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Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs Sophos EPP Suite 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
7.1
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint offers significant ROI with cost savings, seamless integration, and real-time protection against ransomware attacks.
Sentiment score
7.7
Sophos EPP Suite boosts ROI in 12-16 months, enhancing productivity, protection, and compliance while ensuring customer satisfaction.
Without detection and protection measures, organizations would face substantial payments and reputational damage, including the necessity to inform customers about data breaches, potentially leading to loss of business.
We have seen a return on investment when using Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, as it saves labor by reducing the need for staff to focus on it.
The biggest return on investment for me when using Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is the time saving.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.6
Many users find Microsoft Defender for Endpoint reliable, but support experiences vary, with premium support offering quicker assistance.
Sentiment score
7.7
User reviews of Sophos EPP Suite support highlight responsiveness and expertise, though some experience delays and ineffective resolutions.
The level-one support seems disconnected from subject matter experts.
I rate Microsoft support 10 out of 10.
Due to our size, we don't have access to direct technical support, but the knowledge base, Microsoft Learn, and the articles available are really good.
They have introduced a dedicated role called Technical Account Manager (TAM) for every partner.
The Sophos people here in South Africa are very helpful.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.7
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is scalable and integrates well with Microsoft’s ecosystem, despite needing improvements for handling massive data.
Sentiment score
8.5
Sophos EPP Suite offers scalable solutions for diverse organizations, accommodating growth and simplifying cloud deployments, despite third-party integration limits.
We managed to scale it out in a short amount of time, with two months of planning and three months of implementation on 10,000 computers.
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is scalable enough to handle various devices across environments, whether they are laptops, Android devices, or operating in hybrid environments.
Compatibility is its main feature.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.9
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is praised for its reliability and stability, with minor concerns about resource intensity and performance.
Sentiment score
9.0
Sophos EPP Suite is generally stable but has minor glitches; some users seek other solutions for better stability.
I haven't seen any outages with Microsoft.
I rate Defender 10 out of 10 for stability.
Defender for Endpoint is extremely stable.
 

Room For Improvement

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint faces interface complexity, slow detection, high CPU usage, integration issues, and seeks improvements in multiple areas.
Sophos EPP Suite needs improvements in migration, resource usage, integration, support, and user interface for better performance and compatibility.
Repeated interactions are necessary due to Level One's lack of tools and knowledge, hindering efficient problem-solving and negatively impacting our experience with Microsoft support.
In contrast, competing products offer reduced pricing for long-term commitments, which makes it difficult for us in that environment.
We use Microsoft partners to help govern the platform, and as part of an alliance, we want to gather data from each tenant and combine them for a complete view.
The enterprise integration is very poor, requiring a lot of manual work.
Users have noted that daily upload limits per device, overall data lake storage capacity tied to licenses, and daily API query limits can be restrictive.
 

Setup Cost

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint offers flexible pricing, making it competitive and cost-effective compared to standalone security products.
Sophos EPP Suite offers competitive, often affordable pricing, with discounts for longer licenses, despite varying costs by features and users.
Given our extensive Microsoft licensing, transitioning to Defender for Endpoint did not affect licensing costs.
It costs $15 per VM for the P2 plan, which is seen as affordable for customers.
The pricing, setup, and licensing were very easy and simple.
The cost is reasonable and cheaper than other alternatives.
 

Valuable Features

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint excels with seamless integration, advanced threat intelligence, AI-driven protection, and continuous cloud-based security management.
Sophos EPP Suite offers seamless integration, advanced threat detection, centralized management, and user-friendly features for comprehensive security solutions.
Defender for Endpoint's coverage across different platforms in our environment is pretty good. We have devices running Linux, Mac OS, Windows, iOS, and Android. It covers all of them.
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint provides a unified management interface allowing customers to manage their on-premises and hybrid infrastructures from a single pane.
One of the best features of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is its database for identifying zero-day attacks or malware attacks.
Key features for comprehensive detection and prevention include advanced threat prevention, ransomware protections, exploit prevention, and AI-powered detections.
With the reseller management, I can manage multiple clients without having to log in to each client.
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Defender for Endp...
Ranking in Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
198
Ranking in other categories
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (3rd), Anti-Malware Tools (1st), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (3rd), Microsoft Security Suite (4th)
Sophos EPP Suite
Ranking in Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
23rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
59
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is 10.0%, down from 13.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sophos EPP Suite is 1.0%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint10.0%
Sophos EPP Suite1.0%
Other89.0%
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
 

Featured Reviews

NaySan @ Suraj Verma - PeerSpot reviewer
Has effectively blocked sophisticated attacks and malicious activities while providing excellent support
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is very good, but one suggestion is that in some products, we may need to configure security-related settings, whereas Microsoft Defender for Endpoint works completely differently, providing automatic recommendations and actions that we may need to perform ourselves. Regarding the pricing of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, during the last three years, we set up the product and sold it, but we faced difficulties because Microsoft pricing is always the same. For example, whether I purchase Microsoft Defender for Endpoint for one year or for the next three years, the pricing remains constant with no discounts available. In contrast, competing products offer reduced pricing for long-term commitments, which makes it difficult for us in that environment. Microsoft should consider this option to remain competitive, but otherwise, everything else is fine.
Sabbir Ahmed - PeerSpot reviewer
Experience significant threat prevention advancements with user-friendly deployment
The feature is called relay server, and some people refer to it as a cache server. The Sophos EPP Suite is scalable. Some customers in banks typically have 5,000 to 7,000 users. One customer started with 1,000 users and has now extended to 4,000 users. Some customers are using up to 8,000 users without any issues. Regarding AI elements in the Sophos EPP Suite, firewalls have already introduced AI features. They have integrated AI models similar to ChatGPT in firewalls. These AI features should be introduced in endpoint XDR as well. Key features for comprehensive detection and prevention include advanced threat prevention, ransomware protections, exploit prevention, and AI-powered detections. Extended visibility and data analysis include cross-product data correlations. They have a data lake, live discover, and threat graphs. They also offer AI case summary and AI common analysis, accessible from Sophos Central, which is the management portal for Sophos XDR. Sophos Central serves as one central management portal for managing firewalls, endpoint, Sophos encryption, and mobile device management solutions. This centralized management is particularly appealing to customers.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Government
8%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Educational Organization
9%
Performing Arts
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business79
Midsize Enterprise34
Large Enterprise87
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business43
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise14
 

Questions from the Community

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, applies behavioral-based endpoint protection and response, and includes risk-ba...
Which offers better endpoint security - Symantec or Microsoft Defender?
We use Symantec because we do not use MS Enterprise products, but in my opinion, Microsoft Defender is a superior solution. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is a cloud-delivered endpoint security s...
How does Microsoft Defender for Endpoint compare with Crowdstrike Falcon?
The CrowdStrike solution delivers a lot of information about incidents. It has a very light sensor that will never push your machine hardware to "test", you don't have the usual "scan now" feature ...
What do you like most about Sophos EPP Suite?
Sophos EPP Suite is a powerful antivirus.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sophos EPP Suite?
For Bangladesh, the price of the Sophos EPP Suite is reasonable. We recently won a deal when compared with CrowdStrike, SentinelOne, Palo Alto, and Checkpoint. The deal was won based purely on comm...
What needs improvement with Sophos EPP Suite?
The Sophos EPP Suite should work on key areas, especially in data management, specifically the data retention part. The data lake storage has certain limits. Users have noted that daily upload limi...
 

Also Known As

Microsoft Defender ATP, Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection, MS Defender for Endpoint, Microsoft Defender Antivirus
EPP Suite
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Petrofrac, Metro CSG, Christus Health
EK Services
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs. Sophos EPP Suite and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
866,755 professionals have used our research since 2012.