Malwarebytes vs. Microsoft Forefront (Discontinued Product)

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Malwarebytes
Score 8.7 out of 10
N/A
Malwarebytes is a antimalware application for home and small businesses, which blocks viruses, malware, hackers, viruses, and malicious websites.
$119.99
per year 3 devices
Microsoft Forefront (Discontinued Product)
Score 9.5 out of 10
N/A
Forefront is Microsoft's antivirus offering.N/A
Pricing
MalwarebytesMicrosoft Forefront (Discontinued Product)
Editions & Modules
Teams - Sole proprietor
$119.99
per year 3 devices
Teams - Boutique business
$399.99
per year 10 devices
Teams - Small office
$799.99
per year 20 devices
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
MalwarebytesMicrosoft Forefront (Discontinued Product)
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsAll plans include a 60-day money back guarantee. 1st year discount available for the Small office plan.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
MalwarebytesMicrosoft Forefront (Discontinued Product)
Best Alternatives
MalwarebytesMicrosoft Forefront (Discontinued Product)
Small Businesses
AVG AntiVirus Business Edition
AVG AntiVirus Business Edition
Score 7.9 out of 10
Malwarebytes
Malwarebytes
Score 8.6 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
BlackBerry Protect (CylancePROTECT)
BlackBerry Protect (CylancePROTECT)
Score 9.1 out of 10
BlackBerry Protect (CylancePROTECT)
BlackBerry Protect (CylancePROTECT)
Score 9.1 out of 10
Enterprises
BlackBerry Protect (CylancePROTECT)
BlackBerry Protect (CylancePROTECT)
Score 9.1 out of 10
BlackBerry Protect (CylancePROTECT)
BlackBerry Protect (CylancePROTECT)
Score 9.1 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
MalwarebytesMicrosoft Forefront (Discontinued Product)
Likelihood to Recommend
7.4
(53 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.3
(5 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.9
(9 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
MalwarebytesMicrosoft Forefront (Discontinued Product)
Likelihood to Recommend
Malwarebytes
Now, I gave it that rating because it's a handy tool for diagnosing issues. Quarantining them, and most of the time, it does fix the problem. Though with rootkits, it's been hit or miss, and sometimes perfectly valid software gets flagged erroneously. However, once you've run it, it tends to run continuously, consuming far too many resources and being a real pain to uninstall, sometimes even causing issues.
Read full review
Discontinued Products
In large deployments, I have found Microsoft Forefront to be very effective at combating the majority of threats faced by our users. It provides the base platform for catching threats that would otherwise threaten our users and their data. If you have an environment that is under constant malware threat, then a secondary program may be needed as required.
Read full review
Pros
Malwarebytes
  • Low system resources, it does not slow down the whole computer when scanning or when real-time protection is enabled
  • Quick and frequent updates, usually people hate updating, but for malware/viruses, you want to be updated as possible. It takes less than 15 seconds and usually does it automatically. They usually send a few updates a day as they find more.
  • Protection features actually work when visiting known bad websites. The page will be blocked and nothing will be downloaded. It may not be what the user wants, but it's what the user needs (as the user can't know every bad website)
Read full review
Discontinued Products
  • SCEP is a light weight client which is minimally impactful on the user end.
  • Forefront's management console provides excellent monitoring and reporting.
  • Setup and configuration is very easy.
Read full review
Cons
Malwarebytes
  • One of the main things that malwarebytes is missing as a company, is phone support for its clients. All support questions has to go thru email only. This is not acceptable for issues that needs to be resolved quickly.
  • There is an issue when installing the client on a machine, it has a set amount of time where the software can register with the management server. The issue with this is, with machines that are over a wide area network, slow connection speeds can cause the software not to register. When that happens, it never re attempts to register in the future.
Read full review
Discontinued Products
  • Malware detection is not quite 100%. We have to use a secondary program occasionally.
  • On low ram and weak CPU systems scanning can freeze the machine.
  • The same reporting tools that are on the console version, aren't on the client.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Malwarebytes
The last time we renewed Malwarebytes, we renewed for a 3 year renewal. That should describe the confidence we have in the product. Plus the cost savings impact year after year.
Read full review
Discontinued Products
No answers on this topic
Usability
Malwarebytes
Usability-wise, it's pretty good, and it gets the job done. But once that's finished, the nags, the pop-ups, and the fact that it slows older systems down recklessly really cost it rating points. It becomes a clutter, and one of the first things we check when we receive reports that a PC is slow is whether it's running malware. Once we uninstall it, the PC is usually easily 40-50% faster. That's too much in the way of resources for something that wants to always run in the background.
Read full review
Discontinued Products
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Malwarebytes
The Malwarebytes customer support team is awesome! They really go above and beyond to help you with whatever issue you may experience. It is not that we need to contact their support team often, but the few times we did, we would speak to someone who knew what they were talking about and able to solve our problem. It is a comfort knowing that aside from a great product, you are getting a reliable support structure.
Read full review
Discontinued Products
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Malwarebytes
Avast and Norton's products were part of the testing for us but the cost was very high for them and the products were not light on the machine. They took up a lot of memory and slowed the computers down. Malwarebytes although may lack some feature, is a very light software.
Read full review
Discontinued Products
The biggest advantage that MSF and SCEP provide over Norton is: One: Far less client overhead required. Both Norton and McAfee are highly intensive client side when in use. Two: We've had far better luck using the Microsoft system with its detection capabilities, versus the others. Three: It is tied right into the Microsoft updating system, which provides central updating capabilities of av/mal/windows updates.
Read full review
Return on Investment
Malwarebytes
  • Positive Impact: Have not had to remediate malware/virus infections since installed.
  • Positive impact: As far as browsing goes, we can boldly go where no man has gone before. No, really, I am confident when I am clicking on search engine results that if something get past my trained eye, Malwarebytes will pick of the slack.
Read full review
Discontinued Products
  • Less turnaround on virus based issues.
  • Helps reduce malware issues over time.
  • Can breed overconfidence in the system, so people don't always try a second tool.
Read full review
ScreenShots