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Check Point Harmony Endpoint vs Microsoft Defender for Endpoint comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 17, 2025

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
7.2
Check Point Harmony Endpoint enhances security, improves efficiency, and achieves up to 100% ROI with reduced incidents and cost savings.
Sentiment score
7.1
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint offers significant ROI with cost savings, seamless integration, and real-time protection against ransomware attacks.
Initially, we spent two to three days on the investigation process, but now we are able to investigate alerts in only half a day, which has really boosted our performance and shown a return on investment.
The product is affordable and provides excellent coverage and protection across multiple platforms.
I have seen a return on investment with Check Point Harmony Endpoint, as it has saved money and time due to the minimum disruption of production hours, which allows users to focus on their main tasks and desired targets, avoiding downtime and contributing to business growth.
Without detection and protection measures, organizations would face substantial payments and reputational damage, including the necessity to inform customers about data breaches, potentially leading to loss of business.
We have seen a return on investment when using Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, as it saves labor by reducing the need for staff to focus on it.
The biggest return on investment for me when using Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is the time saving.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.8
Check Point Harmony Endpoint support is praised for responsiveness and expertise but criticized for occasional delays in complex cases.
Sentiment score
6.6
Many users find Microsoft Defender for Endpoint reliable, but support experiences vary, with premium support offering quicker assistance.
The customer support for Check Point Harmony Endpoint deserves a rating of 10.
We use premium support, and it is beneficial as 24/7 support is available.
I have opened several cases and they were handled very efficiently and quickly.
The level-one support seems disconnected from subject matter experts.
I rate Microsoft support 10 out of 10.
Due to our size, we don't have access to direct technical support, but the knowledge base, Microsoft Learn, and the articles available are really good.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.1
Check Point Harmony Endpoint is praised for scalability, seamless growth, and adaptability, effectively managing diverse environments with positive feedback.
Sentiment score
7.7
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is scalable and integrates well with Microsoft’s ecosystem, despite needing improvements for handling massive data.
We initially purchased only 100 licenses and as we grew, we acquired many more licenses without encountering any issues.
Proactive features help guard against data breaches and vulnerabilities.
Allowing us to add more users or endpoints for protection as our organization grows without any issues.
We managed to scale it out in a short amount of time, with two months of planning and three months of implementation on 10,000 computers.
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is scalable enough to handle various devices across environments, whether they are laptops, Android devices, or operating in hybrid environments.
Compatibility is its main feature.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
Check Point Harmony Endpoint is stable and reliable, offering continuous protection with minor occasional update issues across platforms.
Sentiment score
7.9
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is praised for its reliability and stability, with minor concerns about resource intensity and performance.
The stability of the tool is high, as I have not experienced any downtime.
Check Point Harmony Endpoint is stable for our organization size of 1,000 to 10,000 members.
Occasionally, there are some backend issues where the tenant is down, but apart from that, Check Point Harmony Endpoint is stable and working effectively.
I haven't seen any outages with Microsoft.
I rate Defender 10 out of 10 for stability.
Defender for Endpoint is extremely stable.
 

Room For Improvement

Check Point Harmony Endpoint struggles with integration, complex configuration, high resource usage, slow support, and costly licensing.
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint faces interface complexity, slow detection, high CPU usage, integration issues, and seeks improvements in multiple areas.
Principally regarding the system performance, Check Point Harmony Endpoint impacts us significantly, and addressing this issue would make a substantial difference.
Better technical support would enhance the product's competitiveness.
High resource consumption, requiring high-performance PCs on our endpoint site.
Repeated interactions are necessary due to Level One's lack of tools and knowledge, hindering efficient problem-solving and negatively impacting our experience with Microsoft support.
In contrast, competing products offer reduced pricing for long-term commitments, which makes it difficult for us in that environment.
We use Microsoft partners to help govern the platform, and as part of an alliance, we want to gather data from each tenant and combine them for a complete view.
 

Setup Cost

Check Point Harmony Endpoint provides flexible, competitively-priced licenses and customizable packages, seen as worthwhile for robust security and scalability.
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint offers flexible pricing, making it competitive and cost-effective compared to standalone security products.
It is not expensive and provides comprehensive coverage.
Pricing is a bit expensive but justified by the product’s features, capabilities, and scalability.
The pricing for Check Point Antivirus is a bit higher compared to other vendors or standalone antivirus options.
Given our extensive Microsoft licensing, transitioning to Defender for Endpoint did not affect licensing costs.
It costs $15 per VM for the P2 plan, which is seen as affordable for customers.
The pricing, setup, and licensing were very easy and simple.
 

Valuable Features

Check Point Harmony Endpoint offers advanced threat prevention, user-friendly management, and comprehensive security with anti-ransomware and anti-phishing tools.
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint excels with seamless integration, advanced threat intelligence, AI-driven protection, and continuous cloud-based security management.
Check Point Harmony Endpoint protects our company by warning us against clicking any malicious links and prevents our hosts from becoming vulnerable to cyber attacks.
The anti-ransomware and threat emulation features have significantly helped our organization as they prevent attackers from encrypting files during ransomware attacks, allowing the system to re-decrypt files and restore them to their original forms, effectively stopping ransomware attacks.
Check Point Harmony Endpoint offers top tier security, AI-powered threat prevention, and strong scalability, which stand out as the best features.
Defender for Endpoint's coverage across different platforms in our environment is pretty good. We have devices running Linux, Mac OS, Windows, iOS, and Android. It covers all of them.
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint provides a unified management interface allowing customers to manage their on-premises and hybrid infrastructures from a single pane.
One of the best features of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is its database for identifying zero-day attacks or malware attacks.
 

Categories and Ranking

Check Point Harmony Endpoint
Ranking in Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
4th
Ranking in Anti-Malware Tools
4th
Ranking in Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
6th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
186
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Microsoft Defender for Endp...
Ranking in Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
1st
Ranking in Anti-Malware Tools
1st
Ranking in Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
198
Ranking in other categories
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (3rd), Microsoft Security Suite (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) category, the mindshare of Check Point Harmony Endpoint is 2.5%, down from 2.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is 10.0%, down from 13.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint10.0%
Check Point Harmony Endpoint2.5%
Other87.5%
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
 

Featured Reviews

Nasseer Qureshi - PeerSpot reviewer
Comprehensive defensive features boost daily protection and efficiency
I see a need for improvement especially in policy management and policy customization with Check Point Harmony Endpoint. As a new user, I find it somewhat difficult to customize and apply policies due to the various options available. I would appreciate improvement in fine-tuning those policies and integrating with other tools, such as being able to send logs from Check Point to our SIM or syslog solution. The user interface is good, and I really appreciate it, but improvements are needed in policy customization and integration with third-party products. Additionally, I would prefer to see a mechanism to send agents directly from the console to an endpoint during installation.
NaySan @ Suraj Verma - PeerSpot reviewer
Has effectively blocked sophisticated attacks and malicious activities while providing excellent support
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is very good, but one suggestion is that in some products, we may need to configure security-related settings, whereas Microsoft Defender for Endpoint works completely differently, providing automatic recommendations and actions that we may need to perform ourselves. Regarding the pricing of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, during the last three years, we set up the product and sold it, but we faced difficulties because Microsoft pricing is always the same. For example, whether I purchase Microsoft Defender for Endpoint for one year or for the next three years, the pricing remains constant with no discounts available. In contrast, competing products offer reduced pricing for long-term commitments, which makes it difficult for us in that environment. Microsoft should consider this option to remain competitive, but otherwise, everything else is fine.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
13%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business112
Midsize Enterprise68
Large Enterprise75
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business79
Midsize Enterprise34
Large Enterprise87
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Check Point Harmony Endpoint?
The platform's most valuable features are the ability to build API, which meets our business requirements, and the VPN client, which provides VPN access from a single client.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Check Point Harmony Endpoint?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Check Point Harmony Endpoint was that it ended up being expensive to license, but the licensing itself was very straightforward.
What needs improvement with Check Point Harmony Endpoint?
I think Check Point Harmony Endpoint could be improved as I dislike the management interface because it's not intuitive, it lacks real-time reporting without configuring smart events, and it made a...
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

Check Point Endpoint Security, Endpoint Security, Check Point SandBlast Agent, Check Point Antivirus
Microsoft Defender ATP, Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection, MS Defender for Endpoint, Microsoft Defender Antivirus
 

Interactive Demo

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Boston Properties, Independence Care System, Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC), Courtagen Life Sciences, Carmel Partners
Petrofrac, Metro CSG, Christus Health
Find out what your peers are saying about Check Point Harmony Endpoint vs. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint and other solutions. Updated: August 2025.
867,445 professionals have used our research since 2012.