5 Best Endpoint Detection & Response (EDR) Solutions for 2024

As more businesses continue to adopt hybrid work arrangements, it’s becoming increasingly important for company endpoints to be secured and protected against threats and malicious actors. Whether it’s company-issued laptops or the data stored therein, taking a proactive approach to protecting these endpoints helps keep businesses safe from data breaches or costly cyberattacks.

SEE: 10 Myths About Cybersecurity You Shouldn’t Believe (TechRepublic Premium)

Fortunately, there’s a variety of endpoint detection and response solutions available in the market today — specially designed to monitor user devices, detect threats of all kinds and offer strong remediation and response capabilities to thwart these threats.

In this article, we take a look at the best endpoint detection and response software available today.

Best EDR software for businesses: Comparison table

	CrowdStrike Falcon	SentinelOne Singularity	Microsoft Defender for Endpoint	Trend Micro Vision One	Bitdefender GravityZone
Forrester Wave Q4 2023 results	Leader	Strong Performer	Leader	Leader	Leader
Ease of use (Gartner Peer Insights)	4.7 out of 5	4.8 out of 5	4.3 out of 5 (Ease of deployment; no ease of use rating)	4.5 out of 5 (Ease of deployment; no ease of use rating)	4.6 out of 5
Free trial or demo	Free trial upon request	Demo upon request	Free trial available	Demo upon request	Free trial upon request
Starting price	$184.99 per device per year	$79.99 per device per year	$54.75 per user per month (Microsoft 365 E5 bundle)	Contact Trend Micro for pricing.	$199.49 per year for 10 devices

Pricing

CrowdStrike’s Falcon EDR solution can be purchased through its Falcon Enterprise and Falcon Elite subscription plans. Below is a quick overview of pricing and features for each:

• Falcon Enterprise: $184.99 per device; includes EDR, XDR and next-gen antivirus.
• Falcon Elite: Contact sales for pricing; includes EDR, XDR, IT hygiene and identity protection capabilities.

Features

• AI-powered detection system.
• Threat intelligence with 230+ adversaries included.
• Real-time response to threats.

Pros

• Very reliable detection.
• Lightweight; not resource-intensive.
• Intuitive user interface.

Cons

Pricing

SentinelOne offers its EDR solution through four subscription tiers, with varying feature inclusions catered toward specific business sizes and needs. Below is a quick overview of each tier, with their corresponding pricing and feature differences:

• Singularity Control: $79.99 per endpoint; includes EDR, role-based access control and multi-tenant management.
• Singularity Complete: $159.99 per endpoint; all Control features plus XDR and 14-day data retention.
• Singularity Commercial: $209.99 per endpoint; all Complete features plus 30-day data retention, threat-hunting and identity threat detection and response.
• Singularity Enterprise: Call sales for pricing; all Commercial features plus network and vulnerability management, digital forensics, training and guided deployment services.

Features

• Storyline context builder for all OS relationships and events.
• Automated threat resolution.
• Historical EDR data retention of up to three years.

Pros

• Affordable starting plan.
• Automated responses.
• Customizable automations.

Cons

• Customer support could be improved.

Pricing

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is split into two plans: MDE P1 and P2. MDE P1 includes next-generation antimalware and endpoint firewall capabilities. Meanwhile, MDE P2 includesfull EDR functionality, with automated investigations and remediation, among others.

For businesses that want Microsoft’s full-fledged EDR solution, I recommend going for Microsoft Defender for Endpoint P2 or MDE P2.Right now, MDE P2 is bundled with the Microsoft 365 E5 enterprise software bundle:

• Microsoft 365 E5 (no Teams): $54.75 per user per month; includes MDE EDR, Microsoft Office software, scalable business analytics and advanced security capabilities.

Features

• Simplified endpoint management dashboard.
• Copilot for Security.
• Global threat intelligence and analytics.

Pros

• Bundled with Microsoft 365 E5.
• Integrates well with other Microsoft security tools, like Intune and Defender for Office.
• Affordable, given additional software included.

Cons

• Can be resource-intensive.

Pricing

In terms of pricing, I suggest contacting Trend Micro directly via its official channels to get a clear estimate of costs. It has an accessible Contact page on its official website for more information, as well as free trials and video demos of its Vision One solution.

You can also book a meeting with Trend Micro through its website, allowing you to learn more about both pricing and Vision One’s feature set.

Features

• AI-powered XDR system.
• Single pane of glass for detection, investigation and response.
• Custom playbooks and case management.

Pros

• Wide visibility across various layers.
• Flexible deployment options.
• Consolidates multiple security tools into a single platform.

Cons

• Technical support team is hit or miss.

Pricing

Bitdefender GravityZone offers a number of subscriptions and can be customizeddepending on the number of devices and length of the contract.

For its small business category, GravityZone is split into three solutions: GravityZone Small Business Security, GravityZone Business Security and GravityZone Business Security Premium.

Below is a quick overview of each tier’s pricing:

• Small Business Security: Starts at $199.49 for 10 devices for 1 year; includes security overview of all endpoints, ransomware and web-based attacks protection.
• Business Security: Starts at $258.99 for 10 devices for 1 year; includes all Small Business features plus web access control, device control and endpoint risk analytics.
• Business Security Premium: Starts at $570.49 for 10 devices for 1 year; includes all Business Security features plus tunable machine learning capabilities, sandbox analyzer and fileless attack defense.

Features

• Ransomware mitigation.
• Defense against fileless attacks.
• Purchasable security add-ons.

Pros

• Numerous subscription options for various business sizes.
• Straightforward user interface and deployment.
• Low impact on machines.

Cons

• Reporting could be more granular.

Key features of EDR software

Endpoint detection and response solutions can vary quite a bit depending on the features they carry. Some are integrated with existing software ecosystems, like MDE with Microsoft. A few cater to smaller businesses with lower starting prices, like SentinelOne, while others stand as self-sufficient products offering exclusively EDR capabilities.

No matter the EDR vendor, there are key features everyone can expect out of most, if not all, EDR solutions. Here’s each key EDR feature and what it provides for organizations:

Endpoint data collection

EDR’s are purpose-built to gather security data on all endpoints connected to a network. This includes things such as files accessed or transferred, processes used and connections established.

Endpoint data collection gives EDRs a bird’s eye view of an organization’s IT infrastructure, enabling visibility into possible vulnerabilities or threats within a system.

Threat detection and response

EDR solutions track down any suspicious activities within a network, looking at peculiar events, hidden vulnerabilities or questionable items. One big difference between EDRs and traditional antivirus solutions is that EDRs can also look into fileless attacks, looking at patterns and behaviors in a system for possible threats.

EDRs also utilize advanced algorithms and machine learning technologies to look for indicators of compromise, hunting down both known and unknown threats.

Finally, EDRs are also known for their automation capabilities. Once an EDR detects a threat, you can set it to have an automated response that will trigger an appropriate action. This can be something as simple as sending out an alert or outright blocking the threat altogether.

Threat hunting and forensic analytics

EDRs typically include threat hunting and forensic investigation functionality, taking a proactive approach to defending against threats. EDRs are designed to understand past weaknesses, identify patterns and proactively hunt down threats or malicious actors in the future.

This includes having smart forensics analytics, which helps security teams learn how certain threats become successful and subsequently make adjustments against them afterwards.

Reporting and prioritization capabilities

Most EDRs also include extensive reporting and prioritization features. With EDR solutions, IT analysts can generate reports and summaries of an organization’s current state and security performance. These can be used for compliance and regulation reporting, eliminating the legwork needed to gather large volumes of security data.

EDR software also comes with alert prioritization capabilities, making sure only the most urgent alerts are brought forward to analysts and security experts. This removes the problem of dealing with an overwhelming amount of data, reducing fatigue among IT teams and administrators and keeping them engaged with more urgent priorities.

How to choose the best EDR for your organization

With a number of quality EDR providers to choose from, choosing the best EDR solution for you may be confusing. However, there are a few things you can consider to help pick the right solution for you and your organization.

Consider company size and number of endpoints

The first thing to consider is the size of your company and how many endpoints you need to cover with an EDR.

Having a ballpark number of your endpoints will drastically reduce the amount of decision time needed, especially since some solutions and EDR subscriptions cater to specific business sizes over others.

Check your existing security infrastructure and tools

It’s also important to consider what types of security tools and infrastructure your organization currently has. This means looking into whether you only need an EDR solution or if your organization requires other security software as well.

This can help with your purchasing decision since most EDR providers offer other security solutions as well. In this situation, purchasing a bundle of security products may get you better deals in terms of net pricing and licenses.

Look into security reputation and independent test results

Another big consideration is an EDR provider’s security reputation and performance in independent testing. While many EDR solutions will advertise themselves as the “best product” available, checking independent evaluations from third-party firms is a great way to have a less biased view of how an EDR performs.

Additionally, doing some research on an EDR vendor’s security reputation won’t hurt. Have they had any significant security incidents, like data breaches or major vulnerabilities? Are they trusted by their customers and user base?

In this regard, reading real user feedback is, in my opinion, one of the best ways to evaluate a product or service. This provides us with an idea of the real-world performance of these EDR solutions.

Maximize free trials and demos

You should also make the most of any free trials or product demos that these EDR vendors provide. Given both the time and money-commitment tied to buying and deploying these products, you want to make sure they’re the right fit for your organization before you move forward with purchasing a solution.

Both free trials and product demos can give you a clearer understanding of whether an EDR meets your organization’s needs and requirements.

Keep in mind, however, that most enterprise-level EDRs will require some back and forth between you and the vendor’s sales team, so a bit of waiting time is to be expected.

Explore integrations with third-party products

Finally, it’s a good idea to check if the EDR of your choice works well with third-party products already in your company’s product suite. You don’t want to invest in a solution that won’t jive well with the other tools in your workflow, eventually realizing that it’s not a good fit for your needs after all.

Luckily, there are a fair number of integration resources and support documents available online that show which third-party software integrates with specific EDR solutions.

Methodology

My rundown of the best endpoint detection and response solutions for businesses in 2024 involved an in-depth evaluation of each EDR solution’s security features, pricing and overall value for money.

Research for this article was done through extensive analysis of official product documentation, independent test results and performance and value proposition per product. In addition, I took heavy consideration of real user feedback and user testimonials found on reputable review sites to gain a better understanding of how each EDR solution fares with real-world usage.

Finally, I accounted for what type of business or organization would benefit most from each EDR solution listed above. Through this, my aim is to help businesses quickly find the EDR provider that best fits their current needs and circumstances.