Top Endpoint Security Providers According to Gartner Research

Endpoint security continues to be a major concern for individual computer users and businesses of all sizes. Every employee has a computer at his or her desk or uses a mobile device that accesses corporate data and network resources. Every one of those devices must be protected by endpoint security software that guards against malware and other cyber-attacks. Gartner’s 2017 endpoint security Magic Quadrant report ranks companies in this sector as “leaders,” “challengers,” “niche players” or “visionaries.” This slide show looks at Gartner’s report of the top endpoint security providers.

Trend Micro’s security suite stands at the top of the Gartner Magic Quadrant. The company has earned top marks for being a leader in the marketplace and for having the best “ability to execute,” according to Gartner. Trend Micro is second only to SentinelOne in its “completeness of vision” in the endpoint security market.

Sophos landed just behind Trend Micro in “ability to execute” and in “completeness of vision.” Although Sophos was ranked second in the “Leaders” pack for execution ability, it was behind several companies in the vision metric, including SentinelOne, Kaspersky Lab, CrowdStrike and Invincea.

Kaspersky Lab was one of the four “leaders” in Gartner’s endpoint security evaluation. The company came in fourth place in “completeness of vision,” behind Trend Micro, SentinelOne, and CrowdStrike, and was third in “ability to execute.”

Symantec was the fourth and final company to land in the “Leaders” quadrant. According to Gartner, Symantec is just behind Kaspersky Lab and just ahead of Intel Security in its “ability to execute” in the endpoint security market. However, it’s decidedly in the middle of the pack when it comes to its vision for the future.

At the time of the Magic Quadrant’s publication, Intel Security was a division that included endpoint security unit McAfee. After the report’s publication, however, Intel spun off the McAfee unit as a stand-alone security company. In the Magic Quadrant study, “Intel Security,” or McAfee, finds itself in the “Challengers” category. McAfee’s “completeness of vision” is toward the back of the pack, but the company is near Symantec for its “ability to execute.” 

Microsoft was the only other company in the endpoint security roundup to land in the “Challengers” category. Like Intel Security, Microsoft was toward the back of the pack for its “completeness of vision,” but held strong in its “ability to execute,” landing in sixth place in that metric.

Cylance is one of the top “Visionaries,” a category that describes companies looking to advance the industry. While Cylance came in fourth place among “visionaries” in “completeness of vision,” it was tops in its “ability to execute,” making it a real contender in the marketplace going forward.

SentinelOne earned the top spot for “completeness of vision,” arguably making it the most important company among the six in the “Visionaries” category. However, Gartner believes SentinelOne’s “ability to execute” leaves much to be desired and so placed the company in the middle of the pack on that critical metric.

Carbon Black also landed in the “Visionaries” category, but just barely as it was ranked behind nearly all of its competitors in that quadrant. The company did have a somewhat strong showing in Gartner’s “ability to execute” evaluation, as it placed higher than many of the other companies in the “Visionaries” category.

CrowdStrike had some rather interesting rankings in the Magic Quadrant. The company’s third place ranking for “completeness of vision” put it ahead of some of the market leaders, like Sophos and Symantec. However, CrowdStrike’s “ability to execute” was ranked down the list, leading the company to be placed in the “Visionaries” category.