Fortinet FortiClient and Microsoft Defender for Business are endpoint security solutions offering comprehensive protection for organizational networks. Fortinet FortiClient appears more cost-effective, particularly for environments with budget constraints, while Microsoft Defender for Business is favored for its integration within the Microsoft ecosystem and seamless use with other Microsoft products.
Features: Fortinet FortiClient offers robust protection features such as antivirus, web filtering, and VPN capabilities, and is noted for its ability to integrate seamlessly with other Fortinet solutions, providing a cost-effective bundled service. Microsoft Defender for Business provides a strong security stack integrated within the Microsoft ecosystem, complete with AI-driven insights and reliable threat detection, particularly valued by small to medium-sized businesses using other Microsoft products.
Room for Improvement: Fortinet FortiClient users wish for improved management systems, more AI and machine learning integrations, and better compatibility across versions. Microsoft Defender for Business users seek more targeted threat protection, faster adaptation to emerging threats, and enhanced integration with non-Microsoft environments.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Fortinet FortiClient is primarily deployed in on-premises but can extend to hybrid and cloud setups. Its customer service receives mixed reviews with some noting delayed response times. Microsoft Defender for Business integrates easily in hybrid cloud environments within the Microsoft ecosystem, yet some users face slow responses when addressing complex issues.
Pricing and ROI: Fortinet FortiClient is praised for its competitive pricing, offering significant value through bundled features without separate end-user licensing, making it attractive for budget-conscious deployments. Microsoft Defender for Business, often bundled within Office 365 subscriptions, is seen as cost-effective for organizations already invested in Microsoft's suite, although its pricing is perceived as higher compared to some standalone offerings.
The VPN performance has a substantial impact on our remote workforce.
Using Microsoft Defender for Business results in cost reductions as it consolidates various features under one product, saving around 20% to 30% of the budget.
The value I see in Microsoft Defender for Business is in its ability to track and respond to application usage and security threats through its CASB and automation features, which are cost-beneficial.
They initiate the troubleshooting process quickly and resolve issues in a timely manner.
In 99% of cases, we do not have to do configurations on our own as they are normally handled by their service providers.
They provide very good support, and an issue I had was resolved quickly over the phone.
It is rated ten out of ten for its quality and assistance.
The onboarding support is exceptional, ensuring seamless integration and implementation.
Faster support is needed for endpoint security solutions.
We normally take into consideration while installing the product that it can scale up to approximately 20%, but not more than that.
I hope Fortinet will start an insider developer program where professionals can provide feedback on new releases to ensure improvements.
We can add more licenses and Fortinet tokens, demonstrating excellent scalability.
The cloud-based nature of the solution ensures high scalability.
The scalability of Microsoft Defender for Business is rated as ten, indicating it is very scalable.
In terms of scalability, I would rate Microsoft Defender for Business a ten.
Its stability level is excellent.
I normally get a call within 15-20 minutes after logging a complaint.
The overall stability of Fortinet FortiClient rates at nine out of ten.
No customer complaints about its functionality or reliability.
Although it generally works, there are occasional issues and errors that sometimes require a complete system format to rectify.
I would rate the stability of Microsoft Defender for Business with a three out of ten, where one is very bad.
FortiClient needs improvement in restricting user information and ensuring more secure customer data to better protect source code and reduce the risk of security breaches.
There are advanced features like Zero Trust that I currently do not use but could be beneficial for security.
Fortinet frequently releases updates without thorough testing.
Microsoft should provide batch management solutions with the application, integrating pass management with roles.
Features related to Advanced Persistent Threat detection vectors and cyber kill chain integrations are not available out-of-the-box.
There can be improvements in the user interface to make it more intuitive.
FortiClient is a value-for-money product and is not considered expensive compared to similar products on the market.
Justifying the price to clients can be difficult.
FortiClient is included in a package with the UTM features, so there is no separate cost for it.
Single-year pricing remains good.
The pricing is quite affordable at the enterprise level with no extra expenses noted.
Although the cost can be slightly higher, it expedites deployment, which is beneficial, especially for startups.
The most valuable feature of FortiClient is its high security level.
We appreciate its VPN capabilities and the features that offer extra security functionalities like antivirus and malware scanning.
I strongly recommend this solution, especially for Fortinet customers who use FortiGate or other Fortinet products, as they can easily integrate these features and exchange information seamlessly.
The threat detection capabilities are robust, with a dedicated research team and a continuously updated threat feed.
Its vulnerability management is regarded as one of the best in the industry.
The most effective features of Microsoft Defender for Business include its threat detection and response capabilities in managing vulnerabilities and ransomware attacks.
| Product | Market Share (%) |
|---|---|
| Fortinet FortiClient | 1.8% |
| Microsoft Defender for Business | 2.1% |
| Other | 96.1% |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 58 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 23 |
| Large Enterprise | 24 |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 14 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 2 |
| Large Enterprise | 3 |
FortiClient is a fabric agent that delivers endpoint protection, endpoint compliance, and secure access in a single, lightweight, lightweight client, providing visibility, information, and control to your endpoints. In addition, it enables secure, remote connectivity to the security fabric. It also integrates network and endpoint with segmentation and automation. FortiClient enables unified endpoint awareness by sharing endpoint telemetry with the security fabric. It is compatible with third-party EDR (endpoint detection and response and anti-malware solutions.
The FortiClient fabric agent can:
• Report on the status of a device, including firmware version and applications running.
• Send all suspicious files to a fabric sandbox.
• Enforce USB control, application control, URL filtering, and firmware upgrade policies.
• Provide application firewall service and malware protection.
• Enable devices to connect securely to the security fabric over either ZTNA tunnels or VPN (IPsec or SSL), both encrypted. The connection to the security fabric can be either a SASE service or a FortiGate next-generation firewall.
You can purchase FortiClient with one of three levels of capability:
Zero Trust security - The ZTNA edition enables both VPN and ZTNA encrypted tunnels, as well as USB device control and URL filtering.
Endpoint security - The EPP/APT edition adds AI-based NGAV (next-generation antivirus), application firewall, endpoint quarantine, and support for cloud sandbox.
Cloud-based endpoint security
Benefits and Features
• Fabric agent leverages integrations and provides telemetry information to the rest of the Fortinet security fabric.
• SAAS control and web/content filtering
• Dynamic access control helps with automation and simplifies compliance.
• Software inventory management enables visibility as well as management of licenses.
• Automated response detects and isolates any endpoints that may be compromised.
• ZTNA delivers better remote access and consistent application access policies
• Managed endpoint security services remotely assist with setup, configuration, deployment, vulnerability monitoring, and overall monitoring of endpoint security.
Reviews from Real Users:
PeerSpot users like that FortiClient is easy to use and integrates well with other solutions. They also appreciate the richness of its features and find it to be inexpensive in comparison to other products that require separate purchases for separate features.
Microsoft Defender for Business is a new endpoint security solution that was designed especially for the small and medium-sized business (up to 300 employees). With this endpoint security solution, your company's devices are better protected from ransomware, malware, phishing, and other threats.
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