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ESET Endpoint Protection Platform vs Trend Micro Smart Protection [EOL] comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 26, 2026

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
4.7
Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks provides cost savings, enhanced security, and compliance with reduced administrative effort and robust threat detection.
Sentiment score
6.4
Users report mixed ROI experiences with ESET, appreciating its efficiency, cost savings, enhanced security, and streamlined patch management.
Sentiment score
3.5
Trend Micro Smart Protection led to positive ROI by enhancing cybersecurity and brand protection, underscoring its financial value.
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
In Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks, most of the remediation is automated and the accuracy is quite good.
Network Security Engineer at Cyberwell Solution
Regarding cost savings, ESET Endpoint Protection Platform definitely saves money because if my system or organization is hacked or ransomed, the potential financial loss would be far greater than the cost of the solution.
Project Engineer at IT Solution
I saw the return on investment with ESET Endpoint Protection Platform within months.
Managing Director at Port-IT BV
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.0
Cortex XDR support varies by plan and location; premium plans provide better experiences but others report delays.
Sentiment score
7.0
ESET Endpoint Protection receives positive feedback for support, though availability issues exist, especially in certain regions.
Sentiment score
6.1
Trend Micro Smart Protection [EOL] support varies in responsiveness, with premium options offering faster service but at a higher cost.
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
They have great technical support.
Owner at Online IT
I typically receive support from the distributor, and the customer support team is also responsive and helpful.
Project Engineer at IT Solution
Normally, I cannot give a ten for support of all brands, as it is not always possible to get full support from companies.
Retired at BEMSIS INFORMATICS LTD.
The agent is very light, and it doesn't cause any issues on the machine.
Solutions Architect at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
I would rate their technical support a nine out of ten as it helps with every query.
Information Technology Service Desk Manager at a tech vendor with 5,001-10,000 employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
Cortex XDR offers scalable, flexible management for enterprises, supporting thousands of users with easy deployment and cloud-based maintenance.
Sentiment score
7.3
ESET Endpoint Protection Platform is scalable, versatile for various environments, and praised for ease of use and minimal hardware needs.
Sentiment score
7.6
Trend Micro Smart Protection effectively scales from small to enterprise deployments, offering flexible deployment and adaptability to various sectors.
You can onboard 10,000 endpoints in just hours, which demonstrates the excellent scalability of this product.
Assistant Security Architect at Cloudnomics
Activating the newly purchased licenses is instantaneous, allowing installations without adjustments since it's cloud-based.
Junior Security Analyst at ITSEC Asia
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
In terms of scalability, I can rate it eight or nine out of ten.
Retired at BEMSIS INFORMATICS LTD.
Their support is phenomenal, offering quick assistance.
Managing Director at Port-IT BV
Minimal system performance impact is very important when choosing endpoint protection solutions, and I believe ESET uses minimum hardware of the PC.
Owner at Online IT
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.0
Cortex XDR is praised for its stability and performance, with manageable upgrades and frequent updates enhancing its features.
Sentiment score
8.2
ESET Endpoint Protection is highly stable and reliable, with minimal issues, consistently receiving high ratings for performance.
Sentiment score
7.7
Trend Micro Smart Protection is stable and reliable, but users seek improvements in compatibility and overall performance.
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
In terms of stability, I can rate it at nine out of ten.
Retired at BEMSIS INFORMATICS LTD.
Our experience with ESET Endpoint Protection Platform's centralized management console is mostly fine for managing security policies across endpoints.
Owner at Online IT
 

Room For Improvement

Cortex XDR users desire better OS integration, interface, threat detection, and pricing, while facing complexity and compatibility challenges.
ESET Endpoint Protection Platform struggles with updates, complex interface, integration, and needs enhanced features and support improvements.
Trend Micro Smart Protection needs improved insights, management tools, AI, integrations, and support to enhance effectiveness and usability.
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
A lightweight version of ESET might be beneficial as many of our clients have older CPUs and RAM.
Retired at BEMSIS INFORMATICS LTD.
When we were using CrowdStrike, it used to detect and block pirated software, but ESET Endpoint Protection Platform is not doing that.
IT Manager at R K Khanna and Associates
Extensive APIs to easily integrate our own systems with the platform for user configuration via their company portal.
Managing Director at Port-IT BV
We've experienced compatibility issues with Windows endpoint protection.
Security Architect at Kyndryl
Trend Micro Smart Protection has been discontinued because it uses Linux CentOS OS.
Information Technology Service Desk Manager at a tech vendor with 5,001-10,000 employees
 

Setup Cost

Cortex XDR is seen as costly by some, but offers scalable licensing and satisfaction varies with advanced features.
ESET Endpoint Protection Platform is considered cost-effective by enterprise buyers, with competitive pricing and flexible licensing options.
Trend Micro Smart Protection's pricing varies by features, competing with Kaspersky, McAfee; multi-year licenses offer savings.
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
The pricing of ESET Endpoint Protection Platform is a bit high compared to other competitors.
Retired at BEMSIS INFORMATICS LTD.
The price is very reasonable compared to the features provided.
Project Engineer at IT Solution
I would rate ESET Endpoint Protection Platform a five for pricing on a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 is cheap and 10 is expensive.
IT Manager at R K Khanna and Associates
However, their pricing is comparable to CrowdStrike.
Security Architect at Kyndryl
 

Valuable Features

Cortex XDR offers advanced security with robust detection, integration, and AI capabilities, praised for flexibility and user-friendly interface.
ESET Endpoint Protection offers lightweight antivirus, robust protection, ease of use, and affordability, ensuring efficient and scalable security.
Trend Micro Smart Protection excels in endpoint security, offering stability, ease of use, scalability, and flexible deployment options.
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
ESET Endpoint Protection Platform provides ransomware prevention, which prevents attackers from encrypting my files and demanding ransom payments.
Project Engineer at IT Solution
The best feature of ESET Endpoint Protection Platform is that I get all the details about which user is using it, how much time they spend on websites, and all related information.
IT Manager at R K Khanna and Associates
Machine learning, especially through live detection, detects threats that are blocked based on reputation or sandbox detection.
Managing Director at Port-IT BV
The most effective features of Trend Micro Smart Protection are its antivirus and malware capabilities.
Security Architect at Kyndryl
The most valuable features and functionalities in Deep Discovery are that it is used for monitoring malicious traffic, and it operates down to the firewall and inspects any malicious traffic.
Information Technology Service Desk Manager at a tech vendor with 5,001-10,000 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Net...
Sponsored
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
110
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (4th), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (7th), Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (6th), Ransomware Protection (2nd), AI-Powered Cybersecurity Platforms (1st)
ESET Endpoint Protection Pl...
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
104
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (13th), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (18th), Anti-Malware Tools (8th)
Trend Micro Smart Protectio...
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
45
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

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.
MS
Owner at Online IT
Cloud-based protection has simplified daily client support and keeps threats under control
The problems that we are facing with policy adoption include slow adoption, as it takes more than five minutes to adopt policy on client computers. ESET Network Attack Protection sometimes helps in reducing network-level intrusions, but sometimes it prevents local devices on the network, which are well-known and good devices, from being recognized, treating them as a threat. So it requires more administration than usual. ESET could implement a good solution for remote support in ESET Endpoint Protection Platform for improvement in the future. Since you have the cloud console, ESET could have something similar to AnyDesk or TeamViewer, but from ESET.
reviewer2759025 - PeerSpot reviewer
Information Technology Service Desk Manager at a tech vendor with 5,001-10,000 employees
Deep traffic inspection has strengthened threat detection and provides smooth zero day protection
I have been dealing with Deep Discovery that inspects incoming and outgoing traffic, and it is used for packet filtering. The most valuable features and functionalities in Deep Discovery are that it is used for monitoring malicious traffic, and it operates down to the firewall and inspects any malicious traffic. I have used Deep Discovery's sandbox analysis feature. The sandboxing feature helps our threat detection efforts as it internally inspects the malicious data and holds it in the sandbox, and after the analysis, the file is quarantined. I evaluate Deep Discovery's real-time visibility on network traffic as a better solution for inspecting traffic. In incident response, Deep Discovery captures zero-day threats easily and provides the best visibility on the console. I assess the effectiveness of Trend Micro's real-time analysis in my defense strategy as good, as it does not disturb any work and operates very smoothly in the background without any utilization.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
15%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
Performing Arts
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business45
Midsize Enterprise20
Large Enterprise48
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business69
Midsize Enterprise18
Large Enterprise21
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business16
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise17
 

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. ...
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 th...
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,...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ESET LiveGuard Advanced?
The pricing, setup cost, and licensing of ESET Endpoint Protection Platform are good with no issues. The price is ver...
What needs improvement with ESET LiveGuard Advanced?
ESET Endpoint Protection Platform could be improved by offering integrations and user-friendly dashboards that could ...
What is your primary use case for ESET LiveGuard Advanced?
My main use case for ESET Endpoint Protection Platform is preventing malware and preventing outside attackers. When a...
What do you like most about Trend Micro Smart Protection?
The tool offers centralized security management. The tool's deployment is flexible.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Trend Micro Smart Protection?
I find that Trend Micro Smart Protection is affordable; I don't think it can be quite expensive.
What needs improvement with Trend Micro Smart Protection?
Trend Micro Smart Protection has been discontinued because it uses Linux CentOS OS, so currently we are using the ser...
 

Also Known As

Cyvera, Cortex XDR, Palo Alto Networks Traps
Smart Security, ESET PROTECT Advanced, ESET LiveGuard Advanced, ESET PROTECT Platform
Trend Micro Smart Protection Complete
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

CBI Health Group, University Honda, VakifBank
ERSTE Group Bank, Miller Solutions, Wesleyan University, The Hospital Center of Luxembourg, Deer Valley USD, SPAR, Industrial Federal Credit Union, Honda, City Hall of Palmela, Hays CISD, Lester B Pearson School Board
Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia, Blekinge County Council, Bulgarian American Credit Bank, Cancer Research UK, Delacour, Evalueserve, Gulftainer, Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital & Atomic-bomb Survivors Hospital, Mazda Motor Logistics Europe, MEDHOST, Nikigolf, Ochsner Health System, SIAX Computing Solutions, Tegen
Find out what your peers are saying about CrowdStrike, Microsoft, SentinelOne and others in Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP). Updated: April 2026.
889,855 professionals have used our research since 2012.