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Symantec Endpoint Security vs ZoneAlarm comparison

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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

Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Net...
Sponsored
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
120
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (4th), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (5th), Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (3rd), Ransomware Protection (2nd), AI-Powered Cybersecurity Platforms (1st)
Symantec Endpoint Security
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
146
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (8th)
ZoneAlarm
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
Anti-Malware Tools (15th)
 

Mindshare comparison

Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Symantec Endpoint Security3.9%
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint6.5%
CrowdStrike Falcon5.6%
Other84.0%
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
Anti-Malware Tools Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
ZoneAlarm1.5%
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint6.0%
SentinelOne Singularity Endpoint3.2%
Other89.3%
Anti-Malware Tools
 

Featured Reviews

ABHISHEK_SINGH - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Process Expert at A.P. Moller - Maersk
Gained full visibility and streamlined threat detection through behavior-based insights and AI integration
Initially, we got to have a lot of false positives when we onboarded, but nowadays it's quite smooth. We have fine-tuned our security policies and allowed different levels of policies to get rid of those false positives. Currently, we are getting a fairly good amount of incidents that are not false positives or benign, but actionable items. The process is streamlined. In the initial days, the operations used to get involved in a lot of benign and other activities, but now the process is streamlined. We are leveraging the auto-detection and remediation plans. The operations teams are now more involved in other business roles as well, not just looking into the logs and fetching out what's happening there. They have fixed a lot of things. Initially, they didn't have IAC code drift detection, cloud posture management, or security posture management, but they have those now. They purchased different vendors and did a merger with that. They have now Prisma Cloud that gets integrated and now they are working with Cortex Cloud. Everything that was negative has now been addressed, and the product altogether looks to be in a very better and mature shape now. Currently, it's more or less detecting the workloads with AI-based best practices. Since most organizations are consuming AI agents and other things, we are looking forward to seeing what other feature enhancements Palo Alto can support in that.
Abhimanyu Das - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Cybersecurity Engineer at Kyndryl
Behavioral protection has blocked ransomware and now saves extensive recovery and audit time
The best feature of Symantec Endpoint Security is its effectiveness in malware protection. Its malware protection capabilities stand out due to their ease of management. Although multiple tools assist in this process, managing them all can sometimes be challenging. In terms of malware protection, Symantec Endpoint Security performs well, and its mechanisms, tactics, and techniques are effective. Symantec Endpoint Security offers robust features such as advanced reporting capabilities with a customizable dashboard that integrates EDR timelines, threat maps, and compliance metrics into a single view. Additionally, reports can be exported to PDF or CSV formats, making reporting one of its strong points. It also provides comprehensive device control features, which block unauthorized USB devices and support whitelisting. This helps prevent data exfiltration and phishing scenarios without disrupting user workflows.
Bala_Krishna - PeerSpot reviewer
Director at esupport Solutions Pvt ltd
Security suite has protected individual devices from threats, while installation and network features require improvements
BIG-IP is actually the LTM, Link Load Balancer, which comes with ASM, meaning Application Security Module. It consists of multiple modules, such as ASM, SWG, and a domain DNS manager. ZoneAlarm allows defining trusted and public networks, which helps maintain security in public Wi-Fi environments. It offers comprehensive protection, securing PCs against threats. Users do not experience any system slowdowns while scanning. Harmony Browser protects all your browsing activity and is bundled with Harmony Endpoint and Harmony Connect. It provides a small but effective security layer and sometimes comes packaged with the larger Harmony suite.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"These days it's machine-learning technology and behavior-based analytics features that make us more secure."
"The good thing about the product is that it's always scanning."
"On a scale from one to ten, I would rate Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks a nine."
"This software helps us understand any issues that may arise when someone is not at work."
"The protection offered by this product is good, as is the endpoint reporting."
"Cortex XDR is a very capable solution for protecting large networks and a lot of endpoints. It's very useful because the automation is very high, and if you combine it with the features on Palo Alto firewalls, it provides very strong protection."
"My advice for anybody who is considering Cortex XDR is that it is a complete solution, and has very good features."
"It's very stable. I've never experienced downtime for the ASM console or ASM core."
"I would advise to choose this product because it is very easy to deploy, has a performant host IPS and antivirus engine, and it provides a key source for security metrics."
"Symantec Endpoint Security's pricing is better than most offerings based on my research."
"What I appreciate most about Symantec Endpoint Security is that it's easy to manage compared to other tools I have worked with, such as minimal endpoint security, McAfee, and CrowdStrike."
"It is a complete and the best solution if your use case is small and you need more productivity and more security."
"The most valuable features of Symantec Endpoint Security are endpoint protection, antivirus, firewall, and policy creation."
"The product has valuable features for insights."
"I like the endpoint detection and response. That's the best feature. I also like the fact that we don't need to use a file on the computer, whereas some anti-malware solutions work with a file on the endpoint. Symantec is a very good option compared to solutions from other vendors."
"The biggest benefit right now is that we have a lot of people who know it well."
"It is quick and easy to configure."
"ZoneAlarm protects all computers from viruses, spyware, and hackers."
"ZoneAlarm provides us with very good security and we are using both of the modules, including antivirus as well as firewall features, and it is very easy and stable for us."
"It gives us security for the users' mobiles and ends up protecting us in a significant way."
"The phone access scan stands out as the most valuable feature for me."
"I strongly recommend ZoneAlarm as a simple but efficient solution, especially if your organization doesn't have a dedicated budget for providing a security solution for BYOD devices."
"The product's most valuable feature is the detection engine due to its ability to identify threats."
"It is easy to use through interfaces and easy to configure each of the customizations we created based on the characteristics that we wanted."
 

Cons

"This is a very costly product."
"I am facing issues with customer support for Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks, so I am not satisfied with customer support."
"Dashboards do not allow everyone to see what's happening."
"In general, the price could be more competitive."
"If they had pulse rate detection, it would be better."
"Technology evolves every day, so it would be nice if it gets more secure. It can also have more integration with other platforms."
"The deployment is pretty hard."
"This product has not improved my organization - in fact, we are in the process of moving back to another product as a result of Cortex's horrible impact on system performance."
"If the agent can be minimized so that it can work with in-memory concepts, that would be ideal. As of now, it is file-based, signature-based."
"It is not cheap."
"It would be nice to be able to manage the endpoints a bit further. A valuable attribute would be the management of software inventory, software deployment, and third-party software deployment. I would like to see the ability to deploy and delete unlicensed software. Many users try to install what they shouldn't, so that would be really useful."
"We are switching because we don't feel that Symantec as a company is keeping up with next-generation trends. They just seem to be resting on their accomplishments too much and don't seem like they are progressive."
"Every time an OS comes out, I have to upgrade the Symantec product. They don't know how to patch it. If they would produce a patch instead of uninstalling or installing over the current version and rebooting I'd be a lot happier with the product."
"There have been so many changes since the Broadcom acquisition that we feel like abandoning the product."
"I think the CPU dependence should be enhanced."
"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."
"I would like it to be integrated with the Check Point centralization solution like Infinity Portal. It would be great to be able to manage it through the same website."
"They need to update and improve the features available for Mac."
"Currently, the client is only available for the Windows Operating System but it would be good if it were released for Mac OS as well."
"Some of our users say that the interface is a little bit outdated for 2020, and want it to be more modern and cozy."
"Updating ZoneAlarm is a problem at times."
"I have used it in the past for personal desktops and for systems at small startups, but I would not recommend it as an enterprise level firewall security solution."
"Perhaps the primary area for potential enhancement is to make it faster, ensuring a more seamless experience while maintaining robust security features."
"We'd like better performance of the network equipment. There are high-speed environments where an immediate response is required."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It has reasonable pricing for the use cases it provides to the company."
"Licensing for Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR can be costly, especially when it comes to a hundred users. A license is required for each user, and the subscription must be renewed on a yearly basis."
"It has a higher cost than other solutions, like CrowdStrike or Microsoft’s EDR tools, but it reduces the cost of our operations because it’s a new generation antivirus tool."
"I don't have any issues with the pricing. We are satisfied with the price."
"This is an expensive solution."
"The pricing is a little high. It is per user per year."
"Cortex XDR’s pricing is very reasonable."
"The price was fine."
"Compared to other products and brands here in Mexico, the price is okay, somewhere in the middle. Our solution is unique in that it can adapt to a variety of pricing and licensing constraints considering we have the corporate, government, and academic mandates. The"
"Regarding the licensing, it was important negotiate a long contract to get a more attractive price, including advanced support in case of crisis."
"The prices fluctuate, but this year I think it was maybe around $12,000."
"The pricing is as per the environment. If all the features are there, there will be a cost for them. There were no additional costs for me. Support and other things were included in the pricing."
"There is a yearly license."
"We pay on a yearly basis..."
"When it comes to pricing, Sophos is preferrable to Symantec."
"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."
"I rate the product pricing a seven out of ten."
"This is a freeware product and I recommend using it."
"We have to pay a yearly licensing fee for ZoneAlarm, which is cheap."
"We use the free version of the software, but it can be upgraded to the paid Extreme Security edition."
"The pricing is reasonable, with a yearly renewal license costing seventy dollars."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
13%
Outsourcing Company
12%
Construction Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Outsourcing Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Construction Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
13%
Hospitality Company
9%
Construction Company
7%
Outsourcing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business48
Midsize Enterprise21
Large Enterprise56
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business69
Midsize Enterprise32
Large Enterprise63
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business14
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise5
 

Questions from the Community

Cortex XDR by Palo Alto vs. Sentinel One
Cortex XDR by Palo Alto vs. SentinelOne SentinelOne offers very detailed specifics with regard to risks or attacks. ...
Comparing CrowdStrike Falcon to Cortex XDR (Palo Alto)
Cortex XDR by Palo Alto vs. CrowdStrike Falcon Both Cortex XDR and Crowd Strike Falcon offer cloud-based solutions th...
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 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 valu...
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...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Symantec End-User Endpoint Security?
Symantec Endpoint Security's pricing is better than most offerings based on my research. It seems to be half the cost...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ZoneAlarm?
ZoneAlarm has an acceptable price. Not much detail can be provided as I am not the one to judge the price.
What needs improvement with ZoneAlarm?
Check Point support needs improvement. Currently rated at 9 out of 10, more support is required. There are some conce...
What is your primary use case for ZoneAlarm?
I work with vendors such as F5 and deal with F5 as a reseller. I work with F5 BIG-IP regarding F5 Shape Security. BIG...
 

Also Known As

Cyvera, Cortex XDR, Palo Alto Networks Traps
Symantec EPP, Symantec Endpoint Protection (SEP)
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

CBI Health Group, University Honda, VakifBank
Audio Visual Dynamics, Red Deer Advocate, Asia Pacific Telecom Co. Ltd., Kibbutz Ein Gedi, and AMETEK, Inc.
Terma, Optix, Samsung Research Amercia, SF Police Credit Union, Independence Care System, Mattias Thomsen, Carmel Partners, Desert Research Institute, CRIF, FXCM Inc, US State Agency
Find out what your peers are saying about CrowdStrike, Microsoft, SentinelOne and others in Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP). Updated: October 2026.
916,956 professionals have used our research since 2012.