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Malwarebytes vs Symantec Endpoint Security Complete comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 9, 2024

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

Malwarebytes
Ranking in Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
14th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
37
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Symantec Endpoint Security ...
Ranking in Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
38th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
17
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) category, the mindshare of Malwarebytes is 1.9%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Symantec Endpoint Security Complete is 0.5%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
 

Featured Reviews

Anas Anas - PeerSpot reviewer
Effective threat predictions, simple to deploy, and light on resources
Malwarebytes's initial setup is simple. It is easy to deploy and configure the policies and the configuration. I deployed Malwarebytes for one customer and I did it in under two days. They had approximately 50 users, it took approximately an hour. The steps I took for the implementation were downloading the Malwarebytes management console from the site, installing it, then running the discovery tool, scanning my network, and checking all of the PCs on my network. It's already pre-configured, you don't need to configure anything. The only configuration that I did on the administration console was some of the exclusion from the scan. This is the only rule that I have created. I rate the initial setup of Malwarebytes a ten out of ten.
Livin Sunil - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides comprehensive protection with a need for a more intuitive interface
Security Complete comes with antivirus plus EDR, which is a convergence of antivirus and EDR. I have both the antivirus and EDR features constantly, allowing my team's customers to conduct detailed analyses of where attacks have occurred or if any malicious files are present, which devices or files have been targeted. It provides a greater level of view, making it easy for my team to mitigate those particular attacks.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The central management of devices from different sites is a very good feature; this has made them much easier to manage."
"The endpoint protection and response that allows us to restore a machine back to a pre-infected state are the most valuable features."
"It gets the job done, and they are consistently updating it monthly."
"The technical support services are good."
"The platform is straightforward to install."
"Malwarebytes is a comprehensive solution for keeping endpoints safe and secure from intruders, viruses, malware and so on."
"Ten times a day, improved signatures will be downloaded, so it is very up-to-date in terms of malware experience."
"It is a stable solution."
"I am impressed with the tool's detection response."
"The solution's most important feature is its reliability. It is not heavy on the workstation."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is the advanced rate firewall protection, the URL filtering."
"The most valuable features of Symantec Endpoint Security Complete for me are sandboxing and its threat-hunting capabilities."
"Security Complete comes with antivirus plus EDR, which is a convergence of antivirus and EDR."
"One feature I found most valuable in Symantec Endpoint Security Complete is the firewall feature on the endpoint. The firewall feature helps users handle virus outbreaks."
"The feature I like the most is the Adaptive Protection... And it does not negatively affect users' activities because we can adapt it and allow binaries that are executed regularly, while forbidding those that are not executed within the company."
"The SONAR feature is valuable as it offers real-time protection and threat rejection."
 

Cons

"The reporting is not as flexible as you would find with other antivirus software."
"There are no built-in backups or integrated backup options, which could be an opportunity."
"It would be better if updates could be downloaded, and deployed, on-premises to avoid low bandwidth causing issues."
"The EPP solution lacks the sophisticated artificial intelligence required for automating reports and letting you know about things in real-time. It stops a suspicious activity in real-time, but it doesn't let you know in real-time. You have to look at a report, and then you find out that something is wrong. You have to manually kick off a scan. With the Advanced EDR solutions, Malwarebytes has the ability to alert you in real-time, but they still don't do automatic remediation or quarantining of devices. That is something that you still have to do manually. So, the endpoint protection piece, which is just like their basic endpoint protection, lacks AI. For the advanced detection and response piece, there is an add-on that comes with it, but it still doesn't go far enough in terms of automatic remediation of viruses. It won't separate that virus from your network if something happens. You have to manually go there and do it."
"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."
"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."
"The product has major problems in almost every facet of setup and use including setup, configuration, lack of functionality, lack of stability, false positives, questionable reporting, inability to protect from randsomeware and poor technical support and development."
"Notifications are lacking."
"Symantec Endpoint Security Complete does not cover everything on the cloud. It does not cover the workstation emails. There are risks associated with it."
"The overall support level for the solution could be increased."
"Symantec could have better support for iOS and Android mobile devices."
"The solution is a pretty expensive product. While it provides good service, considering the price, it is hard to tell about the benefits."
"Instead of the updates, the tool needs to come up with a concept similar to Veritas."
"Any traffic coming through should be recognized whether it is a legitimate URL or not."
"Symantec Endpoint Security Complete could improve by integrating more easily with other Symantec security products."
"An area for improvement in Symantec Endpoint Security Complete is that it needs to be developed more because competitors have started providing EDR and XDR functionalities, but in the product, those are still missing. Another area for improvement in Symantec Endpoint Security Complete is that it needs to be lightweight. Currently, the product is very heavy when compared to other vendors. It takes up too much space on the hard drive and the memory."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I rate the tool's pricing a five out of ten."
"The platform pricing is competitive with other antivirus products."
"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."
"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."
"Malwarebytes is a cost-effective product."
"The price of Malwarebytes is in the middle range compared to other vendors."
"We expect to pay $1,000 USD a month, depending on the number of users."
"Yearly, it is around $50 per client."
"Symantec Endpoint Security Complete is not expensive."
"The product's pricing is dependent on partnership levels. The solution's price is competitive compared to other solutions."
"In terms of costs, Symantec Endpoint Security Complete has become costlier compared to how much it was in the past. The cost of the product is very high now. The customer needs to pay extra for additional features, but not for technical support. For example, if you need an email gateway or if you are looking for URL filtering, you have to pay extra, and that's where the costs for Symantec Endpoint Security Complete become higher."
"License renewal is not a straightforward process. I have a three-year subscription. It takes a long time to renew the license after three years. It is not proactive on that. The solution is expensive for the coverage that it does. I have to include other products to complement the protection that Symantec Endpoint Security Complete does not cover. We have to pay 18 euros. There are no additional support or maintenance costs."
"It's cost-effective and well-suited for smaller to midrange companies."
"The pricing is good. It's good value for the money."
"I'm recommending going with three-year licensing, rather than the yearly licensing option for this product."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
University
12%
Government
7%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Computer Software Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Malwarebytes?
Ten times a day, improved signatures will be downloaded, so it is very up-to-date in terms of malware experience.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Malwarebytes?
I really hate the automatic rebilling without officially confirming it with me. It's an annoyance and they should at least confirm with me, like a month before they bill me.
What needs improvement with Malwarebytes?
It takes up too much space when it's trying to run in the background.
What do you like most about Symantec Endpoint Security Complete?
The solution prevents any damage from viruses and provides risk mitigation for virus threats.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Symantec Endpoint Security Complete?
Symantec Endpoint Security Full/Complete license is not expensive and advise using the full feature.
What needs improvement with Symantec Endpoint Security Complete?
They could improve the user interface. Currently, everything is pretty good, however, when it comes to the Maniac and Protection, there could be enhancements.
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Knutson Construction
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Malwarebytes vs. Symantec Endpoint Security Complete and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
849,686 professionals have used our research since 2012.