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Kaspersky Next MXDR Optimum vs Microsoft Defender for Business comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 9, 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 reduces costs by preventing malware, improving compliance, enhancing performance, and replacing multiple tools, outperforming alternatives.
Sentiment score
1.0
Users praised significant cost savings, improved cybersecurity, efficient threat detection, ease of deployment, and high return on investment with Kaspersky TOTAL Security.
Sentiment score
6.1
Microsoft Defender for Business improves security, enhances productivity, and reduces costs but may have delays in financial returns.
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
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.
Consultant at Dell Technologies
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.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.0
Cortex XDR support is praised for responsiveness but criticized for delays, language barriers, and inconsistent satisfaction across regions.
Sentiment score
4.7
Kaspersky TOTAL Security support is satisfactory but hindered by slow responses in Pakistan due to no local team.
Sentiment score
5.2
Microsoft Defender for Business support is efficient but inconsistent, with variable responsiveness and differing opinions on staff knowledge and resolution times.
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
It is rated ten out of ten for its quality and assistance.
Solution Consultant at BIM Group of Companies
The onboarding support is exceptional, ensuring seamless integration and implementation.
Chief Cybersecurity Architect at cytek-security
Faster support is needed for endpoint security solutions.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
Cortex XDR offers impressive scalability for large enterprises, with easy deployment and management, supporting both medium and large environments.
Sentiment score
4.3
Kaspersky TOTAL Security for Business is scalable, integrates easily, performs stably, and offers customizable, centralized control for diverse environments.
Sentiment score
7.6
Microsoft Defender for Business offers scalable, cloud-driven security for diverse organizations, adaptable to various configurations and endpoint quantities.
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
The cloud-based nature of the solution ensures high scalability.
Solution Consultant at BIM Group of Companies
The scalability of Microsoft Defender for Business is rated as ten, indicating it is very scalable.
Consultant at Dell Technologies
In terms of scalability, I would rate Microsoft Defender for Business a ten.
Public Cloud Engineer at Prudential
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.0
Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is praised for stability and reliability, despite occasional minor issues and complex upgrade steps.
Sentiment score
7.9
Kaspersky TOTAL Security for Business is praised for its stability, efficiency, and reliable protection, offering consistent and dependable operation.
Sentiment score
7.2
Microsoft Defender for Business is highly rated for stability, despite minor errors and complexity issues not significantly impacting confidence.
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 by Palo Alto Networks can be trusted completely.
Soc Analyst at Softcell Technologies Limited
No customer complaints about its functionality or reliability.
Solution Consultant at BIM Group of Companies
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.
Public Cloud Engineer at Prudential
 

Room For Improvement

Cortex XDR requires better integration, reduced false positives, improved UI, enhanced configuration, reporting, and broader network detection support.
Older endpoints and support services have performance and security issues, lacking 24/7 support and clear deployment processes.
Microsoft Defender for Business needs improved reporting, threat protection, support, and integration, with attention to pricing and update communication.
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
Sometimes when we leave it to our clients to deploy themselves, they normally call us and ask us to come and resolve the issue.
Director at Calidad Systems Limited
The errors in security management always appear, and I cannot remove them.
General Manager at water company benisuef
Microsoft should provide batch management solutions with the application, integrating pass management with roles.
Solution Consultant at BIM Group of Companies
Features related to Advanced Persistent Threat detection vectors and cyber kill chain integrations are not available out-of-the-box.
CISO at a financial services firm with 11-50 employees
There can be improvements in the user interface to make it more intuitive.
Information Technology Security Consultant at Navaio IT Security
 

Setup Cost

Cortex XDR's pricing is flexible and cost-effective, considering its technology, with setup costs medium and negotiable for enterprises.
<p>Kaspersky TOTAL Security for Business provides comprehensive enterprise protection with robust features, but it can be resource-intensive.</p>
Microsoft Defender for Business offers integrated security in Office 365, with competitive pricing but some note higher costs than competitors.
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
Compared to CrowdStrike, which is very costly, and SentinelOne, which is also very costly, Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is a medium cost-efficient solution.
Soc Analyst at Softcell Technologies Limited
I think the product's price is not expensive.
General Manager at water company benisuef
Single-year pricing remains good.
Solution Consultant at BIM Group of Companies
The pricing is quite affordable at the enterprise level with no extra expenses noted.
Consultant at Dell Technologies
Although the cost can be slightly higher, it expedites deployment, which is beneficial, especially for startups.
CISO at a financial services firm with 11-50 employees
 

Valuable Features

Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks provides AI threat detection, seamless integration, automated responses, and scalable multi-layered protection.
Kaspersky TOTAL Security excels in real-time threat protection with user-friendly features, centralized management, and AI-enhanced ransomware detection.
Microsoft Defender for Business provides robust, scalable security with seamless Azure integration and effective threat management at a cost-effective price.
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
You can deploy it from the server to the end users, and you are able to manage and monitor each and every endpoint, including how it behaves and what things are coming in through a certain endpoint.
Director at Calidad Systems Limited
Kaspersky TOTAL Security for Business's anti-malware feature has a positive effect.
General Manager at water company benisuef
The threat detection capabilities are robust, with a dedicated research team and a continuously updated threat feed.
Information Technology Security Consultant at Navaio IT Security
Its vulnerability management is regarded as one of the best in the industry.
Solution Consultant at BIM Group of Companies
The most effective features of Microsoft Defender for Business include its threat detection and response capabilities in managing vulnerabilities and ransomware attacks.
Consultant at Dell Technologies
 

Categories and Ranking

Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Net...
Sponsored
Ranking in Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
4th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
114
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (6th), Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (4th), Ransomware Protection (2nd), AI-Powered Cybersecurity Platforms (1st)
Kaspersky Next MXDR Optimum
Ranking in Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
42nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.9
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
Managed Detection and Response (MDR) (28th), Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (38th)
Microsoft Defender for Busi...
Ranking in Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
12th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
Microsoft Security Suite (15th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2026, in the Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) category, the mindshare of Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is 3.8%, up from 3.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Kaspersky Next MXDR Optimum is 0.6%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Business is 1.5%, down from 2.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks3.8%
Microsoft Defender for Business1.5%
Kaspersky Next MXDR Optimum0.6%
Other94.1%
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.
HM
General Manager at water company benisuef
Centralized protection has improved malware defense and simplifies on‑premises deployment
What I like in Kaspersky TOTAL Security for Business is that I tried the deployment on only the endpoint with no EDR, and it is easy to use. Kaspersky TOTAL Security for Business's anti-malware feature has a positive effect. Centralized security management in Kaspersky TOTAL Security for Business is good, but many errors appear in the software management.
Paritosh Jani - PeerSpot reviewer
Associate VP (Managed Information Technology Services) at Dev Information Tech Pvt Ltd
Has delivered automated threat response and streamlined integration with advanced tools
The best features of Microsoft Defender for Business include it coming as an XDR solution which provides automated investigations, remediations, and endpoint detection and response. Moreover, it can be tightly integrated with vulnerability management or detecting vulnerabilities and pushing them to the SIEM solution. I utilize the advanced threat hunting feature of Microsoft Defender for Business and find it helpful; it's good and improving with every update. Microsoft Defender for Business integrates effectively with the Microsoft ecosystem as with Azure Sentinel, and it has a two-way natural integration. Apart from that, it also integrates with industry SIEM solutions such as Splunk.
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Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) solutions are best for your needs.
903,933 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Comms Service Provider
15%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Construction Company
8%
Computer Software Company
15%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business46
Midsize Enterprise21
Large Enterprise53
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business15
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise4
 

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 needs improvement with Kaspersky TOTAL Security for Business?
The logs should be improved. The response time could be enhanced. To make Kaspersky TOTAL Security for Business close...
What is your primary use case for Kaspersky TOTAL Security for Business?
I still work with Kaspersky TOTAL Security for Business. I use Kaspersky TOTAL Security for Business and another prod...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Defender for Business?
Our thoughts on the pricing for Microsoft Defender for Business are that we wish it could be better. If the pricing w...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender for Business?
I see room for improvement in Microsoft Defender for Business, particularly regarding the consolidation of all securi...
 

Also Known As

Cyvera, Cortex XDR, Palo Alto Networks Traps
No data available
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

CBI Health Group, University Honda, VakifBank
Information Not Available
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Kaspersky Next MXDR Optimum vs. Microsoft Defender for Business and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
903,933 professionals have used our research since 2012.