Microsoft Defender for Business vs. Sophos Intercept X

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Microsoft Defender for Business
Score 8.7 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft Defender for Business is an enterprise-grade endpoint security that is designed especially for businesses with up to 300 employees. It is used to deploy security across devices, and use automated built-in intelligence to rapidly protect, detect, and respond to threats.N/A
Sophos Intercept X
Score 8.7 out of 10
N/A
Sophos Endpoint Protection (Sophos EPP) with Intercept X is an endpoint security product providing an antivirus / antimalware solution that when upgraded with Intercept X or Intercept X Advanced provides advanced threat detection and EDR capabilities.
$28
per year per user
Pricing
Microsoft Defender for BusinessSophos Intercept X
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Intercept X Advanced
$28
per year per user
Intercept X Advanced with XDR
$48
per year per user
Sophos Managed Threat Response
$79
per year per user
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Microsoft Defender for BusinessSophos Intercept X
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsPricing is for a 3-year commitment. Government and Education pricing available.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Microsoft Defender for BusinessSophos Intercept X
Features
Microsoft Defender for BusinessSophos Intercept X
Endpoint Security
Comparison of Endpoint Security features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Defender for Business
8.5
4 Ratings
0% above category average
Sophos Intercept X
8.1
24 Ratings
5% below category average
Anti-Exploit Technology9.03 Ratings8.623 Ratings
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)8.74 Ratings8.024 Ratings
Centralized Management8.24 Ratings8.024 Ratings
Hybrid Deployment Support7.04 Ratings8.03 Ratings
Infection Remediation8.54 Ratings7.824 Ratings
Vulnerability Management8.74 Ratings8.44 Ratings
Malware Detection9.24 Ratings8.024 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Microsoft Defender for BusinessSophos Intercept X
Small Businesses
ThreatLocker
ThreatLocker
Score 9.4 out of 10
ThreatLocker
ThreatLocker
Score 9.4 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
BeyondTrust Endpoint Privilege Management
BeyondTrust Endpoint Privilege Management
Score 10.0 out of 10
BeyondTrust Endpoint Privilege Management
BeyondTrust Endpoint Privilege Management
Score 10.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Microsoft Defender for BusinessSophos Intercept X
Likelihood to Recommend
8.7
(4 ratings)
8.2
(41 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(1 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Usability
8.0
(4 ratings)
8.2
(8 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
8.1
(12 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
Microsoft Defender for BusinessSophos Intercept X
Likelihood to Recommend
Microsoft
Microsoft Defender for Business is well suited for small and medium businesses that are running on a smaller budget, with little to no IT department and require a quick and effective setup to manage and protect their endpoints. It can be deployed and managed very quickly, and the person doing it can have little to no experience as long as they follow directions.
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Sophos
To be frank, this product is fairly expensive. So I would recommend this to companies that are mid-sized or larger to condone the cost of the purchase. It does save me a significant amount of time in my day - being able to glance at the dashboard and see if there are any outstanding issues that require my attention, as not much digging must be done to accomplish this. So for our company, with a short-staffed IT department, it's incredibly helpful to us. We also qualify for Educational pricing which brings the cost down - which helps tremendously
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Pros
Microsoft
  • Already integrated with Windows
  • Allows for folder and executable-specific exceptions when combined with Intune.
  • Incident response and analytics are fantastic.
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Sophos
  • Sophos Intercept X is great at preventing malware infections and rolling back their effects. I have seen this happen hundreds of times since we installed it
  • When combined with Sophos Central, you have an easy to use dashboard where you can manage all installations from a single pane of glass.
  • It's easy to deploy on machines and stays updated.
  • Good reporting features including alerts sent to the admin if there's ever something wrong with it.
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Cons
Microsoft
  • Confusion between the different Defender products
  • Ease of setup and configuration
  • Reporting and Alerts
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Sophos
  • Sophos OOTB policies are very strict and they don't offer anything less strict without you creating new custom policies. I'm sure this is deliberate because the product starts you out in the safest way possible but it means that you will have lots of calls to your tech support desk when you first deploy it unless you do somewhat extensive testing beforehand.
  • Sophos Intercept X is currently broken (at least the DLP component) by having secure boot turned on in the UEFI/BIOS. If any user wants to be able to write data to a USB drive or floppy from their PC (yes we still have a couple users who need to use floppies) we have to turn off secure boot on their PC, even if the DLP policy for that user/PC combination specifies that the user and PC are allowed to write to USB/floppy. This would be a very serious problem if it weren't for the fact that we have very few users who need to write files to USB. For us it's OK but I bet it would be a deal-breaker for others.
  • I don't see a whole lot of evidence that Intercept X is any different than any other anti-virus, so maybe their admin alerts just don't clearly identify when they have identified a zero-day threat or maybe we just haven't had any zero-day threats.
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Likelihood to Renew
Microsoft
So far we have found no alternative that would overall offer us more than we are getting from Microsoft Defender for Business!
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Sophos
We have gotten a great product for the price. Easy to maintain and set up on new devices. Support is great and easy to work with and understand.
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Usability
Microsoft
Microsoft Defender for Business is a solid tool for smaller businesses looking to manage their endpoints and devices, while staying on budget. The setup is minimal compared to the full-blown InTune and EMS suite, and the product can be included in some Small Business SKUs that they may already have.
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Sophos
The usability has never been a problem. Sophos Intercept X is a program you can install and let protect your company without much intervention. Apart from a few policies, Sophos will keep you protected better than most any product on the market. Sophos Intercept X works quite well when you are looking to "tighten your grip" on user's access to websites, programs, and add-ons.
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Support Rating
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Sophos
Most of the support reps are fantastic. There have been a few though that have had to be escalated via Account Manager when they haven't followed up but this is a rare instance, and often followed up by the Support Manager for APAC.
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Implementation Rating
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Sophos
Best thing was the help pushing out via group policy and was able to get instructions for that on sophos site
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Alternatives Considered
Microsoft
Microsoft Defender for Business has better reporting and incident response. There is limited client rollout due to being integrated with Windows. Microsoft Defender for Business is much better at identifying asset risks and giving a broad security overview. Because we moved to Microsoft 365 to access the Office applications and Exchange online, Microsoft Defender for Business was essentially cost free to us. Where Microsoft Defender for Business falls short in comparison to Sophos is that it requires integration with Intune to enforce many of the physical controls that Sophos offers in their client.
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Sophos
Webroot Endpoint Protection is not even in the same league as Sophos Intercept-X. I have tested and compared both sides by side, run simulations and it's not even close. Plus the Sophos central management is so much better. Easier to view user activities and apply policies and remediate threats. Sophos is the clear winner between these two products.
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Return on Investment
Microsoft
  • Improved cybersecurity
  • Learning curve
  • Resource consumption
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Sophos
  • Once our technical and commercial areas got certified, the ROI over the time spent, is great. Actual customers, and/or new ones with other tools, feel safe and advised, once they get in touch with us.
  • When Sophos EndPoint is being compared against Web Management Tools (competitors), we have failed to deliver, nevertheless, there is a version of Sophos Central (Cloud) which achieves this requirement at 100% and more, since is Cloud Based (on AWS).
  • We are grateful to be on Sophos "Radar" as a Platinum Partner, and "The Americas" valued partner, we have seen our business grow, thanks to this kind of technology, throughout the years.
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ScreenShots

Sophos Intercept X Screenshots

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