Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator vs Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 5, 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

McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator
Ranking in Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR)
12th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
43
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Palo Alto Networks Cortex X...
Ranking in Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR)
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
48
Ranking in other categories
SOC as a Service (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR) category, the mindshare of McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator is 0.7%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR is 9.6%, down from 11.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR9.6%
McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator0.7%
Other89.7%
Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR)
 

Featured Reviews

Binu Haneef - PeerSpot reviewer
Comprehensive security management enabled through efficient integration and automation
McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator helps automate routine security tasks. We created customized automation. For example, when we did not have an EDR or XDR solution, we created tasks exclusively for detection and response automation and automatic segregation of infected PCs. The ability to customize the dashboard in McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator helps us significantly. The main feature is automation for auto-segmentation and segregation. As we are in an AI era, McAfee can focus on AI tools. Instead of putting manual effort into each security-related task, it can implement more advanced automation using AI. This enhancement could improve cybersecurity significantly. Regarding the reporting area in McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator, we are satisfied with what we currently have. Our cybersecurity team needs customized reports beyond the default ones. We have more than 20 separate reports for identifying threats, managing, and understanding the security posture of our company and assets.
DayaramGoyal - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers automation but requires enhancements for intuitive configuration
Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR is a good product with enhanced and efficient playbooks, as demonstrated during our use case simulations. We have implemented automation features, such as automated responses to email threats and automatic configuration of target devices for blocking specific IPs. The analytics feature in Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR is impressive. The solution is quite exhaustive regarding integrations, with many pre-integrations available, especially for market-leading products. There might be challenges with make-in-India products, as they tend not to build the necessary connectors. This depends on whether you are selling to enterprises or other customers. For government customers, you might encounter many Indian products, such as firewalls, which could pose integration challenges unless you have open APIs. However, for market-leading products, there are ready-made integrations available.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature of the solution is the central management console, which is used for DLP, endpoint security, drive encryption, and application control."
"From a single dashboard, I can take a look at several things including the endpoint protection, the file integrity section, the data activity monitor, and more."
"The most valuable features of McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator are the easy-to-use console, and lots of reports, such as customized reports and inventory reports. Additionally, overall the centralized management is very good where you can see the compliance levels and inventory."
"The advantages of McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator include being a centralized management console, which we possess when managing multiple solutions in Trellix DLP and EPP through the EPO solution."
"I really like the auditing component because it really looks at exactly what has happened on the network."
"Technical support is very helpful."
"The DLP feature in McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator is good."
"The general endpoint protection is valuable, and it is easy to manage."
"The most valuable feature is its capability to automate responses and collect information for any security event before you even delve into the details. It's a vast product with an active roadmap, so I'm satisfied with it for now. It's very efficient at data collection and correlation."
"The strengths of Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR stem from the fact that it provides functionalities related to patching and URL blocking...It is a scalable solution."
"Palo Alto has gotten the investigators more presence to actually go in the report because being that the platform will email the investigator that it's been assigned to, now the investigators will jump in there and start going through the review process a lot quicker."
"For organizations that are stable with their security operations, like those with around 50 members in their security team running full-phased operations 24/7, Cortex is necessary."
"The drag-and-drop interface enables analysts with no programming knowledge to create playbooks easily."
"The most valuable features are the orchestration because of the way in which it coordinates the loss from all the devices and it provides us with a high-level overview of the critical log information."
"It was useful as a ticketing tool."
"The most valuable features of Cortex XSOAR include its vast library of plugins, which allow us to integrate various tools and solutions seamlessly."
 

Cons

"There needs to be support for Mac computers. Currently, McAfee does not work on iOS."
"McAfee should improve in terms of customer support and assigning a knowledgeable TAM to customers."
"There should be more insights and completeness into the cyber kill chain, similar to CrowdStrike and SentinelOne. It just seems a little outdated in being 100% signature-based without all of the insights and protections that come with CrowdStrike and SentinelOne. Overall, they've got some catching up to do if they plan to compete in the comprehensive EDR space."
"Features such as full drive encryption are lacking in the cloud version."
"McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator support has been helpful. However, sometimes when I raise the case they take a while to answer. For example, the last time I used them it took them two weeks to reply back by email. No one has contacted me back since. They should improve their service."
"The Virtual Patching feature needs to be improved."
"The solution sometimes has some false positives on IP addresses, from the web control aspect of the product. This needs to be improved."
"The solution could improve the EDR component in many areas, such as the zero-day and persistent threats. The implementation is also complex for this feature."
"The dashboard performance could be improved."
"The solution requires DV but does not support open-source DV elastic searches."
"The dashboard could be better."
"In terms of improvement, it needs to be more modular. It's not. When you're working in layouts and you create specific apps within layouts, there's no portability right now in order to reuse that code across multiple layouts. I can't take a tab and say I want to use this tab on these other layouts. I have to physically go in there and recreate it from scratch, which is maddening."
"It's only one cloud right now. It might be helpful for some companies to have an on-premies option."
"The price of the solution could be lower."
"Corex XSOAR could be improved by reducing the time it takes to process large amounts of data and increasing the number of integrations."
"The configuration of the solution could improve it is difficult."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a three out of ten."
"$The price of McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator is expensive, it is approximately $6,000 to $9,000 per license annually."
"It is attractively priced. It is a fraction of what we're going to pay for CrowdStrike or SentinelOne, but it only has a fraction of the capabilities as well."
"This solution is priced in the mid-range."
"For large enterprise companies, the price should be alright, but for small businesses, the uptake might be slow because, for these clients, the price doesn't look very attractive."
"McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator is a cheaply priced product, meaning it is not expensive since McAfee provides a free version of ePO, which includes phone support as well."
"It's an expensive solution"
"McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator is not an expensive solution."
"It is expensive."
"The solution's pricing needs improvement."
"It is approx $10,000 or $20,000 per year for two user licenses."
"The price of Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR is comparable to other solutions in the market."
"On a scale of one to ten, where one is a low price, and ten is a high price, I rate the pricing a nine."
"From the cost perspective, I have heard that its price is a bit high as compared to other similar products."
"Palo Alto offers significant discounts to customers who purchase the products repeatedly."
"There is a yearly license required for this solution and it is expensive."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR) solutions are best for your needs.
869,832 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
University
7%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business13
Midsize Enterprise11
Large Enterprise19
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise24
 

Questions from the Community

Which is better - Mcafee's MVision ePO or ePolicy Orchestrator?
Our organization ran comparison tests to determine whether Mcafee's MVision ePO or ePolicy Orchestrator network security software was the better fit for us. We decided to go with Mcafee's ePolicy O...
What do you like most about McAfee MVISION ePO?
McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator's performance is good.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR?
Comparing pricing to Micro Focus, they were offering bundles, making it free with their SIEM. For customers, it is zero versus $20 million, which is why they have to make a decision.
What needs improvement with Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR?
To improve the solution, it needs to have complete features that are low-code, no-code, and should be plug-and-play. We need to see improvements in that area to facilitate cyber analysts.
 

Also Known As

McAfee ePO, ePolicy Orchestrator, Intel Security ePolicy Orchestrator, McAfee MVISION ePO
Demisto Enterprise, Cortex XSOAR, Demisto
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Brelje & Race, Cognizant, Sutherland Global Services, Eagle Rock Energy, Arab National Bank, Bank Central Asia, Kleberg Bank, Leading Mexican Bank, SF Police Credit Union, Macquarie Telecom, Seagate Technology, Blackburn & Darwen Council, California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation, IRCEP, Major U.S. State Government, State of Alaska, State of Colorado, Cemex, Deutsche Edelstahlwerke
Cellcom Israel, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City, esri, Cylance, Flatiron Health, Veeva, ADT Cybersecurity
Find out what your peers are saying about McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator vs. Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
869,832 professionals have used our research since 2012.