Bitdefender GravityZone vs. Microsoft Forefront (Discontinued Product)

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Bitdefender GravityZone
Score 9.1 out of 10
N/A
Bitdefender GravityZone combines multiple security services into a single platform to reduce the cost of building a trusted environment for endpoints.
$284.99
per year 10 devices
Microsoft Forefront (Discontinued Product)
Score 9.5 out of 10
N/A
Forefront is Microsoft's antivirus offering.N/A
Pricing
Bitdefender GravityZoneMicrosoft Forefront (Discontinued Product)
Editions & Modules
GravityZone Small Business Security
$284.99
per year 10 devices
GravityZone Business Security
$369.99
per year 10 devices
GravityZone Business Security Premium
$814.99
per year 10 devices
GravityZone Business Security Premium
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GravityZone Business Security Enterprise
Contact Sales
GravityZone XDR
Contact Sales
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Bitdefender GravityZoneMicrosoft Forefront (Discontinued Product)
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details5 device license purchase minimum. Discounts available for multi-year subscriptions. 1st year discounts available (up to 30% off displayed price).
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Bitdefender GravityZoneMicrosoft Forefront (Discontinued Product)
Features
Bitdefender GravityZoneMicrosoft Forefront (Discontinued Product)
Endpoint Security
Comparison of Endpoint Security features of Product A and Product B
Bitdefender GravityZone
9.6
Ratings
11% above category average
Microsoft Forefront (Discontinued Product)
-
Ratings
Anti-Exploit Technology9.50 Ratings00 Ratings
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Centralized Management9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Hybrid Deployment Support10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Infection Remediation9.50 Ratings00 Ratings
Vulnerability Management10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Malware Detection9.50 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Bitdefender GravityZoneMicrosoft Forefront (Discontinued Product)
Small Businesses
ThreatLocker
ThreatLocker
Score 9.5 out of 10
Malwarebytes
Malwarebytes
Score 8.2 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 9.8 out of 10
BlackBerry Protect (CylancePROTECT)
BlackBerry Protect (CylancePROTECT)
Score 9.1 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Bitdefender GravityZoneMicrosoft Forefront (Discontinued Product)
Likelihood to Recommend
9.5
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
5.6
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Bitdefender GravityZoneMicrosoft Forefront (Discontinued Product)
Likelihood to Recommend
It just works. I have seen multiple viruses and malware get past other antivirus software like TrendMicro, Webroot, and Kaspersky. Bitdefender GravityZone always catches what others miss. It has a very light footprint when it comes to system resources. The centralized management console is nice, but I prefer the console before they redesigned the UI.
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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.
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Pros
  • The Gravity Zone console is quite easy to use, particularly if the person assigned to implement and deploy have a good understanding of how to make it work to get at the information needed.
  • The Dashboard is customizable to get at the information needed in one location.
  • Pushing tasks across the network is quite easy.
  • Having said the what is available in gravity zone, it is easy to see what devices have activity that frequently result in quarantines. This allows us to address "misuse" of our devices. Which brings me to my final point...
  • The policies can be set up to lock devices down with very strict rules (such as device locking) or with relaxed policies.
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  • 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.
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Cons
  • I wish we could access logs from the cloud-based product. Not just in a viewable sense but from a download so that we can scrape them for interesting strings.
  • Bitdefender needs to make it easier to export data from the web interface. As it stands now, it's a time-consuming copy and paste activity.
  • I would like for there to a notification service when someone encounters malware. For example, an email to our IT team when someone's Bitdefender quarantines a file.
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  • 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.
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Likelihood to Renew
It works. I rely heavily on my vendors to provide a product that works, is easy to implement, and that they support. As well as be a decent value for the money
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Usability
The console is easy to use, but has grown to have a lot of functionality. The only challenge is that all functions (even disabled and not installed ones) are shown. It would be great if only the functions that are active would be visible.
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Reliability and Availability
Yes its very available. The software continues to protect you even if you are offline. It constantly runs in the background and will check for updates again once back online.
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Performance
The console is quite fast and responsive, and once you start to get used to it, it is easy to use and you can see the main dashboard status at a glance. You can then dig deeper into the individual Companies / Endpoint clients and check the status of each. The software itself is not heavy on system resources in each PC.
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No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Support is an area Bitdefender has always struggled with. While their products work great, the GravityZone dashboard is very technical in nature. If you aren't IT inclined, it could be difficult to setup. While most times support is helpful, we tend to work with them over email because of their very thick accent, they are hard to understand over the phone.
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In-Person Training
The trainer went through everything in the console an showed me what each setting did. If I had any questions on how to do something, he showed me where to go and how to do it. The trainer was very helpful and knowledgeable, and also professional and patient. Highly recommended.
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Online Training
The trainer went through everything in the console an showed me what each setting did. If I had any questions on how to do something, he showed me where to go and how to do it. The trainer was very helpful and knowledgeable, and also professional and patient. Highly recommended.
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Alternatives Considered
Bitdefender offered the largest number of tools with the smallest footprint of any providers we have tested and used. The cloud platform is very well thought out and will give us all the information we need very quickly. Resources required have been greatly reduced, both on Endpoints and in the day-to-day management of the product. We also gained Patch management and vulnerability scanning as part of the switch, which has enabled us to keep on top of updates, making the environment more secure.
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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.
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Scalability
I give it this rating because one you have the console running, you can add or remove whole companies, add computer endpoints (and remove them), and easily create and deploy endpoint packages to the machines that need the software. Once installed, the software starts to report back to the Bitdefender servers and the number of active licences is then seen and billed.
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Return on Investment
  • Estimating the ROI with Bitdefender [GravityZone] is rather difficult. While there is an obvious cost to using Bitdefender [GravityZone] (via a monthly or yearly subscription fee for each device being protected), it is hard to estimate the cost of if a computer or computers become infected via a piece of malware. In the best-case scenario, a single computer becomes infected with a relatively benign piece of malware that can be removed after infection; in a worst-case scenario, an entire infrastructure is infected by ransomware completely crippling an organization.
  • Since implementing Bitdefender [GravityZone] across multiple organizations, not a single one has [added] a malware outbreak.
  • The initial cost of setup and the cost of maintenance is more than worth it for if nothing more than peace of mind.
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  • 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.
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