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ESET Endpoint Protection Platform vs VirusTotal comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 3, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

ESET Endpoint Protection Pl...
Ranking in Anti-Malware Tools
8th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
103
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (16th), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (19th)
VirusTotal
Ranking in Anti-Malware Tools
4th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
Threat Intelligence Platforms (TIP) (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Anti-Malware Tools category, the mindshare of ESET Endpoint Protection Platform is 2.3%, down from 4.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VirusTotal is 3.5%, down from 5.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Anti-Malware Tools Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
VirusTotal3.5%
ESET Endpoint Protection Platform2.3%
Other94.2%
Anti-Malware Tools
 

Featured Reviews

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.
Chinmay Banerjee - PeerSpot reviewer
Advisor Adtech/Martech/API product/project Engineering at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Helps businesses collect threat data while keeping privacy in mind and apable of detecting, blocking, and removing viruses and malware
There are two gray areas I still need to explore. I have worked with VirusTotal because it easily integrates with over seventy antivirus scanners and blacklisting services. In addition to those there is much scope to improve and add other services or integrations. The areas for improvement are that VirusTotal is not using much AI or generative AI models, while other competitors are starting to build them. For example, VirusTotal's work is based on the setup done by their engineers. If you want to do scanning or protection activities for a specific site, app, or device, that is the area VirusTotal is currently focused on. But other competitors are building AI models that can do things like left-side scanning and provide auto-generated reports. VirusTotal has predefined reports, but there is a lot of manual effort involved. Secondly, the API is very limited if I want to integrate VirusTotal with other applications. They need to build more connectors and provide support for Webhook connectors for the API. If you can't build your own connector, it's always good to have provisions for Webhook setup connectors across platforms. Thirdly, Kaspersky, a competitor of VirusTotal, is using a methodology called "gatekeeper." A gatekeeper is a security system that protects the inside of a building from outside threats. This is the model Kaspersky is currently using. You have your website set up, but the entire army of VirusTotal or Kaspersky is standing guard, protecting you from the first gate itself. Right now, VirusTotal detects threats from your domain, but it is always better to verify inside the domain and protect it from the first level when people or malware are entering. This first level of protection is lacking in VirusTotal right now. The security bridge and protection gate are missing.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The ability to push policies and also to restrict an installation or to restrict any form of threat within the policy has been quite useful."
"The software and hardware inventory that you can create by using the console is valuable. It is also very light on hardware resources."
"I like the integration; it lets you see the product installed on a particular computer."
"Technical support has been very good. They are helpful and responsive."
"The most valuable features of this solution are, of course, the IPS/IDS, Intrusion Prevention, Intrusion Detection, and Antivirus."
"It is pretty easy to deploy. Its update definition file is small, so it can dispatch very quickly within the enterprise. The product itself is very lightweight, so it won't delay your endpoint. You also don't have to do any difficult configuration because it comes with a very good default setting. So, you just install it and forget it."
"This solution does not slow down your systems. It is very light."
"A feature we like is setting the GUI of ESET Endpoint Security/ESET File Security to silent mode because some servers and clients can have performance issues."
"It can scan the dark web and find if an email ID has been compromised. This is another area that we have not explored yet."
"The feature I like the most is the ability to see the MD5 or SHA-256 signature of the file, and also the composition of the file according to its segments."
"I have never had any problems with stability or bugs while using VirusTotal."
"The product is easy to use with coding, such as Python or Java, via its API."
"The initial setup is easy."
"With VirusTotal, I can check for any hash, malware, file, domain, IP URL, or malicious URL, and Kaspersky stays clean."
"It allows us to see if there have been previous reports on certain indicators of compromise, providing insights from other security professionals."
"It gives detailed information about suspicious IPs, which is one of its most valuable features."
 

Cons

"I would like them to use AI features to do preventative virus protection."
"It's not scalable in that you cannot use a license for multiple devices."
"In the future, a cloud version of the solution would be great."
"They need to improve licensing for VMs. When ESET is uninstalled from a VM, the seat stays on the license management server. We have to manually delete the seat from that server because it doesn't know how to handle it. I contacted exclusive ESET support here in Croatia and they told me there is no solution for this yet."
"The solution can improve the modules, and it is lacking centralized management and visibility of the endpoints."
"In terms of areas for improvement, I didn't see any from ESET Endpoint Security because what's important is that it works as an antivirus solution. I do find its pricing expensive here in Hungary, so if the price could be lower, that would be good. ESET Endpoint Security is an antivirus, so it only needs to stop the virus. If it had other features, I wouldn't need it. Every program or solution has specific functions and in this case, ESET Endpoint Security is worth it as an antivirus, though in the next release of the solution, it would be better if there's some improvement in its antivirus database."
"On the solution's website, it is sometimes difficult to figure out how to download the exact product associated with your purchased license."
"ESET's updates are mostly manual. That's my biggest concern. I'd like it to be more automatic. I've had to download the new version and run it manually to install it. I've got several workstations like that right now."
"I would like to see improvements in the score consistency and accuracy."
"They can improve the telemetry. Whenever we handle a sample, they cannot provide any information about a victim."
"VirusTotal needs better advertisement and promotion, especially in the Middle East, since it is not yet widely recognized or popular in that region."
"VirusTotal has different versions, and sometimes the parameters of the API are not very clear."
"I would like to see improvements in the score consistency and accuracy."
"VirusTotal has predefined reports, but there is a lot of manual effort involved."
"VirusTotal is hard to understand because you need to know Google Docs to create queries, and it doesn't have documentation for that."
"I would like to see an improved user interface and some automation."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is subjective. I don't think it is expensive. If you can have 10 user licenses for less than $100, I don't think it is expensive."
"I pay about $100 a year, so it's really cheap. I'm sure that if I need something else beyond more technical support, I'll need to pay more."
"There is a license required to use ESET Endpoint Security."
"The solution costs around $20 or $30 per user per year."
"The price of ESET Endpoint Antivirus is fair compared to the performance of other solutions."
"Pricing of ESET Endpoint Security is within the market pricing."
"The price could be a little lower."
"You need to pay for the ESET Endpoint Antivirus license monthly or yearly, whichever you choose."
"VirusTotal is an expensive solution."
"The pricing is very economical."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"We are using VirusTotal with free licenses, managing the license limits across three or four accounts, thus incurring no costs."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
16%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Comms Service Provider
8%
University
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business68
Midsize Enterprise18
Large Enterprise21
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise5
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ESET LiveGuard Advanced?
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.
What needs improvement with ESET LiveGuard Advanced?
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...
What is your primary use case for ESET LiveGuard Advanced?
We are a company that provides IT support to clients, so we use ESET Endpoint Protection Platform every day. Currently, we are not partners because we have great local support from the company that...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for VirusTotal?
I do not know about the pricing or licensing as our organization services VirusTotal for our clients.
What needs improvement with VirusTotal?
I would like to see improvements in the score consistency and accuracy. VirusTotal should add more details like those from competitors such as URL Void or Symantec URL Checker, which show the categ...
What is your primary use case for VirusTotal?
As I work in an incident response role, my daily task is to mitigate the security alert and perform the analysis part. When any alerts come, I check the IPs from where they originate and the locati...
 

Also Known As

Smart Security, ESET PROTECT Advanced, ESET LiveGuard Advanced, ESET PROTECT Platform
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

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
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about ESET Endpoint Protection Platform vs. VirusTotal and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.