Symantec Endpoint Security Reviews and Pricing

it_user381717

Information Security Senior Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

Feb 9, 2016

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It's made the work environment more secure, and reduced the number of malicious malware attacks.

What is most valuable?

Server management
Deployment
Updates

How has it helped my organization?

It's made the work environment more secure, and reduced the number of malicious malware attacks.

What needs improvement?

Interaction with the product admin needs work. If Symantec could add a new feature which would allow the user to be nice every time the new definitions are/are not in place. Also, for machines which have connectivity problems and cannot download the new definitions for several days, I would suggest that they include them int one report and alert the system admin about them.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used it for four years.

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What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

There were no issues with the deployment.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

There were issues, and they should ensure that the product updates automatically, especially in the DMZ.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

There were no issues with the scalability.

How are customer service and support?

Customer Service:

8/10

Technical Support:

6/10

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

It replaced System Center Endpoint Protection. I don't know why this was chosen, it was a corporate decision.

How was the initial setup?

The initial set-up was clear, there were no issues.

What about the implementation team?

We implemented it in-house.

What was our ROI?

We have better product management.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I am unaware of pricing.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

When I joined my office, they were already using this product.

What other advice do I have?

Ensure the connectivity between the server/agents.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

MostafaSystem Administrator at Suez Canal Insurance

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May 7, 2017

Symantec Endpoint Protection is designed for maximum efficiency, enabling hardware to run faster and last longer for performance, and runs on several operating systems, including Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. The complete suite is a good fit for medium-sized businesses seeking a more comprehensive range of protection.
Symantec's Endpoint Protection Small Business Edition earns high marks from AV-TEST for protection and usability. However, this antivirus software doesn't scan email, a vulnerability in today's digital age. It might be the best choice for antivirus protection for your small business but that depends on the features and functions most important for your business and your security.
just make sure thats you are always update and you have the latest release.

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it_user8664

Engineer at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees

Aug 15, 2013

Symantec Endpoint Protection and VDI

A few months ago we started getting storage latency alarms coming from vCenter. This would happen every day around 6am, and as we scaled our production environment this became worse and worse. I think the record latency was 19,000ms (no joke…. 19 seconds of storage latency). Now one would immediately think, “Well that’s what you get for using scheduled scanning”…. Hold your horses partner, this has nothing to do with scanning.

We soon learned that SEPM was pushing virus definition updates to our linked clones all at the same time. Obviously, the disk could not keep up with the demand. Many could argue that we should be looking at vShield with TrendMicro. However, when you’re part of an organization with 70,000+ endpoints (non-VDI), changing your antivirus vendor is not a decision you should take lightly. We took the position of, “Hey, Symantec is an industry leader in endpoint protection, they ‘have’ to have a solution!”.

They are “getting there”… Last March, they officially announced that Symantec Endpoint Protection adds vShield Integration & Increases Security Effectiveness. However, this does nothing for your environment in regards to virus definition updates. As a matter of fact, as far as I can tell, the only thing this version does is offload your active scanning from the VM. What about organizations that do not use active scanning, rather use real-time scanning?

If you’re rolling out VDI and you’re seeing extra storage demand due to definition updates, here’s a solution that I believe works well.

On your parent image, clean off the client identifiers by running ClientSideClonePrep.exe
Exclude your base image from scanning by executing “vietool.exe c: –generate”
In conjunction with running vietool.exe, you need to have the “Enable Virtual Image Exception for Auto-Protect” and “Enable Virtual Image Exception for Administrator-Defined Scans” enabled on the SEPM server (see image 1).
You should consider placing your linked clones into a different collection on the SEPM console and change the randomization interval. An interval that seems to work well in VDI is 12 hours (see image 2). This setting of course is something that you need to adjust for your environment. Smaller environments may be able to get away with six hours. I personally think that it’s best to be safe and keep this setting at 12 hours.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

Buyer's Guide

Symantec Endpoint Security

May 2025

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Learn what your peers think about Symantec Endpoint Security. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2025.

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857,028 professionals have used our research since 2012.

it_user1020

Head of Data Center at a tech company with 51-200 employees

Nov 23, 2012

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Symantec Anti-virus is a good AV solution. However, just make sure your computer has ample memory as it tends to consume more resources compared to other AV products out there.

Valuable Features:

Symantec Antivirus is a good anti-virus software. It has a very good scanning engine and it's user interface really looks awesome. Their live support is also very professional. There was this one time that I had an issue after an upgrade, and their tech support representative successfully resolved the issue through remote troubleshooting.Renewing subscriptions is also a breeze online or via a purchased upgrade subscription from a local shop in our city. The software came pre-installed on a laptop I bought for my dad, and installing a new key after purchasing an upgrade from a local store was just a breeze. Compared to other products like Microsoft Forefront or Kaspersky Anti-virus, Symantec Anti-virus has the better user-interface. You get a dashboard with a lot of information.

Room for Improvement:

One problem that I have with any Symantec product is the heavy consumption on resources. Though they claim that they have made inroads on this issue, their newest products still suffer from the same flaw.The problem lies in the very awesome-looking dashboard interface of the management application. There is too much information which can overwhelm basic users. As an advanced user, it simply has too much information which I could not use anyway. There are some widgets that are technically useless and just contributes to the already huge resource use of the application. Microsoft Forefront and Kaspersky Anti-virus has simpler but very usable management interfaces.I would less likely recommend this product to users who only have average RAM and CPU power. It will just eat your computer's resources and there are other products out there that can do the same job and has a less cluttered management interface.

Other Advice:

If you are a fan though of Norton before (I am) and would like to get it's latest incarnation, then this product is for loyal followers like you. Just make sure that your system can handle the extra resources required for this application.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

it_user2877IT Administrator at a financial services firm with 501-1,000 employees

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Sep 26, 2013

i very much agree with the high usage of resources needed by this Product. We also need to periodically check the Hard Disc space usage it gets with its updates.

it_user2721

IT Administrator at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Nov 15, 2012

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Symantec Endpoint Protection is the most popular, easy to use and high performance security software.

Valuable Features:

・ Symantec Endpoint Protection provides state-of-the-art defense against all types of attacks and seamlessly integrates the essential antivirus security tools needed into a single, high performance agent with a single management console. • Symantec Endpoint Protection offers the following features: anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall, intrusion prevention system, application control, device control, and proactive threat scanning. • As an optional feature, the Symantec Endpoint Protection Manager can be integrated with the Active Directory. The Symantec Endpoint Protection Manager can import the organizational unit and the account data and synchronize that data with the Active Directory automatically.

Room for Improvement:

・ Windows only. Remote management requires IE. Client messages can be confusing. Learning how to configure can take time. ・ Some of the messages that clients receive are not easy to understand. Instead of saying that spy/virus ware is blocked, the client receives a confusing message about HTTP common name traffic detection. ・ During scans and attacks it slower downs the system, making it very difficult to work.

Other Advice:

This is the most comprehensive centrally managed endpoint security solution for businesses. It includes a host-based intrusion protection system (HIPS), device control, anti-malware, a network IPS, and a software firewall. Client policy is almost infinitely tweak-able from a central console—practical for large enterprises but a bit of overkill for the average small business.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

it_user4401Developer at a transportation company with 1,001-5,000 employees

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Apr 4, 2014

I've used Symantec Endpoint Protection for about a year now. Overall it has done its job, but I don't use the firewall or application management features. Once I got all the exceptions policies in place it seemed to have less impact on my critical infrastructure. It's easy to deploy to clients and doesn't create lag issues to end users. The only issue I've encountered but very rare is that sometimes the users definitions don't update. I fixed this by removing it and redeploying the service. Everything worked fine from that point.

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it_user2628

Network Engineer at a university with 51-200 employees

Oct 28, 2012

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Symantec EndPoint - Provides Great Level Of Security

Valuable Features:

Symantec EndPoint Protection is a package of protection against different types of threats and vulnerabilities. It contains anti spyware and antivirus programs for Window and Linux. Complete solution for client server architecture. It provides great security for network threats.

Room for Improvement:

It consumes high resources and sometimes slows down the processing. It takes too much time to complete a scan. It does not fix all types of Viruses and Trojans.

Other Advice:

It is a powerful antivirus of both physical and virtual environments. It is one of the best antivirus packages.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

it_user6579Engineer at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees

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Jul 6, 2013

Great Review by Haseeb,

Agree with Haseeb, that the product consumes high amount of memory and that results into slower system. And also like to describe features like, it provides easy to use and intuitive Admin Panel, and dashboard to monitor overall scanning process.

it_user1266

Network Manager at a local government with 51-200 employees

Jul 23, 2012

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Horrible antivirus. Slows down clients. Management console isn't very useful.

Valuable Features:

I have used Symantec Endpoint Protection for 5 years. The guy who's job I replaced bought a 5 year contract. The management console is mostly useful. It shows monitoring and conditions of computers. Mostly eye candy.

Room for Improvement:

Doesn't protect against viruses. I have spent a lot of time cleaning up computers from malware and viruses using other tools. I usually use Avira, Malwarebytes, and Combofix to fix issues SEP couldn't detect. It usually detected 5/10 viruses. The management console wasn't very powerful. Sometimes I would have to manually update computers because SEP would error out. SEP is mostly a virus in itself. It's detection engine uses so much processor and RAM, it's faster to uninstall it than use it as anti-virus.

Other Advice:

Use this if you need to keep yourself busy by running around fixing viruses. Right now I am using a combination of Immunet and Vipre antivirus. Much cheaper and easier to use.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

reviewer958518

Architect & Technical Director at a tech consulting company with 11-50 employees

Nov 28, 2023

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A complete solution that can be deployed on either the cloud or an on-premises model

Pros and Cons

"It is a stable solution...It is a very scalable solution."

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"Symantec has not properly promoted Symantec Endpoint Security in the market. In my opinion, the product should be properly promoted."