Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs VirusTotal comparison

Microsoft Defender for Endp...

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 27, 2025

VirusTotal and Microsoft Defender for Endpoint compete in the cybersecurity space. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint appears to have the advantage due to its extensive security features and integrated threat management tools.

Features: VirusTotal offers multi-engine scanning for comprehensive threat analysis, efficient detection, and community-driven insights. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint provides advanced threat protection, real-time security monitoring, and automated response tools.

Room for Improvement: VirusTotal could enhance its integration capabilities, improve dark web scanning, and expand customer support. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint might improve user interface simplicity, enhance customer training resources, and further optimize system resource usage.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: VirusTotal is easy to deploy with a focus on straightforward file and URL analysis, yet offers limited customer service. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint involves a more complex setup but provides comprehensive support services as part of its deployment model.

Pricing and ROI: VirusTotal is cost-effective for quick threat assessments without a significant ROI impact. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint presents a higher initial cost but offers substantial ROI by reducing security risks and providing superior protection and management capabilities.

To learn more, read our detailed Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs. VirusTotal Report (Updated: July 2025).

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs. VirusTotal

July 2025

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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

198

Ranking in other categories

Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (1st), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (3rd), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (3rd), Microsoft Security Suite (4th)

VirusTotal

Ranking in Anti-Malware Tools

3rd

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Threat Intelligence Platforms (3rd)

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Anti-Malware Tools category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is 14.2%, down from 20.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VirusTotal is 4.4%, down from 5.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Anti-Malware Tools Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint	14.2%
VirusTotal	4.4%
Other	81.4%

Anti-Malware Tools

Featured Reviews

NaySan @ Suraj Verma

Solution Consultant at BIM Group of Companies

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.

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Chinmay Banerjee

Advisor Adtech/Martech/API product/project Engineering at Fiserv

Helps businesses collect threat data while keeping privacy in mind and apable of detecting, blocking, and removing viruses and malware

There are two gray areas I still need to explore. I have worked with VirusTotal because it easily integrates with over seventy antivirus scanners and blacklisting services. In addition to those there is much scope to improve and add other services or integrations. The areas for improvement are that VirusTotal is not using much AI or generative AI models, while other competitors are starting to build them. For example, VirusTotal's work is based on the setup done by their engineers. If you want to do scanning or protection activities for a specific site, app, or device, that is the area VirusTotal is currently focused on. But other competitors are building AI models that can do things like left-side scanning and provide auto-generated reports. VirusTotal has predefined reports, but there is a lot of manual effort involved. Secondly, the API is very limited if I want to integrate VirusTotal with other applications. They need to build more connectors and provide support for Webhook connectors for the API. If you can't build your own connector, it's always good to have provisions for Webhook setup connectors across platforms. Thirdly, Kaspersky, a competitor of VirusTotal, is using a methodology called "gatekeeper." A gatekeeper is a security system that protects the inside of a building from outside threats. This is the model Kaspersky is currently using. You have your website set up, but the entire army of VirusTotal or Kaspersky is standing guard, protecting you from the first gate itself. Right now, VirusTotal detects threats from your domain, but it is always better to verify inside the domain and protect it from the first level when people or malware are entering. This first level of protection is lacking in VirusTotal right now. The security bridge and protection gate are missing.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Defender should be fine for home use. It has all the basic functionality you need. I can't speak to how well it works as an enterprise solution because I'm not in the space."

"The most valuable feature is that it comes with the package, so there is no additional installation of third-party software. It's also easy to use."

"The solution's threat protection is mostly AI and machine-learning based. That is the most important feature of the product. It also offers centralized management so I can remotely manage devices."

"We use Microsoft Defender for the antivirus."

"I like the process visibility. This ability to visualize how something was executed is valuable, and the fact that Defender ATP is also linked to the threat intelligence that they have is also valuable. So, even if you have something that doesn't have a conventional signature, the fact that you get this strange execution means that you can detect things that are normally not visible."

"Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is extremely stable."

"It shows us the risky sign-ins, and if a user's password has been compromised."

"Defender provides useful alerts and groups them. It sends an alert to your portal if it detects any malicious activity, and you can group multiple alerts to form an incident."

More Microsoft Defender for Endpoint pros

"I have never had any problems with stability or bugs while using VirusTotal."

"VirusTotal provides 95% to 98% accurate information."

"It allows us to see if there have been previous reports on certain indicators of compromise, providing insights from other security professionals."

"The product is easy to use with coding, such as Python or Java, via its API."

"The initial setup is easy."

"It is quite simple for anyone if they just want to check some suspicious URLs."

"It provides detailed insights into possible malicious behavior, dropped files, and TCP connections."

"The feature I like the most is the ability to see the MD5 or SHA-256 signature of the file, and also the composition of the file according to its segments."

More VirusTotal pros

Cons

"I am not sure if I will be using this product in the future because of the price."

"Microsoft Defender for Endpoint could improve by making the reporting better."

"It's not easy to create special allowances for certain groups of users. It can be a little heavy-handed in some areas where Microsoft has decided to lock a feature out, meaning they make it hard to make an exception... One company we work with needed to use about 20 different thumb drives for about 20 users. To make that exception for them was very difficult. In fact, you can't really make an exception. But what you can do is allow them to use it and, while it will still alert, you can actually suppress those alerts."

"The solution can be more user-friendly."

"Lowering the price would be an improvement."

"The profiling method currently in use is not very user-friendly and has ample scope for improvement."

"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 solution should be updated by Microsoft with new features from time to time."

More Microsoft Defender for Endpoint cons

"I would like to see improvements in the score consistency and accuracy."

"There is room for improvement, particularly in making some of the most useful features more accessible in the non-paid version."

"I would like to see improvements in the score consistency and accuracy."

"VirusTotal is hard to understand because you need to know Google Docs to create queries, and it doesn't have documentation for that."

"They can improve the telemetry. Whenever we handle a sample, they cannot provide any information about a victim."

"VirusTotal has different versions, and sometimes the parameters of the API are not very clear."

"VirusTotal needs better advertisement and promotion, especially in the Middle East, since it is not yet widely recognized or popular in that region."

"I would like to see improved correlation with other threat intelligence sources, not just reliant on its own database, to enhance the database of threat intelligence that VirusTotal offers."

More VirusTotal cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Microsoft has different plans for buying this product. The price depends on the configuration of the full set of products that you buy and on the licensing program in your contract."

"This is an expensive product and licensing for all Microsoft products is a big issue."

"The price is fair for the features Microsoft delivers. If you want tailor-made features, you have to mix different licenses. It isn't straightforward."

"We are required to pay for the data we ingest, and increasing the data amount incurs additional expenses."

"The solution is free."

"Microsoft Defender for Endpoint can be costly as a standalone solution."

"We have an enterprise agreement so from my perspective, this is a product that ships with Windows and it is not priced standalone."

"If we are acquiring everything in a single place, the front end becomes cost-effective."

More Microsoft Defender for Endpoint pricing and cost advice

"The pricing is very economical."

"VirusTotal is an expensive solution."

"The pricing is reasonable."

"We are using VirusTotal with free licenses, managing the license limits across three or four accounts, thus incurring no costs."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

13%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

18%

Financial Services Firm

Government

University

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	79
Midsize Enterprise	34
Large Enterprise	87

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	5

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 VirusTotal?

With VirusTotal, I can check for any hash, malware, file, domain, IP URL, or malicious URL, and Kaspersky stays clean.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for VirusTotal?

I do not know about the pricing or licensing as our organization services VirusTotal for our clients.

What needs improvement with VirusTotal?

I would like to see improvements in the score consistency and accuracy. VirusTotal should add more details like those from competitors such as URL Void or Symantec URL Checker, which show the categ...

CrowdStrike Falcon vs Microsoft Defender for Endpoint

Comparisons

Compared 5% of the time

HP Wolf Security vs Microsoft Defender for Endpoint

Compared 5% of the time

F-Secure Total vs Microsoft Defender for Endpoint

Compared 4% of the time

Symantec Endpoint Security vs Microsoft Defender for Endpoint

Compared 4% of the time

Trellix Endpoint Security Platform vs Microsoft Defender for Endpoint

Compared 4% of the time

More Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Competitors

MetaDefender vs VirusTotal

Compared 14% of the time

ANY.RUN vs VirusTotal

Compared 11% of the time

Cuckoo Sandbox vs VirusTotal

Compared 9% of the time

Recorded Future vs VirusTotal

Compared 8% of the time

ReversingLabs vs VirusTotal

Compared 5% of the time

More VirusTotal Competitors

Product Reports

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint

August 2025

Download Microsoft Defender for Endpoint product report

Download VirusTotal product report

Anti-Malware Tools

January 2025

Also Known As

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

No data available

Interactive Demo

Microsoft

Demo not available

Overview

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is a comprehensive security solution that provides advanced threat protection for organizations. It offers real-time protection against various types of cyber threats, including malware, viruses, ransomware, and phishing attacks.

With its powerful machine-learning capabilities, it can detect and block sophisticated attacks before they can cause any harm. The solution also includes endpoint detection and response (EDR) capabilities, allowing organizations to quickly investigate and respond to security incidents. It provides detailed insights into the attack timeline, enabling security teams to understand the scope and impact of an incident.

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint also offers proactive threat hunting, allowing organizations to proactively search for and identify potential threats within their network. It integrates seamlessly with other Microsoft security solutions, such as Microsoft Defender XDR, to provide a unified and holistic security approach. With its centralized management console, organizations can easily deploy, configure, and monitor the security solution across their entire network.

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is a robust and scalable security solution that helps organizations protect their endpoints and data from evolving cyber threats.

Microsoft

VirusTotal provides a comprehensive digital security platform by leveraging a vast malware database. It integrates numerous antivirus scanners for robust malware and virus detection, offering valuable insights for threat intelligence and security analysis.

VirusTotal is widely used for malware analysis and cybersecurity investigations, relying on its extensive capabilities in file and IP analysis. It integrates seamlessly with various antivirus engines, ensuring detailed threat intelligence. The platform excels at performing automated reputation checks, gleaning insights from a robust community, and delivering comprehensive information on suspicious activities. With an API system, it facilitates deeper analysis and integration into existing security workflows.

What are the standout features of VirusTotal?

Vast Malware Database: A comprehensive repository for malware intelligence.
Integration with Antivirus Scanners: Collaborates with multiple scanners for enhanced detection.
File and IP Analysis: Detailed insights into files and IP addresses.
Automated Reputation Checks: Efficiently verifies file and domain safety.
Community Insights: Gathers valuable data from an active community.

What benefits and ROI should be considered?

Threat Intelligence: Informs strategic security decisions with detailed malware data.
Enhanced Detection: Supports comprehensive threat identification and response.
Contextual Analysis: Provides extensive details for thorough investigation of threats.

In sectors like retail, FinTech, and GRC, VirusTotal is integrated into cybersecurity workflows to enhance incident response capabilities. It is invaluable for analyzing phishing websites, inspecting URLs, identifying compromised information, and generating alerts for specific threats. APIs enable deeper examination of suspicious activity, supporting comprehensive cybersecurity operations.

Sample Customers

Petrofrac, Metro CSG, Christus Health

Information Not Available