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Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks vs Symantec Endpoint Security Complete 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
5.8
Cortex XDR offers cost-effective security with reduced infections, compliance support, enhanced efficiency, rich data, and competitive pricing.
Sentiment score
2.6
Symantec Endpoint Security Complete's ROI is rated highly by some, yet high costs make benefits assessment challenging for others.
They appreciate the rich telemetry data from the solution, as it provides in-depth threat identification.
Cyber Security Manager at Welab bank
Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks helps to reduce my total cost of ownership significantly.
Detection and Response Consultant at Inovasys
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.
Cyber Security Information Security Specialist at MHM Holding GmbH
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.8
Cortex XDR support quality varies; users experience both commendable assistance and challenges, depending on region and support plans.
Sentiment score
3.3
Symantec Endpoint Security Complete receives mixed feedback, with praise for efficiency but concerns about response times and support consistency.
The technical support from Palo Alto deserves a mark of ten because they reach out within an hour whenever assistance is needed.
Head of data centers at a non-profit with 10,001+ employees
There is no back and forth, and they know what we are asking for and come up with the best resolution for a solution.
Senior Process Expert at A.P. Moller - Maersk
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.
Chief of IT Architecture at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
I don't know the current situation with Broadcom, however, it was good when I was involved.
Information Security Engineer at M.Tech
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
Cortex XDR is scalable and cloud-based, efficiently supporting thousands of endpoints across various enterprise environments without scalability issues.
Sentiment score
6.4
Symantec Endpoint Security Complete displays strong scalability, though opinions vary on license challenges and support in different environments.
Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks can be expanded anytime by purchasing another license without any issues related to scalability.
Head of data centers at a non-profit with 10,001+ employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.1
Cortex XDR is stable and reliable, with minimal performance issues and consistent performance despite initial configuration challenges.
Sentiment score
8.0
Symantec Endpoint Security Complete is reliable and stable, though new releases may introduce bugs, earning high user satisfaction.
Cortex remains fast and responsive, even with increasing data and alerts.
Final Year Student at Gitam University
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.
Senior Process Expert at A.P. Moller - Maersk
Cortex XDR is stable, offering high quality and reliable performance.
Cyber Security Manager at Welab bank
Mac OS upgrades would break them before new versions were available.
Lead of IT at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
 

Room For Improvement

Cortex XDR needs better compatibility, UX, report customization, and pricing while reducing performance issues and enhancing automation and detection.
Symantec Endpoint Security Complete requires enhancements in installation, interface, mobility, security features, support, scalability, pricing, and integration.
Improving reporting and dashboard customization, along with the addition of real-time and exportable reports, would help SOC teams greatly.
Final Year Student at Gitam University
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.
Pre-Sales Architect at network techlab
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.
Cyber Security Information Security Specialist at MHM Holding GmbH
The mobile device management was not unified with the other endpoint management, creating structural issues.
Lead of IT at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
They could improve the user interface.
Information Security Engineer at M.Tech
 

Setup Cost

Cortex XDR offers flexible licensing, ranging $55-$90 annually, deemed cost-effective despite higher setup costs, suitable for any enterprise.
Symantec Endpoint Security Complete pricing varies, seen as cost-effective by some but expensive due to features and complex renewals.
The pricing on SentinelOne is far more reasonable and cheaper than Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks.
Consultant at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
I would say it is definitely not a cheap product, considering how mature it is and how scalable all Palo Alto products are together.
Senior Process Expert at A.P. Moller - Maersk
Cortex XDR is perceived as expensive by some customers, yet offers dynamic pricing.
Cyber Security Manager at Welab bank
 

Valuable Features

Cortex XDR offers advanced threat detection, AI capabilities, easy integration, remote management, and rapid response, enhancing security measures.
Symantec Endpoint Security Complete delivers advanced protection and governance with features like threat hunting, sandboxing, and customizable performance.
It incorporates AI for normal behavior detection, distinguishing unusual operations.
Cyber Security Manager at Welab bank
The product provides automation responses in case of a threat attack, severity assessments, centralized manageability, and comprehensive compliance features, resulting in reduced costs.
Pre-Sales Architect at network techlab
It includes machine learning to easily analyze data and detect complex threats across endpoints, networks, or clouds.
Final Year Student at Gitam University
I have both the antivirus and EDR features constantly, allowing my team's customers to conduct detailed analyses of where attacks have occurred or if any malicious files are present, which devices or files have been targeted.
Information Security Engineer at M.Tech
Fortinet Endpoint Protection provides more features compared to other solutions.
Lead of IT at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Net...
Ranking in Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
5th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
101
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (8th), Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (7th), Ransomware Protection (2nd), AI-Powered Cybersecurity Platforms (2nd)
Symantec Endpoint Security ...
Ranking in Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
31st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.0
Number of Reviews
18
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) category, the mindshare of Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is 3.3%, down from 4.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Symantec Endpoint Security Complete is 0.7%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks3.3%
Symantec Endpoint Security Complete0.7%
Other96.0%
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
 

Featured Reviews

ABHISHEK_SINGH - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Process Expert at A.P. Moller - Maersk
Gained full visibility and streamlined threat detection through behavior-based insights and AI integration
Initially, we got to have a lot of false positives when we onboarded, but nowadays it's quite smooth. We have fine-tuned our security policies and allowed different levels of policies to get rid of those false positives. Currently, we are getting a fairly good amount of incidents that are not false positives or benign, but actionable items. The process is streamlined. In the initial days, the operations used to get involved in a lot of benign and other activities, but now the process is streamlined. We are leveraging the auto-detection and remediation plans. The operations teams are now more involved in other business roles as well, not just looking into the logs and fetching out what's happening there. They have fixed a lot of things. Initially, they didn't have IAC code drift detection, cloud posture management, or security posture management, but they have those now. They purchased different vendors and did a merger with that. They have now Prisma Cloud that gets integrated and now they are working with Cortex Cloud. Everything that was negative has now been addressed, and the product altogether looks to be in a very better and mature shape now. Currently, it's more or less detecting the workloads with AI-based best practices. Since most organizations are consuming AI agents and other things, we are looking forward to seeing what other feature enhancements Palo Alto can support in that.
PetriRajama - PeerSpot reviewer
Lead of IT at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Has provided strong security foundations but struggles with integration and ongoing compatibility issues
It had its problems. They were rebuilding it while having the old functionality and new functionality layered on top of each other. They were migrating the functionalities to the new solution, which caused significant problems. The mobile device management was not unified with the other endpoint management, creating structural issues.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Real Estate/Law Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business43
Midsize Enterprise18
Large Enterprise43
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise6
 

Questions from the Community

Cortex XDR by Palo Alto vs. Sentinel One
Cortex XDR by Palo Alto vs. SentinelOne SentinelOne offers very detailed specifics with regard to risks or attacks. The ability to reverse damage caused by ransomware with minimal interruptions to...
Comparing CrowdStrike Falcon to Cortex XDR (Palo Alto)
Cortex XDR by Palo Alto vs. CrowdStrike Falcon Both Cortex XDR and Crowd Strike Falcon offer cloud-based solutions that are very scalable, secure, and user-friendly. Cortex XDR by Palo Alto offers ...
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...
What do you like most about Symantec Endpoint Security Complete?
The solution prevents any damage from viruses and provides risk mitigation for virus threats.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Symantec Endpoint Security Complete?
Symantec Endpoint Security Full/Complete license is not expensive and advise using the full feature.
What needs improvement with Symantec Endpoint Security Complete?
It had its problems. They were rebuilding it while having the old functionality and new functionality layered on top of each other. They were migrating the functionalities to the new solution, whic...
 

Also Known As

Cyvera, Cortex XDR, Palo Alto Networks Traps
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

CBI Health Group, University Honda, VakifBank
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks vs. Symantec Endpoint Security Complete and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
879,422 professionals have used our research since 2012.