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Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs Sophos EPP Suite vs VMware Carbon Black Endpoint comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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.
Sentiment score
6.0
Users reported significant ROI with VMware Carbon Black Endpoint, citing reduced malware and ransomware incidents, and 10% cost savings.
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.
Sentiment score
6.3
VMware Carbon Black Endpoint support is generally praised as effective and knowledgeable, but some report delays and issues with tiered support.
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.
Sentiment score
7.3
VMware Carbon Black Endpoint is highly scalable and adaptable for various enterprises, praised for ease of adding tenants and managing environments.
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.
Sentiment score
7.5
VMware Carbon Black Endpoint is stable, lightweight, reliable, and highly rated, though minor issues with sensors and updates occasionally occur.
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.
VMware Carbon Black Endpoint struggles with mobile support, complex UI, performance issues, inadequate reporting, and insufficient third-party integration.
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.
It would be a good addition for VMware Carbon Black Endpoint to have features that allow for better integration with SIEM systems.
 

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.
VMware Carbon Black Endpoint licensing is seen as expensive and inflexible, with prices ranging from $15 to $7,000 per node.
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.
VMware Carbon Black Endpoint offers robust remote security with intuitive real-time detection, AI-driven threat response, and centralized cloud control.
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.
One significant advantage of VMware Carbon Black Endpoint was that while CrowdStrike experienced a big outage, VMware Carbon Black Endpoint remained unaffected and continued protecting us.
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is 10.2%, down from 13.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sophos EPP Suite is 0.9%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware Carbon Black Endpoint is 1.6%, down from 2.4% 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 Endpoint10.2%
Sophos EPP Suite0.9%
VMware Carbon Black Endpoint1.6%
Other87.3%
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.
Nikunj Kamboj - PeerSpot reviewer
Integrates well with our existing SIEM tool and helps in identifying suspicious activities
The solution's integration with our existing security infrastructure is good. Whenever we have any alert in VMware Carbon Black Endpoint, we can easily that alert in our SIEM tool and check logs from the SIEM tool itself. VMware Carbon Black Endpoint is just a secondary security tool for us, and we are just monitoring the alerts from it. The solution's behavioral analytics feature helps in identifying suspicious activities pretty well. Whenever we have even a small thing, we get an alert. The solution is deployed on the cloud in our organization. Performance-wise, the solution is doing great in terms of connecting to the host directly. Performing a malware scan usually takes a lot of time, more than 24 hours. A malware scan is something that we do only on Carbon Black for the old endpoint devices and servers. It used to take sometimes three days to perform. I would recommend the solution to other users. Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Government
8%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Educational Organization
9%
Performing Arts
7%
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

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
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business31
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise29
 

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,...
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 sol...
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 pu...
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 CrowdStrik...
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. T...
What to choose: an endpoint antivirus, an EDR solution or both?
I can recommend Carbon Black, an award-winning next-gen anti-virus (NGAV) and endpoint detection and response (EDR) s...
What's the difference between Carbon Black CB Response and Carbon Black CB Defense?
Carbon Black offers two different levels of Endpoint Detection and Response. One is the VM Carbon Black Cloud Endpoin...
What do you like most about Carbon Black CB Defense?
VMware Carbon Black Endpoint is a highly stable solution.
 

Also Known As

Microsoft Defender ATP, Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection, MS Defender for Endpoint, Microsoft Defender Antivirus
EPP Suite
Carbon Black CB Defense, Bit9, Confer
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Petrofrac, Metro CSG, Christus Health
EK Services
Netflix, Progress Residential, Indeed, Hologic, Gentle Giant, Samsung Research America
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, CrowdStrike, SentinelOne and others in Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP). Updated: August 2025.
866,088 professionals have used our research since 2012.