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Microsoft Defender for Business vs Stormshield Endpoint Security comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 25, 2026

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

Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Net...
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Ranking in Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
4th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
110
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (6th), Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (5th), Ransomware Protection (2nd), AI-Powered Cybersecurity Platforms (1st)
Microsoft Defender for Busi...
Ranking in Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
14th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
Microsoft Security Suite (15th)
Stormshield Endpoint Security
Ranking in Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
56th
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) category, the mindshare of Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is 3.6%, down from 3.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Business is 1.7%, down from 2.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Stormshield Endpoint Security is 0.6%, up from 0.1% 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 Networks3.6%
Microsoft Defender for Business1.7%
Stormshield Endpoint Security0.6%
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.
Takayuki-Umehara - PeerSpot reviewer
Public Cloud Engineer at Prudential
Product deployment protects assets but needs improvement in system support
I am doing maintenance for Microsoft Defender for Business, and I'm currently working with it. We don't need to use the latest version of Microsoft Defender for Business. We still use the latest virus definition file that Microsoft Defender for Business has automatically updated. We implement a basic update mechanism. Our compliance division manages how many servers and PCs we have and whether those servers have antivirus solutions. I am not certain about how Microsoft Defender for Business helps with AI-driven security strategies. I just use it normally and don't know if it uses AI technology. I rate Microsoft Defender for Business a six out of ten.
it_user745593 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Project Manager, PMP at a transportation company with 10,001+ employees
Protects the global station and has good stability
The feature I find most valuable is that it protects the global station The solution's integration with the Windows environment could be better. The solution needs better integration with products, if it did, it would have the assumption of better security. I've been using the solution since…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I like the centralized console and the predictive analysis it does of malware. It is very stable and also scalable."
"What I like about Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is that it is a comprehensive solution that contains everything the organization may need when using endpoints."
"Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is easy to use and does not consume a lot of hardware resources."
"After installing this solution, it identified, blocked, and provided the complete attack chain, which was very helpful."
"Cortex XDR's most valuable feature is its intelligence-based dashboards."
"The level of security I get for my endpoints and servers is extremely valuable."
"After deploying Traps, we saw the performance of the network improve by 65 to 70 percent."
"Based on my experience, I would recommend Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks to other people."
"If you're an Intune user, you can bring in certain capabilities like system-hardening policies, which further enhances the security."
"It is scalable."
"Microsoft Defender for Business offers the best pricing option in the market and is very cost-effective."
"The security features in Microsoft Defender for Business that have been most effective for our company include the way it's built-in and intertwined into all the operating systems, giving us a good opportunity to holistically block things for the organization using that tenant."
"Defender's main strength is its integration with Microsoft Sentinel, offering valuable insights."
"The interface is quite user-friendly."
"I recommend Microsoft Defender for Business to startup organizations looking for a plug-and-play solution."
"Microsoft Defender for Business stands out due to its ease of use, particularly due to the fact that many of my customers already use Microsoft and Azure."
"It is very good for preventing cryptolocker attacks."
"The feature I find most valuable is that it protects the global station."
"The feature I find most valuable is that it protects the global station."
"If you need a Windows based multi-functional end-point security solution then this product is for you."
 

Cons

"It should support more mobile operating systems. That is one of the cons of their infrastructure right now."
"The main issue I could point out is the offline agents and the way that it is missing."
"I would like to see some additional features related to email protection included."
"It tends to do 99.9% of things. The only thing I'd like is single sign-on authentication into their cloud platform so that my users can be properly authenticated against it."
"Cortex XDR is trickier to configure than other Palo Alto products. This is one area where we are not so satisfied."
"A little bit more automation would be nice."
"In the next release, I would like to see more UI improvements. Their UI is a bit basic. When we are speaking about Palo Alto Networks they are the big company, so they can improve the UI a little bit. The UI, the reports, the log system can all be improved."
"The solution can never really be an on-premises solution based simply on the way it is set up. It needs metadata to run and improve. Having an on-premises solution would cut it off from making improvements."
"The security could always be improved."
"Additionally, the pricing policy poses a challenge, particularly in multi-year contracts, where other solutions like Trend Micro offer more affordable options."
"Pricing could be lowered as it is expensive and not suitable for low-budget organizations."
"If I need logs and don't have local storage bundled with Defender, I need to add workspace and log analytics, which is costly for storing logs of 2 GB, 5 GB, 10 GB."
"Technical support could be faster to respond."
"Defender's threat protection should be fine-tuned to reduce false positives. It could be more targeted, reflecting a continuous evolution in detecting. Also, it could be easier to integrate into other environments."
"The technical support from Microsoft is very poor. I would rate it a one, as their technical staff are very junior and take a long time to respond to simple questions."
"Pricing could be lowered as it is expensive and not suitable for low-budget organizations."
"Only Windows based. Dependence on MS updates and service start-up priority."
"The solution's integration with the Windows environment could be better."
"Release speed for newer versions. When a new OS is released, you've got to wait half year to get the new version that covers the new Windows OS."
"The solution's integration with the Windows environment could be better."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution has one subscription for endpoint protection and one subscription for detection and response. The two licenses combined give you the BRO version."
"It is cost-effective compared to similar solutions. It fits for the small businesses through to the big businesses."
"Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is an expensive solution."
"The tool's price is moderate."
"The cost depends on your chosen license type, like Pro or other licenses."
"The cost of Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is $55 to $90 USD per endpoint per month."
"The pricing seems fair, and I do like the licensing model. You use wherever they are, and it is elastic."
"Traps pays for itself within the first 16 months of a three-year subscription. This is attributed to OPEX savings, as security teams spent less time trying to identify and isolate malware for analysis as a result of a reduction in malware incidents, false positives, and breach avoidance."
"The tool is cheap, while some other solutions are more expensive. I remember the tool cost about five euros for a workstation or for a user on a monthly basis."
"Since we're a nonprofit, we get pretty good discounts on the tool."
"It has to get more competitive because we are starting to see some of the competitors providing better pricing, and some of it, of course, is to gain market share. The Defender product pricing is probably a little higher than the competitors."
"The tool's cost has been a little high, but I do not think it was terrible."
"Defender for Business is included by default with an Office 365 premium subscription."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
12%
Construction Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
15%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Government
6%
Comms Service Provider
17%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Construction Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business46
Midsize Enterprise20
Large Enterprise49
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business15
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise4
No data available
 

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 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...
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Also Known As

Cyvera, Cortex XDR, Palo Alto Networks Traps
No data available
SkyRecon Systems StormShield Security Suite
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

CBI Health Group, University Honda, VakifBank
Information Not Available
Arkoon, Netasq
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Defender for Business vs. Stormshield Endpoint Security and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
894,738 professionals have used our research since 2012.