


Microsoft Defender for Business and Norton Small Business are contenders in the business cybersecurity sector, with Microsoft Defender having an edge in pricing and integration within the Microsoft ecosystem, and Norton standing out for its comprehensive feature set.
Features: Microsoft Defender for Business emphasizes real-time threat detection, seamless integration with Microsoft services, and effective cloud protection. Norton Small Business offers robust antivirus, firewall, and identity management features, providing a wider range of security measures.
Room for Improvement: Microsoft Defender for Business could enhance its user interface and reporting capabilities, and broaden compatibility with non-Microsoft platforms. Norton Small Business could improve in offering more competitive pricing, optimizing resource usage for better performance, and refining its integration into diverse enterprise environments.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Microsoft Defender for Business allows seamless integration within Microsoft environments, simplifying deployment, and offers reliable customer support. Norton Small Business is known for straightforward installation across various platforms and boasts a highly responsive customer service team.
Pricing and ROI: Microsoft Defender for Business presents competitive pricing, particularly beneficial for businesses entrenched in the Microsoft ecosystem, offering strong ROI through cost-effective solutions. Though Norton's initial costs are higher, its comprehensive features provide considerable value and potential high returns.
They appreciate the rich telemetry data from the solution, as it provides in-depth threat identification.
Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks helps to reduce my total cost of ownership significantly.
In Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks, most of the remediation is automated and the accuracy is quite good.
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.
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.
The technical support from Palo Alto deserves a mark of ten because they reach out within an hour whenever assistance is needed.
There is no back and forth, and they know what we are asking for and come up with the best resolution for a solution.
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.
It is rated ten out of ten for its quality and assistance.
The onboarding support is exceptional, ensuring seamless integration and implementation.
Faster support is needed for endpoint security solutions.
You can onboard 10,000 endpoints in just hours, which demonstrates the excellent scalability of this product.
Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks can be expanded anytime by purchasing another license without any issues related to scalability.
I think scalability for Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is good.
The cloud-based nature of the solution ensures high scalability.
The scalability of Microsoft Defender for Business is rated as ten, indicating it is very scalable.
In terms of scalability, I would rate Microsoft Defender for Business a ten.
Cortex remains fast and responsive, even with increasing data and alerts.
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.
Cortex XDR is stable, offering high quality and reliable performance.
No customer complaints about its functionality or reliability.
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.
Improving reporting and dashboard customization, along with the addition of real-time and exportable reports, would help SOC teams greatly.
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.
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.
Microsoft should provide batch management solutions with the application, integrating pass management with roles.
Features related to Advanced Persistent Threat detection vectors and cyber kill chain integrations are not available out-of-the-box.
There can be improvements in the user interface to make it more intuitive.
The pricing on SentinelOne is far more reasonable and cheaper than Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks.
I would say it is definitely not a cheap product, considering how mature it is and how scalable all Palo Alto products are together.
Cortex XDR is perceived as expensive by some customers, yet offers dynamic pricing.
Single-year pricing remains good.
The pricing is quite affordable at the enterprise level with no extra expenses noted.
Although the cost can be slightly higher, it expedites deployment, which is beneficial, especially for startups.
It incorporates AI for normal behavior detection, distinguishing unusual operations.
The product provides automation responses in case of a threat attack, severity assessments, centralized manageability, and comprehensive compliance features, resulting in reduced costs.
It includes machine learning to easily analyze data and detect complex threats across endpoints, networks, or clouds.
The threat detection capabilities are robust, with a dedicated research team and a continuously updated threat feed.
Its vulnerability management is regarded as one of the best in the industry.
The most effective features of Microsoft Defender for Business include its threat detection and response capabilities in managing vulnerabilities and ransomware attacks.
| Product | Mindshare (%) |
|---|---|
| Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks | 3.5% |
| Microsoft Defender for Business | 1.9% |
| Norton Small Business | 1.7% |
| Other | 92.9% |



| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 44 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 20 |
| Large Enterprise | 47 |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 15 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 2 |
| Large Enterprise | 4 |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 9 |
| Large Enterprise | 2 |
Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks provides advanced threat detection with AI-driven endpoint protection and seamless integration, ensuring multi-layered security and automatic threat response.
Cortex XDR is designed to safeguard endpoints against malware and suspicious activities. It offers advanced threat detection and response capabilities using behavioral analysis, AI, and machine learning. It seamlessly integrates with security infrastructures, providing endpoint security, firewall integration, and enhanced visibility in both cloud-based and on-premises environments.
What are the key features of Cortex XDR?Organizations in diverse sectors deploy Cortex XDR to protect against malware, leveraging its advanced threat detection capabilities. Its integration with existing security infrastructures appeals to those seeking comprehensive protection in both cloud and on-premises environments, providing enhanced visibility and threat intelligence.
Microsoft Defender for Business is a new endpoint security solution that was designed especially for the small and medium-sized business (up to 300 employees). With this endpoint security solution, your company's devices are better protected from ransomware, malware, phishing, and other threats.
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