Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

Symantec Data Center Security vs Symantec Endpoint Security 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

Symantec Data Center Security
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.0
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
Cloud and Data Center Security (11th)
Symantec Endpoint Security
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
144
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (12th)
 

Mindshare comparison

Symantec Data Center Security and Symantec Endpoint Security aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Symantec Data Center Security is designed for Cloud and Data Center Security and holds a mindshare of 1.5%, down 3.0% compared to last year.
Symantec Endpoint Security, on the other hand, focuses on Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP), holds 4.0% mindshare, down 4.8% since last year.
Cloud and Data Center Security
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
 

Featured Reviews

Atul-Vats - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers a complete system lockdown feature and the ability to restrict users but has a complex policy structure
The negative aspect of that particular product is the fact it has a very, very, very complex policy structure. A user or administrator making the policy in the DCS should have a very thorough knowledge of the operating system or policy making. You have to be very specific about the data structure. If you want to secure a Linux server, an administrator should be very confident about how the directory structure of Linux, how Linux works, and where it puts the important logs. You have to be very cautious about the complete path, and you have to write it over there in the policy part. If you are not very specific, there will be a lot of noise in the system. You're going to receive thousands of events that are false positives. The fine-tuning of the policy is a very complex thing in the DCS itself. Another negative aspect that I have observed is if the product gets installed on the kernel level of any non-Windows server, it has some issues, comparability issues. Sometimes the product doesn't work properly, so it shuts down the machine and crashes the system. There are many cases in which I've observed the DCS crashing the system.
Hakeem_Abdulkareem - PeerSpot reviewer
The solution has given us visibility into compliance within our whole system and helped us ensure everything is updated
Symantec's application security module needs some improvement. You need to create a lot of fingerprints for application security. For instance, let's say I have different brands of ATMs in my environment, like Wincor and NCR. I use GRG to deploy an application control to whitelist some applications. I have to get the exact image of the different models of ATMs. When I tested in the past, some machines would not connect to the server without that. Only the approved software on the ATM should run. Anything outside that should not even come up at all. We did this so that an outside person doesn't introduce malicious software to the ATM. That's the essence of locking down with application control. Using Symantec for application control has been hectic, so I use Carbon Black to do the lockdown. Checking that data security will work fine with Carbon Black. Carbon Black worked fine. Setting up approval in Carbon Black works differently than Symantec. In Symantec, we first need the fingerprints of the applications running underneath. Before setting up Carbon Black, you first install the agent, allowing it to learn the environment. It will analyze all the software's behavior and provide recommendations for what should be allowed. It's more straightforward, whereas configuring application control in Symantec is a bit cumbersome.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Good file integrity monitoring features."
"The monitoring in the management console allows us to find out what is going wrong, and it gets reports even before the user reports it."
"We use the product to prevent unauthorized access to data, systems, and servers. It provides essential features for data center security."
"The ability to finely control permissions and restrictions on servers or assets through a customizable rule set is a key strength."
"The real strength lies in its straightforward approach, offering just two key policies: prevention and detection."
"The advantage of Data Center Security is its ease of use and that it serves as a single unified platform, where I can apply all my security policies to protect that server."
"The most valuable feature is the endpoint protection system."
"The most valuable feature is the centralized console, which can handle different products that we have."
"I like the additional features that come with it. The firewall feature and the encryption feature that they throw in are good as well. Another thing that I like about Symantec is that it runs on different platforms, not just on Windows."
"The solution can scale."
"One of the features is the ability to frequently get virus signature updates."
"The IPS function (with no firewall needed to be installed in the SEP client) is quite good."
"It seems to be user-friendly. Our users seem to like it for the most part."
"The application and device control functionality is good. We are able to see which applications are installed using the product management dashboard."
"Easy to use solution."
"Symantec Endpoint Security offers many valuable features, such as file explosion, application learning, DLP, injection detection, and EDR solutions for traffic control."
 

Cons

"Agent management is a challenging task."
"Adding more compatibility with common products like Microsoft would be a plus."
"It would be advantageous if Symantec or Broadcom, given the rebranding, could simplify the process, enabling users to leverage the antivirus functionality more easily."
"The product blocks certain processes, even after allowlisting them."
"This solution clashes with Microsoft defender, which results in performance degradation on the machine."
"Could have better reporting capabilities and better support."
"There is plenty of room for improvement with this product, and it could start with platform metrics."
"A user or administrator making the policy in the DCS should have a very thorough knowledge of the operating system or policy making. You have to be very specific about the data structure."
"It would be perfect if it is capable of detecting or checking ransomware."
"The reporting function needs to be more user friendly in general."
"It could use more feature parity between what is offered with their on-prem console as well as their hosted console."
"The detection and response can always be improved."
"I would like to see improvements in the anti-virus and the device control features."
"Any external device which is inserted into a computer should be subject to an auto-scan policy, to automatically scan it before accepting the device... They need to make it more user-friendly, so that when anyone puts in a USB stick it will be scanned, popping up any problems before it is used."
"The solution could improve by having a better graphical interface."
"Symantec isn't good in terms of updating customers about updates. You'd normally have to search it out. Sometimes, the update process for the administration and management console can be a bit intimidating, and it can be quite inconvenient to get the updates. That's because when you have to do the update, you have to update the management console, and then you need to update the clients. Their application that's installed on desktops and servers needs to go hand in hand with the management console. Sometimes, it's a bit unwieldy to see that process through."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is a bit costly."
"Compared to some other solutions, such as CrowdStrike, Symantec is more expensive."
"It is notably more expensive when compared to other solutions."
"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."
"Each annual client license is around 1200 or 1600 INR."
"I’d say SEP deserves the money."
"Pricing and licensing are important to us when choosing a product."
"The pricing is good, very moderate, and the licensing is also good. It gives you more room to install a lot of endpoints and it even gives you the opportunity to install it on your mobile phone without any extra cost."
"I thought the pricing was reasonable."
"The licensing costs are huge compared to what is normally included in the licensing with other products such as the Microsoft products that we're using. We're paying between $300 and $400 per seat."
"The licensing is okay. Symantec has a very granular licensing model, so you only buy what you need."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Cloud and Data Center Security solutions are best for your needs.
849,686 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
20%
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Government
5%
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Symantec Data Center Security?
The granularity of applying the policies is valuable.
What needs improvement with Symantec Data Center Security?
Agent management is a challenging task. We cannot do it from the console. We will have to use other tools.
What is your primary use case for Symantec Data Center Security?
One key use case for data center security is protecting files within the data center. This is especially important for Linux systems, where locking down specific files is essential to prevent unaut...
Which is better - Cortex XDR or Symantec End-User Endpoint Security?
Aqua Security is easy to use and very manageable. Its main focus is on Kubernetes and Docker. Security is a very valuable feature and their speed of integration is very good. The initial setup was ...
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...
What do you like most about Symantec End-User Endpoint Security?
Symantec have everything – documentation, videos, data sheets.
 

Also Known As

No data available
Symantec EPP, Symantec Endpoint Protection (SEP)
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Audio Visual Dynamics, Red Deer Advocate, Asia Pacific Telecom Co. Ltd., Kibbutz Ein Gedi, and AMETEK, Inc.
Find out what your peers are saying about Akamai, Illumio, VMware and others in Cloud and Data Center Security. Updated: April 2025.
849,686 professionals have used our research since 2012.