9 Best Carbon Black Alternatives & Competitors in 2023 – Source: heimdalsecurity.com

A quick search on the Internet retrieved a pack of VMware Carbon Black alternatives for endpoint protection services. I analyzed features, pros, cons and pricing and then I drew conclusions.

So, here`s a list of 9 Best Carbon Black Alternatives on the cybersecurity market. It includes details about key features, ease of deployment, support, and visibility across the system.

From a bird`s eye view, they all offer top-quality solutions for stopping viruses and isolating incidents. Most of them promise to protect organizations against advanced cyber threats and sophisticated attacks. However, a lighter system footprint, ease of integrating additional tools, and threat detection accuracy make the difference.

Heimdal® – the Best Carbon Black Alternative

Heimdal® stands out as the number 1 endpoint security tool. It works as well on Linux and MacOS as it does on Windows. Another feature that differentiates Heimdal from other Carbon Black alternatives is its outstanding technical support service.

The extensive variety of integrated tools and services offers users unparalleled visibility across the whole system and ease of management. Don`t take our word for it, read below what other users had to say about us. Then find out what our E-PDR solution`s features are and subscribe for a 30-day free Trial.

What makes Heimdal the best alternative to Carbon Black?

Heimdal`s unified platform integrates tools and capabilities like DNS security, Patch Management, Next-Gen Antivirus, threat hunting, Privileged Access Management, and Email security. It is one of the Carbon Black alternatives that covers most endpoint protection areas.

The suite enables you to prevent, detect, and respond swiftly to a variety of threats. Using it keeps your data and system safe from phishing attempts, ransomware attacks, malware deployment, and DNS hijacking.

Additionally, according to reviews, Heimdal® has the best offer regarding the quality of ongoing product support. Among other Carbon Black alternatives, Heimdal was reviewed as offering the best and most reliable technical support. The support team`s superior problem-solving skills and responsiveness made endpoint protection easier and satisfied many customers.

VMware Carbon Black Cloud offers a Next-Gen AV, endpoint detection and response (EDR), threat hunting, and vulnerability management. It works well if you need to detect and respond to an attack that has already happened.

However, you will still need additional tools to cover other critical security layers. One example is DNS layer security.

Heimdal`s DNS Security Network & Endpoint and Patch and Assets Management could very well work along VMware Carbon Black. You can easily have the two solutions working together. Heimdal would cover the prevention part, by flawless patching and 96% accuracy in detecting and blocking malicious communication. Meanwhile, VMware Carbon Black can take care of forensics and the remediation process.

Nevertheless, using a unified and integrated suite that covers all is a more effective and convenient choice.

What do our customers say?

When asked for a review, most customers said they appreciated the variety of services Heimdal`s E-PDR solution covers. The product was named as one of the top alternatives for the Carbon Black Endpoint protection software.

Functionality and performance were key factors in choosing our Heimdal against other Carbon Black alternatives. Most users highlighted our effective and prompt support service as a differentiating benefit. The complex mix of features and the unified platform that provides complete control over the digital perimeter enable organizations to protect endpoints at unparalleled level.

 Having the full suite of security layers within a single package but the OS and 3rd Party Patching is second to none!

Easy to use, Easy to install great reporting module, perfect support channel.

Heimdal is light weight. Very little impact on system resources. The other thing though is it’s “quiet” … it works in the background helping to sheild from threats without interfering with your work with dialog boxes. The other things that’s particularly nice is that it keeps other applications up to date with the latest patches and builds, thus removing what otherwise could be entry points for system exploits.

I like that many application is bundled in one application, making it easy to administrate and very effective. Effective means saving time and money.

Heimdal offers many different modules in their product, but you can mix and match them as you like so you don’t have to pay for something you’re not going to use. It is also very easy to manage and implement most things in Heimdal.

G2 Business Software Review

Heimdal’s main features

• Total visibility and unified control over all endpoints,
• DNS filtering engine trained on a deep learning neural network,
• AI-powered, machine-learning-based DNS, HTTP and HTTPs traffic filtering,
• Proved 96% accuracy in predicting unknown threats,
• Ability to detect malicious processes, and to backtrack the attacker’s origins,
• Integrated DNS-over-HTTPS traffic filtering,
• Outstanding malware hunting capabilities, including detecting fileless attacks,
• Fast and effective support response.

Heimdal pricing

Customers also say they chose the Heimdal tool for Prevention, Detection, and Response (EPDR) due to its competitive cost. Additionally, they appreciated that the product`s efficiency in solving problems is literally saving their company money. Security teams praised the extent to which using Heimdal software saves time and reduces alert fatigue by automating repetitive tasks.

Heimdal delivers exceptional value while offering an extensive array of security features. Our unified solution enables you to centralize the management of up to seven providers on a single platform. This results in streamlining your IT infrastructure and mitigating risks effectively. Briefly, instead of overcharging the budget by buying seven different products, choose a more effective, budget-friendly unified solution.

The software works on all major operating systems, including Windows, Mac OS-X, and Android.

We offer various pricing tiers based on the number of seats required. The ranges go from as low as one to over 20,000, as well as for servers, going from one to over 100. The licensing costs vary depending on the chosen subscription period, with options for monthly, yearly, 3-year, and 5-year pricing.

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint offers real-time protection against ransomware and other malware, viruses, and phishing attacks. It offers a management console, so deployment, configuring and monitoring go pretty easy for Windows. However, reportedly, it doesn`t work as well on MacOS.

Also, MSSPs find it difficult to use, since Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is not a multi-tenant solution.

I`m a MSSP. So, I have multiple customers. In Microsoft`s world that means that I can`t just buy an E5 license and give that out to all my customers. That won`t work because all of the customer data resides within a single tenant in Microsoft`s world.

Simon Thornton, Cyber Security Services Operations Manager

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Main Features

• Machine-learning capabilities,
• Endpoint detection and response (EDR),
• Antimalware protection,
• Centralized reporting,
• Attack surface reduction.

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Pricing

• Price depends on configuration and licensing program,
• High-priced as a stand-alone solution,
• Microsoft Premier support comes with an additional cost,
• Flexible licensing options,
• Monthly or yearly subscription is possible.

CrowdStrike Falcon

Users marked CrowdStrike`s cloud-delivered endpoint protection as a powerful tool. Yet, it misses certain capabilities that are becoming a standard in the cybersecurity industry. Like vulnerability management, for example. Additionally, the USB control feature is tricky to use. An IT Manager from a banking company reviewed the situation as follows:

We found that the USB control feature (while powerful) randomized the vendor and product ID, so we couldn’t use the information provided by Windows. This made researching unknown USB devices impossible, and whitelisting new devices a tiring event as we had to connect it to a PC, and try to figure out which device it was in the web console. We can’t see any advantage to this behavior.

You can read here a thorough research with pros and cons on CrowdStrike competitors.

CrowdStrike Falcon Main Features

• Endpoint Security & XDR,
• Identity protection,
• Threat intelligence and threat hunting,
• Machine-learning capabilities,
• Malware detection,
• Behavioral analysis.

CrowdStrike Falcon Pricing

• $299.95 – annual price for Falcon Go
• $499.95 – annual price for Falcon Pro,
• $924.95 – annual price for Falcon Enterprise,
• Flexible licensing options,
• Only offers a 15-day free trial.

Trellix Endpoint Security (ENS)

Trellix Endpoint Security is another one of the VMware Carbon Black alternatives. It is designed to safeguard servers, desktops, laptops, and tablets. Their modules can integrate into a single Trellix ENS interface. However, users claim there is room for improvement of the administration dashboard.

One more thing that the Trellix customers pointed out was the need for better technical support. They also mentioned high resource consumption as a downside.

Trellix Endpoint Security doesn`t support Mac devices. Trellix Endpoint Security doesn`t offer full-fledged support for Linux.

An easy-to-deploy endpoint security tool that needs to improve its technical support.

Ebenezer D., Network Security & Data Management Admin

Trellix Main Features

• Threat Prevention
• Firewall
• Web Control
• Adaptive Threat Protection
• Data Loss Prevention solution

Trellix Pricing

• Users consider it higher compared to other solutions,
• No additional cost for maintenance,
• Prices are adjusted depending on the endpoints number,
• Can renew license once a year.

Singularity Complete – SentinelOne

When it comes to comparing SentinelOne`s Singularity XDR with VMware Carbon Black, the ability to reverse ransomware file encryption is an attractive feature. However, designers could upgrade its automation, machine learning, and AI capabilities. There is room for better at reporting and integration too. Yet, users said they prefer the SentinelOne software over the Carbon Black one.

SentinelOne Singularity Complete Main Features

• Automated threat remediation
• Extensive event data analysis
• Real-time detection
• Threat intelligence
• Behavioral Analysis

SentinelOne Pricing

• $45.00 per year
• Can renew license annually,
• There is a free trial available,
• Users noted that the Ranger module brings an additional cost.

Sophos Intercept X Endpoint

The Sophos solution brings together two products under the same umbrella. They are known for offering good threat management capabilities. Sophos Intercept X Endpoint is highly appreciated for its web filtering and URL checks features. However, some reviewers claim that their detection and AI capabilities should be improved.

Sophos Intercept X Endpoint Main Features

• Advanced anti-malware,
• Website browsing protection and filtering,
• Data loss prevention (DLP),
• Client firewall,
• Application and device control,
• Host-based intrusion prevention system (IPS). 

Sophos Intercept X Endpoint Pricing

• You can choose between an annual and a three-year license,
• Starting price is $28/year per user,
• Free trial available.

Trend Micro Apex One

Trend Micro`s endpoint security solution works both cloud-based and on-premises. It covers threat detection and patch management. While some reviewers on Peerspot claimed the solution could do better at ransomware prevention, others complained about the high resource consumption.


Trend Micro should also try to improve compatibility with different operating systems.

Trend Micro Apex One Main Features

• Antivirus and malware application control,
• Endpoint Detection and Response,
• Data encryption,
• Data loss prevention,
• URL filtering,
• Response time and detection module.

Trend Micro Apex One Pricing

• Comes at a starting cost of $37.75 per user, per year,
• Free Trial available.

ESET PROTECT

ESET PROTECT enables organizations to gain full visibility across all assets. It works on Windows, MacOS, and Linux, as well as on Android and iOS operating systems. Users praise its low impact on resource consumption and the threat detection capabilities. Some reviewers asked for better ransomware protection, and a cloud sandboxing option for Mac.

ESET PROTECT Main Features

• Incident reports,
• Asset management,
• Firewall,
• Malware detection,
• Web control.

ESET PROTECT Pricing

• Cost ranges from $39.99 to $59.99 per device, per year,
• 30-day free trial available

Kaspersky Endpoint Security

Kaspersky Endpoint Security for Business uses machine-learning algorithms for real-time threat detection and response. Although Kaspersky does a good job protecting endpoints from attacks, there is still room for improvement. According to some reviews, it can get complicate to manage the policy management section in the admin console. Customers also requested that the software offers some integration with other vendors.

Kaspersky Endpoint Security Main Features

• Antivirus protection,
• Endpoint management,
• Network attack blocker,
• Mobile device management,
• Data encryption and data protection.

Kaspersky Endpoint Security Pricing

• Extra modules may come with additional costs,
• Cost ranges from $45 to $99 per node yearly.

Malwarebytes Endpoint Protection

Malwarebytes Endpoint Protection is a cloud-based solution that uses various techniques to detect and respond to attacks. It covers all stages of the attack chain by using a mix of signature-less and matching-technology layers.

Users appreciated its ransomware shut down capabilities but suggested that the software should increase efficiency for false positives detection. Dealing with a great number of false positives results in alert fatigue and puts unnecessary pressure on security teams.

Malwarebytes Endpoint Protection Main Features

• Advanced threats prevention,
• Detects unprotected systems,
• Centralized cloud management console,
• AI-powered next-generation antivirus software,
• Automated security reports.

Malwarebytes Endpoint Protection Pricing

• Reduced cost per year for 10 to 99 devices starts from $594.99,
• Pricing model offers custom fees for more than 100 devices or servers,
• Free trial available.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What is a better alternative to Carbon Black Endpoint?

Among other Carbon Black alternatives, Heimdal® stands as one of the best. It offers an extensive range of tools integrated into a unified, easy-to-use platform. Heimdal`s technical support is also reportedly the best.

How do I choose the best endpoint security solution?

It depends on your organization`s specific needs: number of employees, location, work environment, industry, and device ownership.

However, top endpoint protection solutions offer extensive, integrated protection across multiple layers.

Using a unique platform that encompasses Next-gen AV, firewall, encryption, device and asset management, DNS filtering, and EDR is the best choice. Benefits like complete visibility across the whole system and ease of management save time, energy and money.

What does endpoint security software do?

Endpoint security software protects any kind of device, from laptops to mobiles, printers, and servers from various cyber threats. It blocks, detects suspicious activity, and mitigates malware, trojans, ransomware, and zero-days.

Best software comes with a disaster recovery capability, mass malware protection, mobile devices management, automating of repetitive security operations. Increased detection rate of unknown threats is also a strong differentiator that security teams appreciate.

What is the difference between EDR and XDR?

Endpoint Detection and Response is a unified set of tools that integrates data collecting and analysis, forensics, and threat hunting. EDR is software that identifies and responds to malware and other cyberattacks at an endpoint level. It prevents data breaches and data exfiltration to happen, enforces secure access policies and defends against virus attacks.

Extended Detection and Response (XDR) is a multi-layered detection and response platform. XDR does not only collect and analyze data from endpoints, but also from emails, servers, cloud, and network. It also aims to achieve flawless endpoint protection.

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