard could be improved. An easier-to-use threat-hunting dashboard would make life easier for security analysts. Its support needs to improve for the African region."
"Symantec Endpoint Security Enterprise should focus on cloud security with Microsoft Azure or Amazon AWS rather than having their standard solution."
"In the future, Symantec Endpoint Security Enterprise should improve the firewall and documentation."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of the solution is high. There are not any additional fees from the standard license."
"It might be about $23 a client."
"It is too costly. It is one of the best tools, but because of pricing, not all clients support it. Its licensing is on a yearly basis."
"We have a subscription-based contract with BigFix."
"Its price is very reasonable."
"The tool's price continues to go up. The cost per endpoint can vary, ranging from approximately 30 to 80 dollars per year. Compared to other products, pricing is in the middle. You need to buy an additional database license, but most users already have it."
"I would stay with the Managed Virtual Server license model, which is a 1-to-1 license per OS whether it is virtual or physical."
"There's not much big cost. We only have to pay the agents' cost for the server, and for the systems."
"The tool fits within our budget. It is not expensive."
"The product is neither cheap nor expensive, meaning it is an average-priced solution."
"I would rate it a seven, indicating a satisfactory and moderate level. Despite being somewhat on the expensive side, it aligns with our long-standing relationship with Symantec, and we find it acceptable."
"I rate the tool's pricing a six out of ten. For most organizations, the cost is between 70 and 100 dollars per user. The exact price depends on the selected features and the number of users. It's considered a premium cost for an enterprise Endpoint security solution."
"The product is not very expensive."
"If you have a variety of different endpoints, including heavily protected endpoints and some endpoints that are in the field, Symantec allows you to apply different licensing so you don't have to put everything under Endpoint Complete."
"It's not the cheapest, but it's reasonably priced, around a five on a scale from one to ten. It's suitable for small, medium, and enterprise businesses and offers competitive pricing. There are no additional costs; it's a renewable purchase, either annually or as needed."
"The price of Symantec Endpoint Security Enterprise is expensive. When compared to other solutions they should reduce the price."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
15%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
15%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Computer Software Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about BigFix?
The most valuable features of the solution are Windows patching and the hardware and software inventory.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for BigFix?
The pricing is competitive, but not the most competitive.
What needs improvement with BigFix?
While performing integration, we face many issues with IBM solution. We need detailed information about those issues that can help users to mitigate them. The problem was related to the hardware co...
What do you like most about Symantec Endpoint Security Enterprise?
The tool is a secure and stable workstation for checking antivirus. The alerting feature helps us see alerts and is easy to control. The main benefit we derive from using Symantec Endpoint Security...
 

Also Known As

Tivoli Endpoint Manager
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

US Foods, Penn State, St Vincent's Health US Foods, Sabadell Bank, SunTrust, Australia Sydney, Stemac, Capgemini, WNS Global Services, Jebsen & Jessen, CenterBeam, Strauss, Christian Hospital Centre, Brit Insurance, Career Education Corporation
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Find out what your peers are saying about BigFix vs. Symantec Endpoint Security Enterprise and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.