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Index › IT › IT operations and endpoint › Endpoint protection › Sophos Intercept X vs ESET PROTECT
Endpoint protection · November 2026 Edition

Sophos Intercept X vs ESET PROTECT

Three of fourteen models named Sophos Intercept X first on the direct prompt; zero named ESET PROTECT. Sophos Intercept X was named by fourteen of the fourteen models and ESET PROTECT by twelve and Sophos Intercept X carries 50 labels and ESET PROTECT 23, so the shares are not directly comparable.

Sophos Intercept X

accepted challenger

Named in six categories this edition.

ESET PROTECT

accepted challenger

Named in five categories this edition.

First-choice share12%2%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate12%9%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#4#7A position in a field of 12; printed, not drawn.
Labels5023A count; the two differ.
The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, Sophos Intercept X reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.Microsoft Defender for Endpoint was named alongside these two in twelve of the fourteen direct answers. Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs Sophos Intercept X · Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs ESET PROTECT · Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs Sophos Intercept X

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all fourteen models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category; every quote names the model and the prompt it came from. Both figures come from the endpoint protection page.

By framing

How many of the fourteen models made each the first choice, per way of asking, and how many argued against it.
Sophos Intercept XFirst choices, of fourteen modelsESET PROTECT
Direct30
Paraphrase20
Comparative00
Budget-constrained11
Scale-constrained00
Negative006 against Sophos Intercept X · 2 against ESET PROTECT
Bars are first choices, 0 to 14 each sideModels that argued againstA model can name both, so the two sides of a row do not sum to fourteen.

Across every category in the November 2026 Edition, Sophos Intercept X and ESET PROTECT were named in the same answer seventy-five times, of the 332 answers naming Sophos Intercept X and the 112 naming ESET PROTECT. In those answers ESET PROTECT took the first choice one time and Sophos Intercept X five.

Every model, every framing

The eighty-four answers behind the chart above, one cell each: where Sophos Intercept X and ESET PROTECT stood in it.
ModelDirectParaphraseComparativeBudget-constrainedScale-constrainedNegative
Claude Haiku 4.5
GPT-5.4 mini
Gemini 3.5 Flash
Perplexity Sonar
Grok 4.20
Mistral Small
DeepSeek V4 Flash
Llama 4 Maverick
Qwen 3.7 Flash
Kimi K2
GLM 4.7 FlashX
MiniMax M2.5
GPT-6 Luna
Muse Glimmer 30B
Sophos Intercept X ESET PROTECT first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Sophos Intercept X on the left and ESET PROTECT on the right.

The direct prompt

The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where Sophos Intercept X and ESET PROTECT stood in it.

Sophos Intercept X first, ESET PROTECT not the choice

3 of 14 modelsESET PROTECT was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.
Perplexity SonarSophos Intercept X alternatives: Bitdefender GravityZone, Huntress Managed EDR, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, SentinelOne Singularity
Qwen 3.7 FlashSophos Intercept X alternatives: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, SentinelOne Singularity Endpoint
GLM 4.7 FlashXSophos Intercept X alternatives: CrowdStrike Falcon, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, SentinelOne Singularity

Neither was the first choice, one was named

5 of 14 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.
Grok 4.20CrowdStrike Falcon alternatives: Bitdefender GravityZone, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, SentinelOne Singularity, Sophos Intercept X
Mistral SmallCrowdStrike Falcon, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint alternatives: Bitdefender GravityZone, Sophos Intercept X
DeepSeek V4 FlashMicrosoft Defender for Endpoint alternatives: CrowdStrike Falcon, SentinelOne Singularity, Sophos Intercept X
MiniMax M2.5CrowdStrike Falcon, Microsoft Defender for Cloud alternatives: Bitdefender GravityZone, Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR, Sophos Intercept X
Muse Glimmer 30BMicrosoft Defender for Endpoint alternatives: CrowdStrike Falcon, SentinelOne Singularity, Sophos Intercept X

Neither was named

6 of 14 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.
Claude Haiku 4.5no first choice
GPT-5.4 miniMicrosoft Defender for Endpoint alternatives: CrowdStrike Falcon, SentinelOne Singularity Endpoint
Gemini 3.5 FlashSentinelOne Singularity alternatives: CrowdStrike Falcon, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Sophos Intercept X with MDR
Llama 4 MaverickSentinelOne Singularity alternatives: Bitdefender GravityZone, CrowdStrike Falcon, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
Kimi K2SentinelOne Singularity alternatives: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
GPT-6 LunaSophos Endpoint with Sophos MDR alternatives: CrowdStrike Falcon, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint

Bold names in an answer are the products the judge labeled a first choice; a model naming several gives each of them that label. The full answer text for every row is in the record.

By buyer segment

The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment and they are never added together. The figures above are the mid-market standing, which is the one the category orders by.
Small business
Sophos Intercept X leads by eleven points.
Sophos Intercept X11%#2 of 13
ESET PROTECT0%#8 of 13
The full small business standing →
Mid-marketThe figures above
Sophos Intercept X leads by ten points.
Sophos Intercept X12%#4 of 12
ESET PROTECT2%#7 of 12
The full mid-market standing →
Enterprise
Level: the same share of first choices.
Sophos Intercept X0%#7 of 12
ESET PROTECT0%#10 of 12
The full enterprise standing →

What the models said about Sophos Intercept X

Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Four of four in this category shown.

“Both could allow arbitrary code execution” GLM 4.7 FlashX · negative prompt · hard negative
“Users report significant performance issues, including slow system performance on older hardware, high resource usage, and a steep learning curve” Mistral Small · negative prompt · soft negative
“Primary Recommendation: Sophos Intercept X - Best balance of features, pricing, and management” GLM 4.7 FlashX · direct prompt · first choice
“For most small businesses, Sophos Intercept X and ESET PROTECT are the best value options” Mistral Small · budget prompt · first choice

What the models said about ESET PROTECT

Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Three of three in this category shown.

“Reviewers report agents losing connection with the management console, requiring reinstallation on affected machines.” Claude Haiku 4.5 · negative prompt · soft negative
“MITRE ATT&CK 2024: ~56% detection — surprisingly low for a historically solid vendor” Kimi K2 · negative prompt · soft negative
“Sophos Intercept X and ESET PROTECT are the best value options” Mistral Small · budget prompt · first choice
Also compared
Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs Sophos Intercept XMicrosoft Defender for Cloud vs ESET PROTECTMicrosoft Defender for Endpoint vs Sophos Intercept XMicrosoft Defender for Endpoint vs ESET PROTECTBitdefender GravityZone vs Sophos Intercept XBitdefender GravityZone vs ESET PROTECTSophos Intercept X vs SentinelOne SingularitySophos Intercept X vs CrowdStrike FalconSentinelOne Singularity vs ESET PROTECTCrowdStrike Falcon vs ESET PROTECTAll twenty-one head-to-head pages and the full endpoint protection standing

Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category, each against each. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.