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Fortinet FortiEDR vs Symantec Endpoint Security 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
4.9
Cortex XDR offers significant ROI with enhanced security and efficiency, reducing costs, incidents, and boosting user satisfaction.
Sentiment score
2.8
Fortinet FortiEDR boosts ROI by reducing risk management, saving time, improving security, and increasing customer satisfaction and staffing efficiency.
Sentiment score
5.4
Symantec Endpoint Security increases financial satisfaction by reducing downtime and enhancing threat response, offering competitive pricing and automation.
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
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.
Cyber Security Information Security Specialist at MHM Holding GmbH
Symantec Endpoint Security filled gaps in our toolset, particularly with the ability to control network firewall on hosts remotely, which was greatly appreciated.
OT Technologist at a energy/utilities company with 201-500 employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.9
Cortex XDR support is praised for proficiency, but regional differences exist in response times and expertise consistency.
Sentiment score
7.3
Fortinet FortiEDR's customer service is mixed, with varied responsiveness; engaging local distributors and resellers can aid support experience.
Sentiment score
6.0
Symantec Endpoint Security customer service is highly rated, but post-acquisition support quality fluctuates with some language and delay issues.
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
The technical support from Fortinet is excellent.
Web Relationship Manager (WRM) at Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited
For setting up some proper solutions for issues at the customer site, it can take about one week.
Security Team Lead at a outsourcing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
I believe the support from Fortinet is very good based on my experiences asking for help.
Pre Sales/ Cybersecurity Engineer at Contacta
In some cases, it rates as high as ten out of ten, while in others, it can be as low as eight.
Head of Information System at EEC
There is no support in the German language, which is a problem for many public tenders.
Cyber Security Pre-Sales at SoftwareONE
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
Cortex XDR provides scalable, efficient performance for thousands of users, supporting easy cloud and on-premises expansions with simple licensing.
Sentiment score
5.6
Fortinet FortiEDR is scalable and adaptable but may face integration issues and high costs for additional services.
Sentiment score
6.9
Symantec Endpoint Security is scalable, efficient for large deployments, and adaptable, with minor integration and support challenges noted.
You can onboard 10,000 endpoints in just hours, which demonstrates the excellent scalability of this product.
Assistant Security Architect at Cloudnomics
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
I think scalability for Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is good.
Threat Analyst II at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
When implemented in a Fortinet environment with an existing firewall, FortiAnalyzer, and FortiManager, it is straightforward to install and scale by adding more EDR for endpoints.
Security Team Lead at a outsourcing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
I can give it nine points in terms of scalability.
Web Relationship Manager (WRM) at Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited
Symantec Endpoint Security is quite scalable, and it is very important for large clients.
Cyber Security Pre-Sales at SoftwareONE
The scalability of the servers is good, as it requires computational powers.
Senior Security Delivery Analyst at Accenture
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.0
Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is stable and reliable, with minimal issues and consistently high performance ratings.
Sentiment score
8.4
Fortinet FortiEDR is reliable with some memory and integration issues; praised for seamless updates but needs ecosystem improvements.
Sentiment score
7.6
Symantec Endpoint Security is praised for stability and reliability, despite occasional crashes and compatibility issues during updates.
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
After that, I stopped scanning the Cisco AnyConnect and switched to Fortinet VPN. Everything worked fine afterward.
Security Team Lead at a outsourcing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
For stability, I would give it a score of ten, as we are not having any issues with that currently.
Web Relationship Manager (WRM) at Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited
I have encountered issues where I had to uninstall and reinstall the product on end users' computers to view the logs again.
OT Technologist at a energy/utilities company with 201-500 employees
Previously, we used to have multiple servers such as GUP servers and numerous servers for pushing updates, but we reduced it and transitioned almost 30,000 devices to CrowdStrike, which was easy to manage.
Senior Security Delivery Analyst at Accenture
 

Room For Improvement

Cortex XDR needs better UI, reporting, customization, cloud integration, support, and reduced false positives and resource use.
Fortinet FortiEDR needs improvements in cloud security, usability, integration, machine learning capabilities, and enhanced scalability to better meet user expectations.
Symantec Endpoint Security suffers from high resource usage, management complexity, outdated interface, and ineffective virus detection and support.
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
Fortinet could consider reducing the minimum order quantity for EDR, currently set at 500 pieces.
Security Team Lead at a outsourcing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Device management is not very good and I am not enabling it in my organization due to security reasons.
System Administrator at Aljazera Market co
I would like to see improvements in the scanning part of the solution, specifically to enhance the CPU and hard disk usage during scanning and updates to prevent disruption during work hours.
Head of Information System at EEC
It is cumbersome to use, particularly in handling firewall management.
OT Technologist at a energy/utilities company with 201-500 employees
 

Setup Cost

Cortex XDR offers flexible, scalable licensing with robust features, fair pricing, and options for on-prem or cloud deployments.
Fortinet FortiEDR's pricing is mixed, seen as competitive by some, expensive by others, offering long-term value and scalability.
Symantec Endpoint Security's pricing is diverse, being both negotiable and adaptable for different budgets and organizations' needs.
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
It's reasonably priced compared to other vendors' similar products.
Security Team Lead at a outsourcing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
The pricing is moderate; I cannot label it as cheap, but it is moderate compared to other main solutions.
Web Relationship Manager (WRM) at Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited
It seems to be half the cost or more affordable than other solutions.
OT Technologist at a energy/utilities company with 201-500 employees
The pricing is very low compared to other companies like SentinelOne and others.
System Administrator at Aljazera Market co
I rate the pricing, setup cost, and licensing around nine out of ten.
Head of Information System at EEC
 

Valuable Features

Cortex XDR offers AI-driven security, seamless integration, and automation, enhancing threat detection and risk reduction for networks.
Fortinet FortiEDR excels in deployment, integration, threat response automation, and scalability, with strong security measures and user-friendly management.
Symantec Endpoint Security provides integrated, user-friendly protection for multiple platforms with advanced malware detection and comprehensive endpoint management.
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
The four pillars of the solution are security access via VPN, ZTNA, attack surface protection, and automatic incident response, integrating with Fortinet Security Fabric.
Pre Sales/ Cybersecurity Engineer at Contacta
This is especially relevant for government projects where the SD-WAN solution is within their private network, not touching the Internet or any other access.
Web Relationship Manager (WRM) at Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited
Symantec Endpoint Security offers great features such as reporting capabilities with a customized dashboard that pulls in EDR timelines, threat maps, and compliance metrics into one view.
Senior Associate at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Symantec Endpoint Security offers many valuable features, such as file explosion, application learning, DLP, injection detection, and EDR solutions for traffic control.
System Administrator at Aljazera Market co
The incident response capabilities allow me to resolve authentication and support issues promptly, ensuring the system operates without downtime.
Head of Information System at EEC
 

Categories and Ranking

Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Net...
Sponsored
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
106
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (5th), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (7th), Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (6th), Ransomware Protection (2nd), AI-Powered Cybersecurity Platforms (2nd)
Fortinet FortiEDR
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
40
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (10th)
Symantec Endpoint Security
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
146
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (16th)
 

Mindshare comparison

Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Fortinet FortiEDR3.0%
CrowdStrike Falcon8.4%
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint6.9%
Other81.7%
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Symantec Endpoint Security3.3%
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint7.8%
CrowdStrike Falcon6.6%
Other82.3%
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
 

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.
Anoop K Jayan - PeerSpot reviewer
Web Relationship Manager (WRM) at Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited
Has strengthened endpoint protection for on-premise networks and supported migration to Linux environments
What really stands out in Fortinet FortiEDR is that we are integrating it with some private clouds at the customer's premises with secure SD-WAN networks. I don't know how much it contributes to this SD-WAN network in the own premises cloud solution, but that is what we are doing. This is especially relevant for government projects where the SD-WAN solution is within their private network, not touching the Internet or any other access. Their first requirement is centralized management. Additionally, they need antivirus updates and other things to be done through a centralized platform within that private cloud. That is their requirement, and currently, we temporarily allow internet access, but it is not preferred. We are moving towards a complete air gap, providing full isolation from the internet for that. We have started to work with machine learning capabilities in Fortinet FortiEDR. We are not that well-versed yet, but we have begun using machine learning for intrusion detection and other purposes. Regarding forensic analysis in Fortinet FortiEDR, it is useful in understanding attack vectors because our projects are based on the voice side, such as cloud PBX solutions and call center management. There are media activities and many attacks coming from the outside, as well as vulnerabilities from endpoints. In those cases, we need detailed analysis through an AI platform to inspect how these attacks are coming. We also require a proactive protection mechanism, including an alarm system for threat detection before attacks occur.
Kumbesh Rajagopal - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Security Delivery Analyst at Accenture
Management becomes easier with minimal complications, but improvement in support tools needed
Regarding areas of improvement for Symantec Endpoint Security, there are many changes, and the support portal tool is complicated compared to other tools. When trying to get service from Symantec, the process is complex. I'm not sure whether it's because of my project or something else. Though it is easy to manage, easy to get, easy to install, and works efficiently for managing policies, we faced a significant disadvantage. We wanted to add multiple hashes because of numerous new alerts coming, but we could only add them one by one, which is a considerable disadvantage in Symantec.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
7%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business44
Midsize Enterprise20
Large Enterprise47
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business20
Midsize Enterprise9
Large Enterprise14
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business69
Midsize Enterprise32
Large Enterprise63
 

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's the difference between Fortinet's FortiEDR and FortiClient?
I suggest Fortinet’s FortiEDR over FortiClient for several reasons. For starters, FortiEDR guarantees solid protectio...
What do you like most about Fortinet FortiEDR?
We have FortiEDR installed on all our systems. This protects them from any threats.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiEDR?
The pricing is moderate; I cannot label it as cheap, but it is moderate compared to other main solutions.
Which is better - Cortex XDR or Symantec End-User Endpoint Security?
Aqua Security is easy to use and very manageable. Its main focus is on Kubernetes and Docker. Security is a very valu...
Which offers better endpoint security - Symantec or Microsoft Defender?
We use Symantec because we do not use MS Enterprise products, but in my opinion, Microsoft Defender is a superior sol...
What do you like most about Symantec End-User Endpoint Security?
Symantec have everything – documentation, videos, data sheets.
 

Also Known As

Cyvera, Cortex XDR, Palo Alto Networks Traps
enSilo, FortiEDR
Symantec EPP, Symantec Endpoint Protection (SEP)
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

CBI Health Group, University Honda, VakifBank
Financial, Healthcare, Legal, Technology, Enterprise, Manufacturing ... 
Audio Visual Dynamics, Red Deer Advocate, Asia Pacific Telecom Co. Ltd., Kibbutz Ein Gedi, and AMETEK, Inc.
Find out what your peers are saying about CrowdStrike, SentinelOne, Microsoft and others in Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR). Updated: March 2026.
883,824 professionals have used our research since 2012.