Malwarebytes vs Microsoft Defender for Endpoint comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary
Updated on Sep 5, 2022

We performed a comparison between Malwarebytes and Microsoft Defender for Endpoint based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.

  • Ease of Deployment: Most users of both solutions say that their initial setup is straightforward.

  • Features: Users of both products are satisfied with their scalability and stability.

    Malwarebytes reviewers like its user-friendly interface, antivirus, and strong scanning capabilities, but mention that the scanning process slows down their machines.

    Defender for Endpoint reviewers like its automated Investigation and Response feature and say it has good security and reporting capabilities, but would like more non-Microsoft integration options.

  • Pricing: Most users of both solutions say that they are expensive products. Defender for Endpoint does offer a free version.

  • ROI: Users of both solutions report seeing an ROI.

  • Service and Support: Users of both solutions report being satisfied with the level of support they receive.

Comparison Results: Microsoft Defender has an edge in this comparison. According to reviews, it is more lightweight than Malwarebytes.

To learn more, read our detailed Malwarebytes vs. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Report (Updated: September 2023).
734,678 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"The console is easy to read. I also like the scanning part and the ability to move assets from one to the other.""Fortinet FortiEDR's firewalling, rule creation, monitoring, and inspection profiles are great.""I like FortiClient EMS. FortiEDR has a lot of great features like lockdown mode, remote wipes, and encryption. I can set malware outbreak policies and controls for detecting abnormalities. You can also simulate phishing attacks.""The price is low and quite competitive with others.""Fortinet FortiEDR made our clients feel secure and more at ease, knowing that they had an EDR solution that would close the gap in their security posture.""The features that I have found most valuable are the ability to customize it and to reduce its size. It lets you run in a very small window in terms of memory and resources on legacy cash registers.""The stability is very good.""The solution was relatively easy to deploy."

More Fortinet FortiEDR Pros →

"The most valuable features of Malwarebytes are the EDR and the complete feature set provided.""Provides successful ransomware shut down operations.""The most valuable feature of the solution is that I can use it wherever I want, be it at the office, at home, or even outside.""The endpoint protection and response that allows us to restore a machine back to a pre-infected state are the most valuable features.""When it comes to frontend protections, it has some of the best definitions. In addition, they do traditional signature and heuristic detection a lot better than Microsoft and some other players in that space.""Being able to cloud manage it from just a cloud login is valuable. We can get to it from anywhere, which is really helpful. The fact that we can remediate from the cloud console is one of our favorite features.""It is a stable solution.""It's very versatile and thorough."

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"I find the vulnerability management section of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint to be very useful for organizations.""Technical support is good.""The solution is highly scalable.""What I found most valuable in Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is that it's out-of-the-box, which brings more value to the customer. The technical support for the product is also one of the best parts, because it's good, in terms of the product knowledge of the technical engineers.""Defender should be fine for home use. It has all the basic functionality you need. I can't speak to how well it works as an enterprise solution because I'm not in the space.""The most valuable feature of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is its ability to bring together all the data, providing more information than just antivirus hits.""The virus scanning capability is excellent, and it feeds all the logs into the Microsoft 365 Defender portal, making them easy to search for.""It's a very solid security system, and the advanced hunting and everything really lets you dive deep into things."

More Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Pros →

Cons
"We'd like to see more one-to-one product presentations for the distribution channels.""FortiEDR could add a separate scanning dashboard. In incident management, we prefer to remove the endpoint system from the environment and scan the system. We typically use Symantec for that, but if we want to use FortiEDR for that, then we need a scanning tab to clarify things.""Cannot be used on mobile devices with a secure connection.""The solution is not stable.""The support needs improvement.""The only minor concern is occasional interference with desired programs.""FortiEDR can be improved by providing more detailed reporting.""The dashboard isn't easy to access and manage."

More Fortinet FortiEDR Cons →

"Malwarebytes is not there in the reports from Gartner or IDC...If we look at the market trends and the industry, most customers look at Gartner's reports to identify whether a product is a leader, challenger, or a big product, depending on which they choose.""They could come up with better reporting capabilities.""I would like to see a little more detail in the log. So, when an event occurs, I'd like to know not just when it happened and on what device, but what activity was taking place on the machine at the time so that we can drill down. If we get a false positive, we have to do a lot of research and go back and forth with our end-users to know why it was a false positive. So, having a little more detail around detections and events would probably be my most asked feature.""Malwarebytes should improve its mobile compatibility.""The product is a little bit more expensive than the other brands.""Requires increased efficiency in terms of detecting false positives.""Strictly in terms of cyber security, the release cycle should be quarterly, at most. It shouldn't be more frequent than that because, for one thing, keeping up with tech support is difficult.""It's not good in search hunting."

More Malwarebytes Cons →

"I'm not too sure of its current capabilities, but I'm pretty sure they are doing a good job on Windows and Mac. However, I'm not sure whether they covered Linux. If I remember correctly, Microsoft Defender didn't have anything proper on Linux back then, but if they have improved it from that aspect, it would already be ticking all the boxes.""The reporting in Microsoft Defender for Endpoint should improve. The solution has limited features.""Microsoft Defender for Endpoint can use more advertising to promote their features.""The detection of viruses could be a little bit better.""Defender's cloud integration could be improved.""The UI for Microsoft Defender for Endpoint needs to be better. Integration with client dashboards is also lacking in this product, e.g. client dashboards shouldn't just be viewable from the cloud, because when the client's computer is offline, you won't be able to see the client dashboard.""In the next release, I would like to see better management reporting.""If there were more template queries in the library, that would make it much easier. They could have basic things, like, "Where's the IP for this user?" or, "What file was downloaded from this user?" If there were more of those basic queries that would help."

More Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "The price is comprable to other endpoint security solutions."
  • "The pricing is typical for enterprises and fairly priced."
  • "I'm not familiar with pricing, but it looks a bit costly compared to other vendors I think."
  • "The pricing is good."
  • "I would rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten."
  • "The hardware costs about €100,000 and about €20,000 annually for access."
  • "Fortinet FortiEDR has a yearly subscription."
  • "It's not cheap, but it's not expensive either."
  • More Fortinet FortiEDR Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "I would say that it's affordable. It costs much less than Sentinel One, CrowdStrike, or anything of that nature. But, at the same time, you are getting what you pay for. So I would say it's one of the best when you're comparing traditional NextGen AVs like Webroot that aren't the best in the bunch."
  • "It is really expensive. We've got between 30 and 40 licenses every year, and for the number of licenses that we have, we're finding that Malwarebytes on average costs between $900 and $1,000 more per year than comparable options. We're paying about $3,300 per year for these licenses. There are no additional costs beyond the standard licensing fee."
  • "Its licensing is annual. There are no additional costs beyond the standard licensing fee."
  • "I believe the retail price is between $40 and $50 per copy."
  • "The licensing is per seat, with clients being a little less expensive than servers. If we need more licenses, we can accomplish that within a day. As Malwarebytes adds new features to their product, such as DNS filtering and a patching module, they want to charge us more even though we're a premium user, which isn't ideal."
  • "The price of Malwarebytes is in the middle range compared to other vendors."
  • "On a scale of one to ten, where one is a low price and ten is a high price, I rate the product's pricing a seven."
  • More Malwarebytes Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "I don't know the standalone costs. It is my understanding that the M365 E5 is $56 a month or something close to that pricing. That would be for the full suite. Just Defender might be $8 a month. I can't say for sure."
  • "The solution comes free with Microsoft Windows 10."
  • "When customers haven't deployed the solution and don't have licenses, it can be expensive to start from scratch."
  • "I do not have to purchase antivirus solutions anymore because Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is integrated into Windows and comes free."
  • "It came with Windows."
  • "We pay a yearly license for Microsoft Defender. We also have a support contract with them."
  • "The solution is free with Windows."
  • "You do not need to pay any additional costs for antivirus and anti-malware solutions for endpoint protection."
  • More Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:I suggest Fortinet’s FortiEDR over FortiClient for several reasons. For starters, FortiEDR guarantees solid protection… more »
    Top Answer:Fortinet FortiEDR made our clients feel secure and more at ease, knowing that they had an EDR solution that would close… more »
    Top Answer:The price is on the higher side. It's in the upper quadrant. The hardware costs about €100,000 and about €20,000… more »
    Top Answer:The most valuable features of Malwarebytes are the agents, user experience, efficiency of the findings, and MDR… more »
    Top Answer:If you look at the pricing of some other products, the pricing of Malwarebytes is pretty much okay since it is neither… more »
    Top Answer:Malwarebytes should improve its mobile compatibility.
    Top Answer:Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is a cloud-delivered endpoint security solution. The tool reduces the attack surface… more »
    Top Answer:We use Symantec because we do not use MS Enterprise products, but in my opinion, Microsoft Defender is a superior… more »
    Top Answer:The CrowdStrike solution delivers a lot of information about incidents. It has a very light sensor that will never push… more »
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    enSilo, FortiEDR
    Microsoft Defender ATP, Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection, MS Defender for Endpoint, Microsoft Defender Antivirus
    Learn More
    Overview

    Fortinet FortiEDR is a real-time endpoint protection, detection, and automated response solution. Its primary purpose is to detect advanced threats to stop breaches and ransomware damage. It is designed to do so in real time, even on an already compromised device, allowing you to respond and remediate incidents automatically so your data can remain protected.

    Fortinet FortiEDR Features

    Fortinet FortiEDR has many valuable key features, including:

    • Easily customizable
    • Real-time proactive risk mitigation & IoT security
    • Pre-infection protection
    • Post-infection protection
    • Track applications and ratings
    • Reduce the attack surface with risk-based proactive policies
    • Achieve analysis of entire log history
    • Optional managed detection and response (MDR) service

    Fortinet FortiEDR Benefits

    Some of the key benefits of using Fortinet FortiEDR include:

    • Protection: Fortinet FortiEDR provides proactive, real-time, automated endpoint protection with the orchestrated incident response across platforms. It stops the breach with real-time postinfection blocking to protect data from exfiltration and ransomware encryption.

    • Single unified console: Fortinet FortiEDR has a single unified console with an intuitive interface, which makes management easier. The solution automates mundane endpoint security tasks so your employees don’t need to do it.

    • Cost savings: With Fortinet FortiEDR you can eliminate post-breach operational expenses and breach damage costs.

    • Flexibility: Fortinet FortiEDR can be deployed on premises or on a secure cloud instance. With Fortinet FortiEDR, endpoints are protected both on- and off-line.

    • Scalability: Because Fortinet can be deployed quickly and has a small footprint, it is easy to scale up to protect hundreds of thousand endpoints.

    Reviews from Real Users

    Below are some reviews and helpful feedback written by Fortinet FortiEDR users.

    An Owner at a security firm says, "The features that I have found most valuable are the ability to customize it and to reduce its size. It lets you run in a very small window in terms of memory and resources on legacy cash registers. The customer has literally about 800 cash registers. That was the use case for Fortinet FortiEDR - to get that down into a tiny space. The only way to do that was to use this product because it had that ability to unbundle services that were a surplus.”

    Chandan M., Chief Technical Officer at Provision Technologies LLP, mentions, “The ease of deployment and configuration is valuable. It's very easy compared to other vendors like Sophos. Sophos' configuration is complex. Fortinet is a lot easier to understand. You don't need a lot of admin knowledge to do the configuration.” He also adds, “The security is also very good and the firewall response is good.”

    Harpreet S., Information Technology Support Specialist at Chemtrade Logistics, explains, "It notifies us if there's any suspicious file on any PC. If any execution or similar kind of thing is happening, it just alerts us. It doesn't only alert. It also blocks the execution until we allow it. We check whether the execution is legitimate or not, and then approve it or keep it blocked. This gives us a little bit of control over this mechanism. Fortinet FortiEDR is also very straightforward and easy to maintain."

    DeAndre V., Senior Network Administrator at a financial services firm, states, “The dashboard is easy to follow and use. The deployment and uninstalling were easy. I like the detailed information about the path of a file that might be suspicious. Being able to check that out was easy to follow. Exceptions are easy to create and the interface is easy to follow with a nice appearance.

    Malwarebytes Endpoint Protection is delivered via Malwarebytes cloud-based endpoint management platform, is an advanced threat prevention solution for endpoints that uses a layered approach with multiple detection techniques. Malwarebytes Endpoint Protection employs multiple techniques to identify and defend against attacks at all stages of the attack chain using a highly effective mix of signature-less and matching-technology layers working both pre- and post-execution. Malwarebytes Endpoint Protection leverages our Linking Engine technology to remove all traces of infections and related artifacts - not just the primary threat payload. Its Endpoint Protection technology reduces the vulnerability surface, making the endpoint more resilient.

    Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is a comprehensive security solution that provides advanced threat protection for organizations. It offers real-time protection against various types of cyber threats, including malware, viruses, ransomware, and phishing attacks.

    With its powerful machine-learning capabilities, it can detect and block sophisticated attacks before they can cause any harm. The solution also includes endpoint detection and response (EDR) capabilities, allowing organizations to quickly investigate and respond to security incidents. It provides detailed insights into the attack timeline, enabling security teams to understand the scope and impact of an incident.

    Microsoft Defender for Endpoint also offers proactive threat hunting, allowing organizations to proactively search for and identify potential threats within their network. It integrates seamlessly with other Microsoft security solutions, such as Microsoft 365 Defender, to provide a unified and holistic security approach. With its centralized management console, organizations can easily deploy, configure, and monitor the security solution across their entire network.

    Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is a robust and scalable security solution that helps organizations protect their endpoints and data from evolving cyber threats.
    Offer
    Learn more about Fortinet FortiEDR
    Learn more about Malwarebytes
    Learn more about Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
    Sample Customers
    Financial, Healthcare, Legal, Technology, Enterprise, Manufacturing ... 
    Knutson Construction
    Petrofrac, Metro CSG, Christus Health
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm24%
    Comms Service Provider12%
    Security Firm6%
    Educational Organization6%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company17%
    Government8%
    Manufacturing Company7%
    Financial Services Firm7%
    REVIEWERS
    Manufacturing Company15%
    Energy/Utilities Company15%
    Retailer8%
    Non Tech Company8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company13%
    University8%
    Retailer7%
    Manufacturing Company6%
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm20%
    Computer Software Company16%
    Comms Service Provider8%
    Energy/Utilities Company7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization20%
    Computer Software Company13%
    Government8%
    Financial Services Firm7%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business37%
    Midsize Enterprise22%
    Large Enterprise41%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business31%
    Midsize Enterprise19%
    Large Enterprise50%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business57%
    Midsize Enterprise25%
    Large Enterprise18%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business37%
    Midsize Enterprise17%
    Large Enterprise46%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business40%
    Midsize Enterprise17%
    Large Enterprise43%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business22%
    Midsize Enterprise31%
    Large Enterprise47%
    Buyer's Guide
    Malwarebytes vs. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
    September 2023
    Find out what your peers are saying about Malwarebytes vs. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint and other solutions. Updated: September 2023.
    734,678 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Malwarebytes is ranked 29th in EPP (Endpoint Protection for Business) with 14 reviews while Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is ranked 1st in EPP (Endpoint Protection for Business) with 96 reviews. Malwarebytes is rated 8.0, while Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of Malwarebytes writes "I can access it from anywhere and remediate quickly from the cloud console, but there should be a little more detail around detections and events and better pricing". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint writes "You can access all your security data and telemetry from a single pane of glass". Malwarebytes is most compared with SentinelOne Singularity Complete, CrowdStrike Falcon, ESET Endpoint Protection Platform, Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks and Intercept X Endpoint, whereas Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is most compared with Intercept X Endpoint, Symantec Endpoint Security, CrowdStrike Falcon and SentinelOne Singularity Complete. See our Malwarebytes vs. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint report.

    See our list of best EPP (Endpoint Protection for Business) vendors.

    We monitor all EPP (Endpoint Protection for Business) reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.