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Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs ThreatLocker Zero Trust Endpoint Protection Platform comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 5, 2025

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
6.9
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint offers significant ROI with cost savings, seamless integration, and real-time protection against ransomware attacks.
Sentiment score
7.9
ThreatLocker Zero Trust boosts ROI by blocking threats, reducing risks, and enhancing security with seamless integration and quick adaptation.
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.
Consultant at ACT4SERVICES
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.
IT CONSULTANT at a tech company with 10,001+ employees
The biggest return on investment for me when using Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is the time saving.
Lead security engineer at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
If something were to happen without ThreatLocker, the cost would be huge, and thus, having it is definitely worth it.
Tier 1 IT Engineer at a retailer with 11-50 employees
The main return on investment is peace of mind, knowing that with ThreatLocker on any endpoint, it will almost always block all malicious code or exploits, even zero-day exploits.
Project Engineer at Lutz M&A, LLC
It keeps malware, Trojans, and ransomware at bay.
Technical Engineer at Cloud 1 Solutions
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.4
Many users find Microsoft Defender for Endpoint reliable, but support experiences vary, with premium support offering quicker assistance.
Sentiment score
7.7
ThreatLocker offers exceptional 24/7 customer service with fast issue resolution, highly rated by users for speed and expertise.
The Microsoft agent, who did not actually work for Microsoft, is one of the vendors that Microsoft uses for support, said, 'Just to set expectations, my lunch break is in an hour and I am going to go away then.'
Security Analyst III at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
The level-one support seems disconnected from subject matter experts.
Office 365 Subject Expert at a government with 10,001+ employees
I rate Microsoft support 10 out of 10.
Team manager of it department at a financial services firm with 501-1,000 employees
They have been very responsive, helpful, and knowledgeable.
Systems Security Analyst & Deputy Security Officer at a financial services firm with 201-500 employees
I would rate their customer support a ten out of ten.
Director, Managed Services at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
Their support is world-class.
Supervisor, Client Security at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.4
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is scalable and integrates well with Microsoft’s ecosystem, despite needing improvements for handling massive data.
Sentiment score
8.0
ThreatLocker scales efficiently, handling thousands of endpoints easily, with updates and flexible deployment supporting diverse organizational needs.
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.
Team manager of it department at a financial services firm with 501-1,000 employees
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is scalable enough to handle various devices across environments, whether they are laptops, Android devices, or operating in hybrid environments.
Snr. Infrastructure Architect (Data Centre) at LogicEra
Compatibility is its main feature.
IT CONSULTANT at a tech company with 10,001+ employees
I started off with just the servers, and within a month and a half, I set up the entire company with ThreatLocker.
Technical Engineer at Cloud 1 Solutions
It seems to primarily operate on the endpoints rather than at a central location pushing out policies.
Systems Security Analyst & Deputy Security Officer at a financial services firm with 201-500 employees
I would rate it a ten out of ten for scalability.
Project Engineer at Lutz M&A, LLC
 

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
7.4
ThreatLocker Zero Trust Platform offers stable performance, minimal downtime, quick issue resolution, and seamless integration with operating systems.
I haven't seen any outages with Microsoft.
IT Security Engineer at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
I rate Defender 10 out of 10 for stability.
Team manager of it department at a financial services firm with 501-1,000 employees
Defender for Endpoint is extremely stable.
Systems engineers at Delta Dental of Colorado
For five years, we have not had a problem.
Supervisor, Client Security at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
Once deployed, it downloads the policies locally, so even if the computer doesn't have internet, it doesn't matter.
Information Cybersecurity Technology Specialist at Freez.it
It has been very stable, reliable, and accessible.
COO at Panda Technology
 

Room For Improvement

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint faces interface complexity, slow detection, high CPU usage, integration issues, and seeks improvements in multiple areas.
ThreatLocker could improve by enhancing training, UI, reporting, integration, and support to address approval and update challenges.
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.
Office 365 Subject Expert at a government with 10,001+ employees
In contrast, competing products offer reduced pricing for long-term commitments, which makes it difficult for us in that environment.
Solution Consultant at BIM Group of Companies
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.
Team manager of it department at a financial services firm with 501-1,000 employees
Controlling the cloud environment, not just endpoints, is crucial.
COO at Panda Technology
This is problematic when immediate attention is needed.
Senior System Administrator at Molders Group Limited
Comprehensive 24-hour log monitoring is a valuable enhancement for both business and enterprise-level users.
IMS ENGINEER at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Setup Cost

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint offers flexible pricing, making it competitive and cost-effective compared to standalone security products.
ThreatLocker offers a cost-effective Zero Trust solution with flexible pricing, appreciated for transparency and easy setup across clients.
That has been the trend we have seen with Microsoft lately—it is just getting more and more expensive.
Assistant Director, Hybrid Infrastructure & Operations at a insurance company with 501-1,000 employees
Given our extensive Microsoft licensing, transitioning to Defender for Endpoint did not affect licensing costs.
Team manager of it department at a financial services firm with 501-1,000 employees
It costs $15 per VM for the P2 plan, which is seen as affordable for customers.
Snr. Infrastructure Architect (Data Centre) at LogicEra
After conversations with other partners, it became clear we underpriced it initially, which caused most of our issues.
Director, Managed Services at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
We are moving towards the Unified solution, where they basically bundle everything together, providing us better stability with the ability to bring in new product offerings without having to go back to the customer and say, 'This is going to cost you.'
Supervisor, Client Security at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
I had a really good deal at the time, and it continues to be cost-effective.
Cyber Security Specialist at Bremmar Consulting
 

Valuable Features

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint excels with seamless integration, advanced threat intelligence, AI-driven protection, and continuous cloud-based security management.
ThreatLocker enhances security and reduces costs with application control, instant support, intuitive interface, and comprehensive training resources.
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.
Team manager of it department at a financial services firm with 501-1,000 employees
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint provides a unified management interface allowing customers to manage their on-premises and hybrid infrastructures from a single pane.
Snr. Infrastructure Architect (Data Centre) at LogicEra
One of the best features of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is its database for identifying zero-day attacks or malware attacks.
Consultant at ACT4SERVICES
ThreatLocker Zero Trust Endpoint Protection Platform's ability to block access to unauthorized applications has been excellent.
Cyber Security Specialist at Bremmar Consulting
It protects our customers.
CTO at Zettabytes
The major benefit is fewer breaches overall, as nothing can be run without prior approval. This helps my company protect its data and secure itself effectively.
Tier 1 IT Engineer at a retailer with 11-50 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Defender for Endp...
Ranking in Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
2nd
Ranking in Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
210
Ranking in other categories
Anti-Malware Tools (1st), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (2nd), Microsoft Security Suite (3rd)
ThreatLocker Zero Trust End...
Ranking in Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
6th
Ranking in Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
7th
Average Rating
9.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
40
Ranking in other categories
Network Access Control (NAC) (5th), Application Control (1st), ZTNA (4th), Ransomware Protection (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of December 2025, in the Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is 8.7%, down from 11.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ThreatLocker Zero Trust Endpoint Protection Platform is 1.0%, up from 0.7% 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 Endpoint8.7%
ThreatLocker Zero Trust Endpoint Protection Platform1.0%
Other90.3%
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
 

Featured Reviews

Robert Arbuckle - PeerSpot reviewer
Security Analyst III at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
Automatically isolates threats and integrates with logging to reduce response time
Overall, I would evaluate the Microsoft support level that I receive at probably about a seven, but that depends on the day. It has been spotty. We have had issues where the urgency level of the Microsoft support is not as high as ours, especially during a data breach or potential data breach situation. We have had issues with some of the offshore support being lackluster. One specific thing that comes to mind is we were on a support call with our CISO on the call, and the Microsoft agent, who did not actually work for Microsoft, is one of the vendors that Microsoft uses for support, said, "Just to set expectations, my lunch break is in an hour and I am going to go away then." For us, it was already ten o'clock at night and we had been working on this for a couple of hours, trying to get a security engineer on with us. For him to tell us that he was going to go away and have lunch, it was, "Okay, but go find somebody else if you need to." It was just the lackluster approach, and it seemed like he did not really care. We seem to get a lot of this when we get non-Microsoft support. I can identify areas for improvement with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, as it is kind of a convoluted mess to try to take care of false positives. Especially when they have been identified as false positives but they keep going off over and over again. It is great for my pocketbook because it generates a lot of on-call action, but I would really prefer more sleep at two o'clock in the morning than dealing with false positives. I would say that the unified portal for managing Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is suitable for both teams as they are all in there. It would be great if they would stop moving things around and renaming things, which makes sense. The new XDR portal is pretty nice. Being able to have it central again inside of the regular Security Center without having to open up two windows is helpful. Overall, I think it is pretty good. There is always going to be something that could be improved, such as alerting and the ability to modify alerts would be a little bit helpful to have. Being able to add more data into the alerts and turn off alerts that are not as useful would be beneficial. It is hard to say what the quantitative impact the security exposure management feature has had on our company's security, because a lot of it is kind of subjective. I think we are sitting at around a fifty percent score still, and a lot of it is just kind of unusual circumstances that we cannot really implement without breaking the organization.
CL
Supervisor, Client Security at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
World-class support and highly effective for application control and elevation
Their product is solid. I have a hard time complaining much about it because when we do find little things, they are usually interface-related or related to things that would be nice to have. Their idea portal, unlike so many other vendors we deal with, shows movement. At least four to eight features of ThreatLocker exist because I made a request in the last five years, and it became a feature of the actual product. When it comes to improvements, we moved the product as customers, and we got to move the product by making suggestions. They seem to be very reactive to it, so there is not a whole lot that they actively need to change right now. It is one of those situations where when we run into something that would be nice to have, it happens. They make it work.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Government
8%
Computer Software Company
25%
Retailer
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business80
Midsize Enterprise40
Large Enterprise92
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business32
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise3
 

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 ThreatLocker Allowlisting?
The interface is clean and well-organized, making it simple to navigate and find what we need.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ThreatLocker Allowlisting?
Pricing, setup costs, and licensing have been pretty accessible and manageable. It was not too expensive to get started, especially at a small scale for a smaller MSP. It is very accessible, easy t...
What needs improvement with ThreatLocker Allowlisting?
Going with the theme of ThreatLocker Zero Trust Endpoint Protection Platform being a one-stop shop where they have just about everything, and they have a really good product stack as is. However, t...
 

Also Known As

Microsoft Defender ATP, Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection, MS Defender for Endpoint, Microsoft Defender Antivirus
Protect, Allowlisting, Network Control, Ringfencing
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Petrofrac, Metro CSG, Christus Health
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs. ThreatLocker Zero Trust Endpoint Protection Platform and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
879,259 professionals have used our research since 2012.