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Bitdefender GravityZone EDR vs Microsoft Defender for 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

Bitdefender GravityZone EDR
Ranking in Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
13th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
61
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Microsoft Defender for Endp...
Ranking in Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
194
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (1st), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (2nd), Anti-Malware Tools (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) category, the mindshare of Bitdefender GravityZone EDR is 2.6%, down from 3.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is 10.5%, down from 14.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
 

Featured Reviews

AMBARISH PATKAR - PeerSpot reviewer
Centralized control effectively manages devices while updates require powered-on systems
I use Bitdefender GravityZone EDR for the grooming industry. It is primarily utilized for the office environment The features I find most effective for threat detection include centralized control policy distribution and the control of independent devices, such as printers, laptops, and desktops…
AnuragSrivastava - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides detailed visibility into threats but the ability to add exceptions needs improvement
One major item for improvement is the ability to add exceptions. We can add some exceptions, but not at the level we need to. The second major area for improvement involves enhanced capabilities for different operating systems or platforms. That is, even though we have coverage for different operating systems or platforms such as Linux, we don't get all of the controls and enhanced capabilities that are available with Windows devices. Reporting could also be improved because, at present, we get limited results at times. For example, in an environment with more than 100,000 devices, you may just get 10,000 results when you run a report.

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 the anti-malware and firewall policies. The runtime scans and execution have been beneficial to our business."
"I have access to it from anywhere."
"It is a good anti-malware product that is highly stable."
"The installation is straightforward."
"The solution is probably one of the top five, best security solutions on the market at the moment."
"The features that are most useful are the simplicity of deploying the package and the cryptosystem for managing all the situations on the computer."
"The product is worth the investment."
"Bitdefender is a well-supported platform."
"Investigators can trace back to find the root cause."
"Microsoft Defender for Endpoint's WCS function, a content filtering solution, has proven to be the most useful, stable, and reliable option for our current needs."
"I like the fact that it has the ransomware solution in there. I'm glad that the ransomware solution is built into it. That's probably the biggest thing that I see in Microsoft Defender."
"You can query and access useful information from logs and events, which is powerful and efficient."
"The comprehensiveness of Microsoft threat-protection products is great... Today, Microsoft Sentinel by itself is a leading Gartner SIEM tool. It has advantages over competitors because of the ability to integrate with Microsoft solutions and automate continuous monitoring of Microsoft AD and Office 365 data."
"I am using it for very simple purposes. It is perfect and quite effective. I have been using it for a while, and I have never had any virus infection, data leak, or other security breaches. It works fine for standalone purposes. If you log on to OneDrive, it has ransomware protection."
"I like Defender's reporting and logging features. The email alerts are also helpful. It's hard sometimes to sift through the email, especially if you're an IT firm managing hundreds if not thousands of endpoints, but we find email reporting useful. For example, last Tuesday, we learned of new vulnerabilities that were discovered as a result of the previous patches. The endpoints without those patches triggered alerts in Defender."
"I like the process visibility. This ability to visualize how something was executed is valuable, and the fact that Defender ATP is also linked to the threat intelligence that they have is also valuable. So, even if you have something that doesn't have a conventional signature, the fact that you get this strange execution means that you can detect things that are normally not visible."
 

Cons

"Bitdefender GravityZone Ultra should include more advanced features than their competitors in the market for the auto-detection of viruses and threats within the environment."
"We would like to see a more advanced dashboard."
"The product can be improved by identifying errors."
"The software itself is solid. It would be better if it was more of a real-time solution, like SentinelOne. The one thing that holds me back on the SentinelOne side is that I can blacklist websites and stuff like that, but it's not as granular as Bitdefender. With Bitdefender, I feel like I have more control over what I can whitelist and blacklist."
"The stability must be improved."
"In terms of improvement of the solution, it could have better features. For example, having a firewall within. This way we would only need one solution."
"Policy customization and deployment need a little bit of improvement. The push policies, the first line, and all those things."
"Occasionally websites are unnecessarily blocked due to monitoring software on those sites."
"It needs to improve the cybersecurity for lateral movements. For example, when a hacker tries to enter a machine, they try to get the password by doing a lateral movement."
"Defender for Endpoint is complex, and the documentation is detailed. At the same time, it's hard to navigate sometimes. You have to go through tons of documentation to find what you want."
"Microsoft Defender for Endpoint could improve by providing more user-friendly dashboards. They may be complicated for some."
"I have accounts for administrators and corporate employees, but I also have accounts for students. I can't split these types of accounts. I need a separate configuration for both... I need to research how I can get alerts for only the administrative machines."
"My main issue with the tool is that there are too many menus. This causes a steep learning curve for those without training or unfamiliar with Defender for Endpoint. From an end-user perspective, the solution is there on the machine and does its job; it works seamlessly. However, as a security professional dealing with it behind the scenes, the learning curve can be steep, but not too steep. Still, it has taken some of my analysts up to a month to get familiar with the product."
"Microsoft Defender could be improved with features more like the McAfee ePO. It would be better if I had a console to get all the information for my endpoints. Maybe this is too much for it, but it would be better if it could handle those non-signature-based malicious codes or viruses."
"The solution could always be more secure."
"Sometimes, there are difficulties in downloading a file considered as malicious."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Price-wise, we have a better licensing agreement with Bitdefender than we did with competing vendors."
"It has a suitable price for every company and organization."
"The solution is not expensive but there are cheaper options in the market. In terms of competitiveness, the price is reasonable with no other additional costs besides the licensing fees."
"As I am on a different model, my clients pay me on a monthly basis."
"We take the subscription. Only we're taking that GravityZone and protection of the environment and the system. We didn't subscribe to the detection response."
"Bitdefender GravityZone EDR is cost-effective and has the best pricing."
"The product has a reasonable price."
"There is a fully functional trial that we used and we didn't have any issues."
"We have seen ROI. Most of the other competing alternatives will cost up to around $30 per user device. We average 400 devices. Therefore, the amount that we save each year is 400 times $30."
"Licensing fees are paid annually through a partner."
"The solution comes as part of Microsoft Windows."
"We mostly use Microsoft products. We use Office 365, and we use Azure. We're also a Microsoft partner. So, the licensing was much cheaper for us, and at the same time, a lot of the features that we were looking for were included in Defender."
"The licensing costs for Microsoft Defender for Endpoint are reasonable."
"The subscription is part of Windows, so we don't have to pay anything extra for this product."
"We went for Microsoft Defender once we were informed that it would be part of our Office 365 package. So, we combined the licensing for the OS with Office 365. Yeah. We thought it was a good bargain."
"Microsoft Defender ATP is expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Government
6%
University
5%
Educational Organization
25%
Computer Software Company
11%
Government
7%
Financial Services Firm
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Bitdefender GravityZone Ultra?
The cost is reasonable, with the license costing approximately six to eight dollars per user.
What needs improvement with Bitdefender GravityZone Ultra?
When patching devices for updates, if a device is not switched on, it does not provide information dynamically.
How is Cortex XDR compared with Microsoft Defender?
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is a cloud-delivered endpoint security solution. The tool reduces the attack surface, applies behavioral-based endpoint protection and response, and includes risk-ba...
Which offers better endpoint security - Symantec or Microsoft Defender?
We use Symantec because we do not use MS Enterprise products, but in my opinion, Microsoft Defender is a superior solution. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is a cloud-delivered endpoint security s...
How does Microsoft Defender for Endpoint compare with Crowdstrike Falcon?
The CrowdStrike solution delivers a lot of information about incidents. It has a very light sensor that will never push your machine hardware to "test", you don't have the usual "scan now" feature ...
 

Also Known As

Bitdefender GravityZone Ultra, Bitdefender GravityZone
Microsoft Defender ATP, Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection, MS Defender for Endpoint, Microsoft Defender Antivirus
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Mentor Graphics, Rudersdal Kommune
Petrofrac, Metro CSG, Christus Health
Find out what your peers are saying about Bitdefender GravityZone EDR vs. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
849,686 professionals have used our research since 2012.