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Symantec Endpoint Security 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
5.4
Symantec Endpoint Security increases financial satisfaction by reducing downtime and enhancing threat response, offering competitive pricing and automation.
Sentiment score
6.0
VMware Carbon Black Endpoint delivers strong ROI with enhanced security, reducing costs and malware incidents within six months.
Symantec Endpoint Security filled gaps in our toolset, particularly with the ability to control network firewall on hosts remotely, which was greatly appreciated.
OT Technologist at a energy/utilities company with 201-500 employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.0
Symantec Endpoint Security customer service is highly rated, but post-acquisition support quality fluctuates with some language and delay issues.
Sentiment score
6.3
VMware Carbon Black Endpoint support is knowledgeable but inconsistent, with varied satisfaction and room for improvement in response times.
In some cases, it rates as high as ten out of ten, while in others, it can be as low as eight.
Head of Information System at EEC
There is no support in the German language, which is a problem for many public tenders.
Cyber Security Pre-Sales at SoftwareONE
Regarding the technical support of Broadcom, they are responsive and helpful.
Senior VP, Technology & Leading Technology Office at a outsourcing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.9
Symantec Endpoint Security is scalable, efficient for large deployments, and adaptable, with minor integration and support challenges noted.
Sentiment score
7.3
VMware Carbon Black Endpoint is highly scalable, supporting diverse environments efficiently, despite some data extraction and management complexities.
Symantec Endpoint Security is quite scalable, and it is very important for large clients.
Cyber Security Pre-Sales at SoftwareONE
The scalability of the servers is good, as it requires computational powers.
Senior Security Delivery Analyst at Accenture
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
Symantec Endpoint Security is praised for stability and reliability, despite occasional crashes and compatibility issues during updates.
Sentiment score
7.5
VMware Carbon Black Endpoint offers reliable security, but some users experience stability issues and update-related challenges for resource allocation.
I have encountered issues where I had to uninstall and reinstall the product on end users' computers to view the logs again.
OT Technologist at a energy/utilities company with 201-500 employees
Previously, we used to have multiple servers such as GUP servers and numerous servers for pushing updates, but we reduced it and transitioned almost 30,000 devices to CrowdStrike, which was easy to manage.
Senior Security Delivery Analyst at Accenture
 

Room For Improvement

Symantec Endpoint Security suffers from high resource usage, management complexity, outdated interface, and ineffective virus detection and support.
VMware Carbon Black Endpoint needs better integration, UI, mobile support, pricing, responsiveness, threat detection, and stability improvements.
Symantec should improve its dashboard and all those resources that competitors like CrowdStrike and Trend Micro Defender are utilizing, as they are growing rapidly.
Senior Associate at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Device management is not very good and I am not enabling it in my organization due to security reasons.
System Administrator at Aljazera Market co
I would like to see improvements in the scanning part of the solution, specifically to enhance the CPU and hard disk usage during scanning and updates to prevent disruption during work hours.
Head of Information System at EEC
 

Setup Cost

Symantec Endpoint Security's pricing is diverse, being both negotiable and adaptable for different budgets and organizations' needs.
VMware Carbon Black Endpoint is seen as pricey, varying by deployment size, with mixed views on its value and flexibility.
It seems to be half the cost or more affordable than other solutions.
OT Technologist at a energy/utilities company with 201-500 employees
Symantec Endpoint Protection and Symantec Endpoint Security Enterprise are quite affordable, with Symantec Endpoint Security Complete costing about four times the Endpoint Protection price, still comparable to other EDR products.
Cyber Security Pre-Sales at SoftwareONE
I rate the pricing, setup cost, and licensing around nine out of ten.
Head of Information System at EEC
 

Valuable Features

Symantec Endpoint Security provides integrated, user-friendly protection for multiple platforms with advanced malware detection and comprehensive endpoint management.
VMware Carbon Black Endpoint excels in threat detection, management, and integration, providing scalable and efficient security with minimal resource use.
Symantec Endpoint Security also provides device control features, which block unauthorized USB devices and allow whitelisting, preventing data exfiltration and phishing scenarios without disrupting workflow.
Senior Associate at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Symantec Endpoint Security offers many valuable features, such as file explosion, application learning, DLP, injection detection, and EDR solutions for traffic control.
System Administrator at Aljazera Market co
The incident response capabilities allow me to resolve authentication and support issues promptly, ensuring the system operates without downtime.
Head of Information System at EEC
I assess VMware Carbon Black Endpoint's machine learning capabilities in detecting unknown threats as fantastic.
Senior VP, Technology & Leading Technology Office at a outsourcing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Symantec Endpoint Security
Ranking in Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
13th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
146
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
VMware Carbon Black Endpoint
Ranking in Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
37th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
64
Ranking in other categories
Security Incident Response (6th), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (30th), Ransomware Protection (8th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) category, the mindshare of Symantec Endpoint Security is 3.4%, down from 4.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware Carbon Black Endpoint is 1.8%, down from 1.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Symantec Endpoint Security3.4%
VMware Carbon Black Endpoint1.8%
Other94.8%
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
 

Featured Reviews

Kumbesh Rajagopal - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Security Delivery Analyst at Accenture
Management becomes easier with minimal complications, but improvement in support tools needed
Regarding areas of improvement for Symantec Endpoint Security, there are many changes, and the support portal tool is complicated compared to other tools. When trying to get service from Symantec, the process is complex. I'm not sure whether it's because of my project or something else. Though it is easy to manage, easy to get, easy to install, and works efficiently for managing policies, we faced a significant disadvantage. We wanted to add multiple hashes because of numerous new alerts coming, but we could only add them one by one, which is a considerable disadvantage in Symantec.
reviewer2689206 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior VP, Technology & Leading Technology Office at a outsourcing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Behavior analytics has strengthened threat prediction yet still needs to improve overall standing
Regarding the real-time monitoring feature with VMware Carbon Black Endpoint, it is helpful in addressing unseen threats. I find the behavior analysis feature beneficial. I assess VMware Carbon Black Endpoint's machine learning capabilities in detecting unknown threats as fantastic. The behavior and analytics feature employs machine learning, and these are features which make the product and give that distinguishing, differentiating factor. The intelligent threat hunting capabilities have impacted my customers' cybersecurity efforts by giving them the edge to be prepared well in advance. Whenever this feature provides prediction, you know what action to take. You are aware of a possible attack and what kind of attack it may be, so you are much better prepared.
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Comparison Review

DK
Founder/CEO at KRISTICH SECURITY SERVICES LLC
Apr 17, 2019
Symantec opened our eyes to be able to see what's out there, but then we needed Carbon Black to be able to actively fix it
We are a partner in the managed security service provider (MSSP) space. We service hundreds of customers globally. We implement these solutions on behalf of our customers.  With Carbon Black, we've been using them for about six years. We're an MSSP and channel partner with them, as well as an…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Computer Software Company
10%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business69
Midsize Enterprise32
Large Enterprise63
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business31
Midsize Enterprise9
Large Enterprise31
 

Questions from the Community

Which is better - Cortex XDR or Symantec End-User Endpoint Security?
Aqua Security is easy to use and very manageable. Its main focus is on Kubernetes and Docker. Security is a very valuable feature and their speed of integration is very good. The initial setup was ...
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...
What do you like most about Symantec End-User Endpoint Security?
Symantec have everything – documentation, videos, data sheets.
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

Symantec EPP, Symantec Endpoint Protection (SEP)
Carbon Black CB Defense, Bit9, Confer
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Audio Visual Dynamics, Red Deer Advocate, Asia Pacific Telecom Co. Ltd., Kibbutz Ein Gedi, and AMETEK, Inc.
Netflix, Progress Residential, Indeed, Hologic, Gentle Giant, Samsung Research America
Find out what your peers are saying about Symantec Endpoint Security vs. VMware Carbon Black Endpoint and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
879,711 professionals have used our research since 2012.