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F-Secure Total vs Symantec Protection Engine comparison

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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:
 

Categories and Ranking

F-Secure Total
Ranking in Anti-Malware Tools
21st
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
Office 365 Protection (9th)
Symantec Protection Engine
Ranking in Anti-Malware Tools
19th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.1
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Anti-Malware Tools category, the mindshare of F-Secure Total is 1.8%, down from 6.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Symantec Protection Engine is 0.6%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Anti-Malware Tools Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Symantec Protection Engine0.6%
F-Secure Total1.8%
Other97.6%
Anti-Malware Tools
 

Featured Reviews

MS
Computer Scientist at Comune di Eraclea
Easy to setup and stable solution
It's a good product for us. The reports and notifications are very good for us.  There is room for improvement in pricing.  In future releases, I would like to see improvements in EDR protection.  So, the only thing that I would like to see in the future is EDR protection and a lower price for…
Abhimanyu Das - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Cybersecurity Engineer at Kyndryl
Real-time file security has reduced incident tickets and improves threat detection accuracy
The best features of Symantec Protection Engine include machine learning, file reputation, and real-time scanning. It efficiently handles heavy loads through ICAP and cloud-based processing, reducing the burden on endpoints compared to Trend Micro and other endpoint security solutions. Its centralized control is also noteworthy. Through machine learning, it detects both known and unknown malware and malicious URLs, in addition to performing signature-based scans that assist SOC teams in analysis. The solution is highly effective in leveraging both machine learning and file reputation. Regarding centralized control, it offers a unified management console for policy deployment and provides real-time visibility through dashboards, helping save significant administrative time. Symantec Protection Engine has had a positive impact on our organization by enhancing our overall security posture. It effectively blocks a high volume of file-based threats across more than 200 servers, saves SOC analysts time in endpoint remediation, and streamlines compliance processes. It further strengthens security through real-time scanning and machine learning-based quarantine, blocking phishing payloads in SharePoint uploads before they reach endpoints, thereby reducing incidents by 30–40% compared to signature-only tools.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It's a good product for us. The reports and notifications are very good for us."
"Symantec Protection Engine provides me with the option of both cloud and on-premise solutions, which stands out for both me and my clients."
"Symantec Protection Engine has improved my security posture by helping me identify potentially malicious files before they reach users or critical systems, and the automated scanning process has also reduced manual efforts for my team, allowing us to focus on other security tasks and respond to threats more efficiently."
"The operational efficiency with the high-performance scanning of Symantec Protection Engine is very good."
"The best features that I like the most include the threat intelligence network, which is effective in protecting against evolving threats."
"The biggest advantage of Symantec Protection Engine is that one tool protects all, and it is centrally managed."
"Symantec Protection Engine is a cheaper and rock-solid product where basic anti-spam features and threat intelligence are needed."
"What I appreciate in Symantec Protection Engine is the Virtual Policy Manager (VPM) and the Application Name feature, which are really effective."
"Symantec Protection Engine's been a game-changer for us at Kantar—blocks like 80-85% of file-based threats right at the gateway before they hit our 200 servers, cutting down endpoint incidents big time."
 

Cons

"I would like to see in the future is EDR protection and a lower price for F-Secure Total."
"I have concerns about scalability."
"While I have mentioned many advantages of Symantec Protection Engine, there are areas for improvement, particularly the dashboard features."
"I would like to see improvements in reporting and troubleshooting capabilities for Symantec Protection Engine, as more detailed insights and simplified diagnostics would make day-to-day administration easier."
"Price is a significant area for improvement. The pricing is quite expensive, and it is particularly high for regular customers."
"For the improvement of Symantec Protection Engine, the engine did not work with their basic engine when I was working, which was almost three or four years before."
"As for pricing, I would say it is a little expensive compared to competitors, and I think the vendor could achieve more market growth if the pricing were more reasonable."
"To improve Symantec Protection Engine, I suggest simplifying its integration with other tools, as it is more complex compared to Trend Micro and CrowdStrike."
"We have scenarios in which Symantec Protection Engine misses some threats, spam, and targeted attacks that Proofpoint can catch with AI security features."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We can easily scale and improve security, but the cost is high for us."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
28%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Healthcare Company
6%
Outsourcing Company
17%
Construction Company
12%
Healthcare Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Large Enterprise4
 

Questions from the Community

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What needs improvement with Symantec Protection Engine?
Symantec Protection Engine works well overall, but troubleshooting can sometimes take extra time when detailed logs need to be reviewed; other than that, my experience has been positive. I would li...
What is your primary use case for Symantec Protection Engine?
I mainly use Symantec Protection Engine for scanning files for malware, protecting emails, and web filtering URL protections. I use Symantec Protection Engine to scan files uploaded by users and sh...
 

Also Known As

F-Secure Elements for Microsoft 365
No data available
 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, SentinelOne, OPSWAT and others in Anti-Malware Tools. Updated: August 2026.
912,788 professionals have used our research since 2012.