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Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs Sophos Home 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:
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Defender for Endp...
Ranking in Anti-Malware Tools
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
194
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (1st), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (2nd), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (3rd), Microsoft Security Suite (5th)
Sophos Home
Ranking in Anti-Malware Tools
23rd
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Anti-Malware Tools category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is 16.7%, down from 22.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sophos Home is 1.7%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Anti-Malware Tools
 

Featured Reviews

AnuragSrivastava - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides detailed visibility into threats but the ability to add exceptions needs improvement
One major item for improvement is the ability to add exceptions. We can add some exceptions, but not at the level we need to. The second major area for improvement involves enhanced capabilities for different operating systems or platforms. That is, even though we have coverage for different operating systems or platforms such as Linux, we don't get all of the controls and enhanced capabilities that are available with Windows devices. Reporting could also be improved because, at present, we get limited results at times. For example, in an environment with more than 100,000 devices, you may just get 10,000 results when you run a report.
Alex Clerici - PeerSpot reviewer
Has good integration with other Sophos products and offers ransomware protection
I expect an improvement with mobile integration. I want mobile devices to have better security, like Sophos Home's total security. Users often need to connect to a cloud platform to manage or change settings, which can be difficult. To improve this, providing minimal local settings could help users. The tool needs to improve its pricing. The current pricing is for medium and enterprise businesses, but it needs to improve for small businesses. The solution's support could also be improved, especially because local support often needs to interact with global support. This can make response times longer than expected.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is a robust platform."
"Updates and upgrades are quite smooth and seamless."
"It's not really visible for the user - which is a benefit."
"It's a Microsoft product; it's easier to deploy this product than other options."
"The fact that it's from Microsoft, you don't have many false positives, unlike products from other vendors might have."
"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is its ability to bring together all the data, providing more information than just antivirus hits."
"This software is easy to use."
"The virus scanning capability is excellent, and it feeds all the logs into the Microsoft 365 Defender portal, making them easy to search for."
"The tool's most valuable feature is ransomware protection. Its integration with other Sophos security products is good, and the AI features have made it an efficient product."
 

Cons

"If a threat actor comes in, and creates a global administrative account, they can gain access to everything and whitelist then block everything else. Having everything, including Defender, under one brand is like having all of your eggs in one basket."
"The log searches for Microsoft Defender for Endpoint are pretty difficult to navigate. It needs a better UI or more intuitive search and filter mechanisms to make it easy to get through and filter through all the data logs."
"Defender is free for one year. Once that year is over, we will switch to Kaspersky."
"The product itself does not necessarily need improvement, but the support and implementation of the product are the disaster cases."
"On the Mac OS platform, there is no parity between Windows and Mac OS. The solution is very feature-rich and very well-integrated into Windows, and I guess baked into Windows 10 and Windows 11. Whereas, on the Mac OS platform, there is still some work there to give it a more feature-reach platform."
"Where we stand right now, compared to other products that are there in the market, they still have to work on their threat intelligence and the overall maturity of detecting the malware."
"We need better support to learn about the product. Documentation is available, but we need some kind of training program so that we can get a better understanding of the product."
"Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is secure but when it comes to security all solutions could improve security."
"I expect an improvement with mobile integration. I want mobile devices to have better security, like Sophos Home's total security. Users often need to connect to a cloud platform to manage or change settings, which can be difficult. To improve this, providing minimal local settings could help users."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is included with Microsoft Windows."
"You don't need to worry about the renewal and purchase of antivirus products. It is bundled with Windows 10, so you don't need to worry about separately purchasing any antiviruses."
"Licensing options vary. Some customers buy it as an enterprise agreement and pay yearly. Others buy it as a CSP, so they pay per month. It completely depends on the customer's needs."
"We have the E5 security license, and the solution comes with that."
"There are different licenses, such as E3 and E5."
"The solution comes as a part of Windows 10 and it is covered under its license."
"We pay a yearly license for Microsoft Defender. We also have a support contract with them."
"You just pay Windows 10 prices, then you have antivirus software. As a price comparison, Defender's costs are very low."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
25%
Computer Software Company
11%
Government
7%
Financial Services Firm
7%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

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 needs improvement with Sophos Home?
I expect an improvement with mobile integration. I want mobile devices to have better security, like Sophos Home's total security. Users often need to connect to a cloud platform to manage or chang...
What advice do you have for others considering Sophos Home?
I rate the overall solution a nine out of ten. I suggest every user read up on cybersecurity aspects before adopting any solution.
 

Also Known As

Microsoft Defender ATP, Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection, MS Defender for Endpoint, Microsoft Defender Antivirus
No data available
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Petrofrac, Metro CSG, Christus Health
1. Acer 2. Adidas 3. Aetna 4. Aflac 5. Airbus 6. AIG 7. Amazon 8. American Express 9. American Airlines 10. Amex 11. Apple 12. AT&T 13. Audi 14. Avaya 15. Bank of America 16. Barclays 17. Bayer 18. Ben & Jerry's 19. BMW 20. Boeing 21. Bristol-Myers Squibb 22. Cadbury 23. Campbell Soup 24. Capital One 25. Caterpillar 26. Cisco 27. Coca-Cola 28. Comcast 29. ConocoPhillips 30. Dell 31. Disney 32. Dominion Energy 33. DuPont 34. eBay 35. ExxonMobil 36. FedEx 37. Ford 38. General Electric 39. General Motors 40. Google 42. Halliburton 43. Home Depot 44. Honda 45. Intel 46. Johnson & Johnson 47. JPMorgan Chase 48. Kellogg's 49. KeyCorp 50. Kraft Heinz 52. L'Oréal 53. Lockheed Martin 54. McDonald's 55. Merck 56. Microsoft 57. Morgan Stanley 58. Nike 59. PepsiCo 60. Pfizer 61. Qualcomm 62. RBC 63. Red Bull 64. Reebok 65. Siemens 66. Tesla 67. Toyota 68. Visa 69. Wells Fargo 70. Xerox 71. Yum! Brands
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, SentinelOne, VirusTotal and others in Anti-Malware Tools. Updated: January 2025.
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