

Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks and Microsoft Defender for Business compete in the endpoint protection category. Cortex XDR appears stronger in advanced threat detection features, while Microsoft Defender offers better integration within its ecosystem.
Features: Cortex XDR is known for its advanced threat detection, correlation features, and seamless integration with network devices like firewalls and Active Directory. It provides analytics and behavior-based detection that enhance security. Microsoft Defender for Business offers effective threat detection and response capabilities, especially for businesses reliant on Microsoft services, and integrates well with tools like Azure Sentinel for improved security and threat management.
Room for Improvement: Cortex XDR faces challenges with user interface complexity and high memory consumption. It also misses certain features like NDR and receives some false positive reports. Microsoft Defender for Business could benefit from better detection capabilities to minimize false positives and improve integration with non-Microsoft environments. Enhanced support is also needed for remote management and more competitive pricing for smaller organizations.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cortex XDR is mostly deployed in public cloud settings and provides extensive cloud compatibility but receives varied feedback about its technical support. Microsoft Defender for Business is versatile, available in public, private, hybrid, and on-premises settings, and integrates easily into the Microsoft ecosystem with generally efficient technical support.
Pricing and ROI: Cortex XDR is considered expensive, especially for large-scale deployments, despite offering substantial cost savings through effective threat detection. Microsoft Defender for Business, included in Microsoft 365 subscriptions, presents a pricing advantage with additional value across Microsoft’s security ecosystem. However, its standalone pricing can be steep for smaller organizations.
They appreciate the rich telemetry data from the solution, as it provides in-depth threat identification.
Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks helps to reduce my total cost of ownership significantly.
I have seen a return on investment with Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks, as this product is offered at a minimal cost, and we can find a good ROI from it.
Using Microsoft Defender for Business results in cost reductions as it consolidates various features under one product, saving around 20% to 30% of the budget.
The value I see in Microsoft Defender for Business is in its ability to track and respond to application usage and security threats through its CASB and automation features, which are cost-beneficial.
The technical support from Palo Alto deserves a mark of ten because they reach out within an hour whenever assistance is needed.
There is no back and forth, and they know what we are asking for and come up with the best resolution for a solution.
If any of these services are missed, it becomes a problem in terms of support tickets, follow-up, or special configuration that needs to be done in the system.
It is rated ten out of ten for its quality and assistance.
The onboarding support is exceptional, ensuring seamless integration and implementation.
Faster support is needed for endpoint security solutions.
Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks can be expanded anytime by purchasing another license without any issues related to scalability.
The cloud-based nature of the solution ensures high scalability.
The scalability of Microsoft Defender for Business is rated as ten, indicating it is very scalable.
In terms of scalability, I would rate Microsoft Defender for Business a ten.
Cortex remains fast and responsive, even with increasing data and alerts.
The thresholds we've seen on our firewall boxes at some instances reached 80% to 85%, but even at that level of utilization, we don't observe any latency or any issues reported with respect to accessing the application.
Cortex XDR is stable, offering high quality and reliable performance.
No customer complaints about its functionality or reliability.
Although it generally works, there are occasional issues and errors that sometimes require a complete system format to rectify.
I would rate the stability of Microsoft Defender for Business with a three out of ten, where one is very bad.
Improving reporting and dashboard customization, along with the addition of real-time and exportable reports, would help SOC teams greatly.
The inclusion of this feature would allow the application of DLP policies alongside antivirus policies via a single agent and console, making it more competitive as other OEMs often offer DLP solutions as part of their antivirus products.
If the per GB data could be provided at a certain level free of cost or at the same cost which the customer is taking for the entire bundle, that would be better.
Microsoft should provide batch management solutions with the application, integrating pass management with roles.
Features related to Advanced Persistent Threat detection vectors and cyber kill chain integrations are not available out-of-the-box.
There can be improvements in the user interface to make it more intuitive.
The pricing on SentinelOne is far more reasonable and cheaper than Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks.
I would say it is definitely not a cheap product, considering how mature it is and how scalable all Palo Alto products are together.
Cortex XDR is perceived as expensive by some customers, yet offers dynamic pricing.
Single-year pricing remains good.
The pricing is quite affordable at the enterprise level with no extra expenses noted.
Although the cost can be slightly higher, it expedites deployment, which is beneficial, especially for startups.
It incorporates AI for normal behavior detection, distinguishing unusual operations.
The product provides automation responses in case of a threat attack, severity assessments, centralized manageability, and comprehensive compliance features, resulting in reduced costs.
It includes machine learning to easily analyze data and detect complex threats across endpoints, networks, or clouds.
The threat detection capabilities are robust, with a dedicated research team and a continuously updated threat feed.
Its vulnerability management is regarded as one of the best in the industry.
The most effective features of Microsoft Defender for Business include its threat detection and response capabilities in managing vulnerabilities and ransomware attacks.
| Product | Market Share (%) |
|---|---|
| Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks | 3.4% |
| Microsoft Defender for Business | 2.0% |
| Other | 94.6% |


| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 43 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 18 |
| Large Enterprise | 43 |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 15 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 2 |
| Large Enterprise | 3 |
Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks delivers comprehensive endpoint security, integrating well with other systems to offer robust threat detection and real-time protection through AI-driven analytics.
Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks offers advanced endpoint protection and threat detection through AI and behavior-based analytics. Its user-friendly design simplifies integration with firewalls, delivering multi-layered protection with low resource consumption. Valued for policy management, USB control, and incident correlation, Cortex XDR enhances threat management and real-time threat hunting capabilities. However, users note challenges with third-party integration, reporting, and dashboard automation. Agent performance across operating systems and memory consumption are areas for improvement, alongside reducing false positives and simplifying endpoint management and setup.
What features does Cortex XDR offer?
What benefits should be considered in reviews?
Cortex XDR is crucial in industries requiring robust endpoint protection, such as finance, healthcare, and technology. It supports malware detection, behavioral analysis, and ransomware mitigation across endpoints, including remote work environments, providing comprehensive threat visibility and security policy management. The solution's integration with firewalls and specialized industry requirements enhances security posture in diverse operational settings.
Microsoft Defender for Business is a new endpoint security solution that was designed especially for the small and medium-sized business (up to 300 employees). With this endpoint security solution, your company's devices are better protected from ransomware, malware, phishing, and other threats.
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