Gartner: 11 Best Endpoint Protection Platforms As Ranked By Customers

The Best In Endpoint Security

With all of the options for security offerings out there, it can be hard for solution providers to make decisions. In a report by Gartner out this week, the research firm polled end-user professionals on their satisfaction with security vendors offering endpoint protection platforms. The study ranked the vendors on overall performance, as well as on product capabilities, evaluation and contracting, pricing flexibility, integration and deployment, ease of deployment, service and support, timeliness of vendor response, and quality of technical support. Gartner called out eight security vendors with an "honorable mention" distinction, as well as highlighted three vendors with Gold, Silver and Bronze rankings.

Gartner ranked the companies based on more than 30,000 customer reviews across a variety of business sizes and industries, from which it pulled vendors with 50 or more reviews and ranked them based on a weighted score of number of reviews published and review scores.Take a look at which vendors ranked the highest, straight from the customers themselves.

Honorable Mention: Microsoft

Gartner gave Microsoft an honorable mention ranking for its 4.1 out of 5 rating from customers overall, with 62 percent saying they would recommend the vendor's offerings. Microsoft has been betting big on security over the past year, including making multiple acquisitions around security and rolling out updates to its flagship Microsoft Windows Defender, among other products. The company did not score highly in any particular category that Gartner breaks out (CRN has deemed any ranking above a 4.5 out of 5 as "high").

Honorable Mention: Sophos

Sophos landed an overall ranking from customers of 4.2 out of 5, landing it an honorable mention on the Gartner list. Sophos is a 100 percent channel security vendor that targets the SMB market with a full portfolio for endpoint, network, mobile, server, encryption, web, wireless, and email offerings. Sophos said it aims to connect all those offerings under a strategy it calls "Synchronized Security." Some 77 percent of customers said they would recommend Sophos, though the company scored average across all categories of rankings.

Honorable Mention: Trend Micro

One of the bigger security companies on the market, Trend Micro landed an honorable mention on Gartner's list of endpoint protection platforms. The security vendor received an overall rating of 4.3 out of 5. Some 78 percent of customers said they would recommend the company's offerings. Trend Micro has been expanding its broad set of security offerings in 2017, including launching a $100 million venture fund to accelerate growth in emerging technology ecosystems like IoT. Customers ranked the vendor highly on ease of deployment and service and support.

Honorable Mention: Carbon Black

Carbon Black, one of the larger next-generation endpoint security companies, received an overall ranking of 4.4 out of 5 from customers, with 79 percent saying they would recommend the company's offerings. That ranking landed Carbon Black an honorable mention from Gartner. The company expanded its portfolio in a big way last year with the acquisition of next-generation anti-virus company Confer, adding to its endpoint detection and response capabilities. Customers scored Carbon Black highly on product capabilities.

Honorable Mention: Malwarebytes

Malwarebytes also ranked highly on the Gartner customer peer review report, landing an honorable mention with a 4.4 out of 5 rating. Some 88 percent of customers said they would recommend the company's offerings. Historically a consumer company, Malwarebytes has been on a push for over a year to bring its offerings to the business world, including launching new tools dedicated for partners. Customers ranked Malwarebytes highly on product capabilities, integration and deployment, and ease of deployment.

Honorable Mention: Kaspersky Lab

Kaspersky Lab landed an honorable mention on Gartner's list, with an overall customer rating of 4.6 out of 5 and 87 percent of customers saying they would recommend the company's offerings. Kaspersky is best known for anti-virus, but the company also offers a full portfolio of next-generation endpoint security, internet security, mobile security, server security, cloud security, vulnerability and patch management, and security services. The high customer ranking also comes as Kaspersky faces increasing pressure from the federal government alleging Russian influence on its products; Kaspersky denied the claims. Customers ranked Kaspersky highly on product capabilities, evaluation and contracting, pricing flexibility, integration and deployment, ease of deployment, service and support, timeliness of vendor response, and quality of technical support.

Honorable Mention: Crowdstrike

Customers gave Crowdstrike an overall rating of 4.7 out of 5, landing it an honorable mention on the list. Some 89 percent of customers said they would recommend the company's offerings. Crowdstrike ranked highly on product capabilities, evaluation and contracting, pricing flexibility, integration and deployment, ease of deployment, service and support, timeliness of vendor response, and quality of technical support. Crowdstrike has expanded its platform significantly this year, adding a new Crowdstrike Falcon Search Engine, enhanced cloud and data center coverage, managed threat hunting services, premium services, enhanced endpoint machine learning, and advanced endpoint protection.

Honorable Mention: Webroot

Landing an honorable mention by Gartner was Webroot, which scored an overall 4.7 out of 5. Some 91 percent of customers said they would be willing to recommend the company's offerings. Webroot has seen significant change this year, including the retirement of CEO Dick Williams and the appointment of former Lancope CEO Mike Potts as the new top executive. Potts said he will focus on building the company's partner program, expanding its solution set, and adding more third-party integrations to integrate a broader set of threat intelligence. In the Gartner report, Webroot scored highly on product capabilities, evaluation and contracting, pricing flexibility, integration and deployment, ease of deployment, service and support, timeliness of vendor response, and quality of technical support.

Bronze: ESET

ESET landed a customer overall ranking of 4.6 out of 5, with 82 percent of customers saying they would recommend the company's offerings. The company scored highly in product capabilities, evaluation and contracting, pricing flexibility, integration and deployment, ease of deployment, service and support, timeliness of vendor response, and quality of technical support. ESET said in July that it was expanding its partner program after seeing strong growth around the channel, adding its first Partner Advisory Council and more marketing materials and MDF for partners.

Silver: Cylance

Cylance landed in the No. 2 spot on the list with an overall peer rating of 4.6 out of 5. The company ranked highly for product capabilities, evaluation and contracting, integration and deployment, ease of deployment, service and support, timeliness of vendor response, and quality of technical support. Some 92 percent of customers said they would be willing to recommend the company's software. Cylance stormed into the market in 2012 with a next-generation endpoint security offering that looked to replace traditional anti-virus with a machine learning and artificial intelligence-based offering. The company recently expanded that portfolio with the launch of CylanceOPTICS, an endpoint detection and response offering.

Gold: Symantec

Landing at the highest spot on the list was Symantec, with an overall peer rating of 4.5 out of 5. Symantec launched a major update to its Symantec Endpoint Protection platform in October 2016, with version 14 adding new, next-generation capabilities to meet competition from new startup entrants in the space. Since then, CEO Greg Clark has said the company has seen "great" pipeline growth for the offering, which he said is more holistic than its competition. Some 78 percent of customers said they would be willing to recommend the company's offering. In the Gartner report, Symantec ranked highly for product capabilities, integration and deployment, and ease of deployment.