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Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks vs VMware Carbon Black Cloud comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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
7.3
Cortex XDR enhances security, reduces costs, boosts threat identification, compliance, and user confidence, offering cost-effective data protection.
Sentiment score
7.3
VMware Carbon Black Cloud offers cost savings, improved security, centralized protection, better efficiency, and quick ROI with automation features.
They appreciate the rich telemetry data from the solution, as it provides in-depth threat identification.
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.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.6
Cortex XDR support is responsive and knowledgeable, despite occasional delays and regional language barriers affecting resolution times.
Sentiment score
6.6
Users typically find VMware Carbon Black Cloud support efficient, with no negative feedback reported and alternative contacts available for assistance.
Every vendor has similar support; it depends on how the case is handled and raised.
Their support is efficient and responsive whenever I raise a ticket through my portal.
They did well with handling high-risk threats.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
Cortex XDR is praised for smooth scalability, managing diverse endpoints, and effective expansion in various organizational sizes.
Sentiment score
7.6
VMware Carbon Black Cloud is highly rated for scalability, performing well in diverse environments from small to enterprise businesses.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.0
Cortex XDR is stable, with resolved bugs and ongoing improvements, earning high stability ratings from users.
Sentiment score
7.0
VMware Carbon Black Cloud became reliable after initial instability, with high user satisfaction despite minor performance issues on large deployments.
For the last 11 months, we haven't faced any outage issues, so it is a stable product.
Cortex XDR is stable, offering high quality and reliable performance.
All the situations and issues were controlled in a good way by Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks.
 

Room For Improvement

Cortex XDR struggles with compatibility, high memory usage, difficult management, limited features, and needs better integration, UI, and pricing.
VMware Carbon Black Cloud needs better false positive handling, agent efficiency, support improvement, and enhanced features, training, and global support.
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.
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.
Cortex XDR could improve its sales support team, including better commission structures and referral programs.
 

Setup Cost

Enterprise buyers find Cortex XDR expensive, but competitive, with flexible licensing; costs vary by usage, features, and setup.
Compared to competitors such as CrowdStrike and Sophos, the pricing of Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is similar to CrowdStrike but more expensive than Sophos.
Cortex XDR is perceived as expensive by some customers, yet offers dynamic pricing.
 

Valuable Features

Cortex XDR offers robust endpoint security with advanced threat detection, ease of use, seamless integration, and real-time monitoring capabilities.
VMware Carbon Black Cloud offers cost-effective, real-time security with intrusion alerts, quarantine, host isolation, data search, and threat hunting.
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.
The way the cases used to collect the data is not intrusive, permitting the infrastructure to collect the data and send it to the Data Lake without problems.
 

Categories and Ranking

Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Net...
Ranking in Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
9th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
92
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (5th), Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (7th), Ransomware Protection (2nd), AI-Powered Cybersecurity Platforms (4th)
VMware Carbon Black Cloud
Ranking in Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
42nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
18
Ranking in other categories
Security Incident Response (10th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) category, the mindshare of Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is 3.8%, down from 4.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware Carbon Black Cloud is 0.2%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks3.8%
VMware Carbon Black Cloud0.2%
Other96.0%
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
 

Featured Reviews

HectorRios - PeerSpot reviewer
Has detected high-risk threats effectively and provides strong behavioral protection
They did well with handling high-risk threats. I would rate Palo Alto support an eight or nine. I would give them an eight because in the majority of cases, we talk with local partners, and only in case of an emergency or a difficult issue, we jump to Palo Alto support. When we had that experience with Palo Alto support, it was nice service, but it was really difficult to get it. To jump from the partner to Palo Alto directly was challenging. I understand that it's part of the service, as the local partner just jumps up to Palo Alto support in case they need it. In some cases, when we faced an important issue, it was preferred to jump directly to Palo Alto to save time.
Tom Kar - PeerSpot reviewer
Shows promise for endpoint detection and response, with room for improvement in complexity and pricing
VMware Carbon Black Cloud is a user-friendly solution that can isolate machines from the rest of the network. When a machine is quarantined, it cannot communicate with any other machines on the network except for the Carbon Black Cloud server. This allows you to investigate the machine without the risk of malware escaping to the network. Carbon Black Cloud's server can communicate with the quarantined machine through DNS and VSCP. This allows you to collect data from the machine, such as system logs, process activity, and registry changes. This data can be used to investigate the infection and determine the next steps. CrowdStrike and Cybereason are also popular EDR solutions. They offer similar features to VMware Carbon Black Cloud but may have different strengths and weaknesses. It is important to evaluate all of your options before choosing an EDR solution. Additionally, it is complex to use, and the pricing should be improved.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
7%
Healthcare Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Computer Software Company
9%
Real Estate/Law Firm
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business41
Midsize Enterprise18
Large Enterprise36
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise7
 

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 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 Response?
Threat hunting is the most valuable feature of VMware Carbon Black Cloud.
 

Also Known As

Cyvera, Cortex XDR, Palo Alto Networks Traps
Carbon Black CB Response
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

CBI Health Group, University Honda, VakifBank
ALLETE belk
Find out what your peers are saying about Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks vs. VMware Carbon Black Cloud and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
869,760 professionals have used our research since 2012.