9 Best ManageEngine Alternatives for Endpoint Security in 2026

The Endpoint Central renewal arrives, and the security lines are all itemised separately. There is the EDR add-on, then Next-Gen Antivirus, then Vulnerability Manager Plus, then a Log360 quote for the SIEM your auditor asked about. Add a ransomware scare or a NIS2 gap assessment and the question changes from “renew?” to “is there a simpler way to run this?”

This piece compares ManageEngine’s security stack against the XDR and unified endpoint-security platforms that can replace it — the same ManageEngine competitors most buyers put on a shortlist. It covers what each platform actually includes, what it costs where prices are published, where each one falls short, and how to run a proof of concept that tells you something useful.

If you’re replacing ManageEngine’s IT operations tools rather than its security tools, skip to the signpost section near the end.

The bottom line

What it is ManageEngine? It’s is the enterprise IT management division of Zoho Corporation. It covers ITSM, UEM, network monitoring, IAM, SIEM, APM, and endpoint security, and states that more than 280,000 organisations use its products.

• Heimdal. Patching, antivirus, EDR, privileged access, DNS filtering and email security from one agent and one console, bought module by module or as a managed service — built for mid-market and enterprise teams.
• Microsoft Defender XDR. For organisations already paying for Microsoft 365 E5 that want to get value from licences they own.
• CrowdStrike Falcon Insight XDR. For enterprises with an established SOC that want strong threat intelligence and hunting depth.
• SentinelOne Singularity. Automated response and documented one-click ransomware rollback on Windows, built for lean teams stretched too thin to babysit alerts.
• Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR. For organisations with a large Palo Alto firewall estate and a path toward Cortex XSIAM.
• Sophos XDR with Sophos MDR. For mid-market teams that want XDR backed by an established managed detection service.
• Bitdefender GravityZone XDR. Endpoint-led XDR with a patch management add-on, aimed at mid-market teams.
• Trend Micro Vision One (TrendAI). For organisations that need telemetry across endpoint, email, cloud, network, and OT.
• ESET PROTECT with ESET Inspect. For mid-market teams that want a lighter endpoint-led platform with recent MITRE evaluation data.
• ManageEngine (stay). Organisations standardised on ManageEngine IT tools, especially on-premises, that want to add security modules one at a time.

Endpoint security has moved past “patching plus antivirus”

For years, a sensible mid-market security stack looked like this. You had a systems management tool for patching and inventory, an antivirus agent, and maybe a SIEM if compliance demanded one. ManageEngine built a strong business on exactly that model, and Endpoint Central is still one of the most complete IT operations suites on the market.

Attacks no longer respect those boundaries. A typical intrusion now moves through a phishing email, a stolen credential, a local admin right that should not exist, and an unpatched third-party app. Each of those signals lands in a different tool. XDR exists to correlate them.

XDR is a security operations platform that collects telemetry from several control points — endpoint, identity, email, network, cloud — and lets your team detect, investigate and respond to threats from one console and one data model. MarketsandMarkets puts the XDR market at $7.92 billion in 2025, rising to $30.86 billion by 2030. Definitions vary by vendor, though, so treat any single market figure as directional.

Some older assumptions are worth dropping:

• “Patch management plus antivirus equals XDR.” It does not. An endpoint management suite with antivirus added is not correlating signals across domains.
• “XDR replaces SIEM.” Not for most regulated organisations. If you need long log retention and compliance reporting, you will usually keep a SIEM. The two categories are converging but still do different jobs.
• “XDR is just rebranded EDR.” Real XDR correlates across domains. In practice, plenty of products sold as XDR are EDR with some third-party integrations added.
• “XDR removes the need for analysts.” It cuts repetitive work. Someone still has to own response, whether that’s your own team or an MDR provider.

Where the modular IT-suite approach falls short

ManageEngine sells each capability as its own product or add-on. That keeps entry prices low and lets you buy exactly what you need — but it creates costs that don’t show up on the first quote.

Agent fatigue. Every separate security tool tends to bring its own agent, console, update cycle, and alert stream. On the technical side, several privileged access management agents on one host widen the attack surface, and published detection guidance increasingly treats that pattern as a risk indicator in its own right. On the human side, every extra agent is another console to check, another update to track, and another queue to triage. That load compounds faster than headcount does. In the SANS 2025 SOC Survey, 85% of respondents said endpoint-security alerts were their primary response trigger. If those alerts arrive in several places, your team spends its time switching screens rather than closing incidents.

Licensing that stacks. ManageEngine states that Next-Gen Antivirus is not included in the standard Endpoint Central Security Edition licence. EDR, vulnerability management, DLP, and SIEM are each licensed separately. A full security-stack quote can differ substantially from the headline entry price, so ask for an itemised quote before you compare anything.

Separate data models. Reviewers of ManageEngine repeatedly mention that each product has its own console, database, and licence metric. That’s manageable for IT operations. For incident response, it means correlation happens in an analyst’s head.

Staffing reality. In the ISC2 2025 Cybersecurity Workforce Study, 33% of organisations said they lack the budget to staff adequately, and 29% said they cannot afford staff with the skills they need. Tools that assume a full-time analyst behind every console do not fit most mid-market teams.

None of this makes ManageEngine a poor choice. It means the modular approach suits organisations with the people to run it, and fits less well when a small team owns both IT and security.

How we think about replacing a ManageEngine security stack

We built Heimdal security-first. We started from the attack chain and worked outward, rather than starting from IT management and adding security modules later. That starting point shapes how we package and sell the platform.

Every Heimdal module can be bought three ways. You can buy it as a standalone point product, as part of our unified security platform, or as a managed service where our SOC runs detection and response for you.

Standalone. Any module works on its own. That includes Patch and Asset Management, DNS Security, Next-Gen Antivirus and Firewall, Ransomware Encryption Protection, our privileged access modules, Email Security, and the Threat-hunting and Action Center. Take Patch and Asset Management as an example. Say you already run a UEM or systems management tool you intend to keep, and your real gap is third-party patching, patch reporting and asset visibility. You can buy Patch and Asset Management by itself. It runs alongside your existing tool rather than replacing it.

Unified platform. Scale up from one module to the full platform, or anywhere in between. It’s not all-or-nothing.

One agent. One console. One contract.

• DNS Security for network and endpoint
• Next-Gen Antivirus and Firewall with our Extended Threat Protection (XTP) engine
• Ransomware Encryption Protection
• Patch and Asset Management, with vulnerability management
• Privilege Elevation and Delegation Management (PEDM)
• Privileged Account and Session Management (PASM)
• Application Control with AppFencing™
• Email Security and Email Fraud Prevention
• Threat-hunting and Action Center (TAC), our XDR layer
• Unified endpoint management tools, including Remote Desktop, scripting, BitLocker management, and USB control

Every module reports into the same place, so you centralise correlation in the platform instead of it happening in someone’s head.

Managed service. If you would rather not staff a 24/7 SOC, we offer MDR, MXDR, and Managed ITDR. Our analysts triage, investigate and respond around the clock.

A word on RMM. We didn’t start as an RMM vendor, and security remains our starting point. A meaningful number of customers already run Heimdal as their day-to-day endpoint management tool, and we keep building capability that makes that move easier. Whether you use it that way depends on how much of Endpoint Central’s IT-operations depth you rely on.

Practical buyer guidance

Do you actually need XDR?

You probably do if two or more of these are true:

• A single incident means checking three or more consoles
• You cannot answer “which endpoints have local admin rights right now?” in under five minutes
• Your auditor or insurer is asking about detection and response, not just prevention
• Nobody watches alerts overnight or at weekends
• Your SIEM ingests everything but nobody has time to query it

You may not need it yet if you run a small, standardised estate with a mature SIEM and a staffed SOC already correlating signals. In that case, better EDR may be enough.

What teams moving off ManageEngine underestimate

• Third-party patch management policy migration. Years of approval rules, maintenance windows and exclusions live in Patch Manager Plus or Endpoint Central. Export and document them before you switch.
• Catalogue coverage. Check your actual installed software against each vendor’s third-party patch catalogue, not the headline number.
• Agent coexistence. You will run two agents for a while. Confirm both vendors support that without conflict.
• What stays. If you keep ServiceDesk Plus or OpManager, map the integrations that currently connect them to your security tools.
• Linux and servers. OS coverage often differs module by module. Check each module you plan to use against each OS you run.

Unified, standalone or layered?

• Unified platform. One agent and console across several domains. Least integration work, but more dependence on one vendor.
• Standalone modules. Fill one specific gap, such as third-party patching or privileged access, next to tools you keep.
• Layered best-of-breed. Separate specialist products tied together through a SIEM or SOAR. The most flexibility and the most integration and staffing cost.

What XDR will not fix

• A missing incident response plan
• Unclear ownership of who acts on alerts at 2am
• Poor asset inventory, since you cannot protect endpoints you do not know about
• A need for multi-year log retention, which usually still calls for a SIEM

Where implementation breaks

• Rolling out prevention in block mode on day one. Start in audit or detect mode, tune, then enforce.
• Privilege elevation and delegation management without a request path. Remove local admin rights only once users have a fast way to request elevation. Otherwise the helpdesk floods.
• Skipping the operating model. Decide before go-live whether response is in-house, co-managed, or handled by an MDR provider, including nights and weekends.

How to evaluate vendors without drowning in demos

Buyers usually build a shortlist from analyst reports and peer review sites such as G2 and Gartner Peer Insights, then run a proof of concept of around 30 days on their own data.

A PoC plan that produces a real answer looks like this:

1. Map the consolidation. List each ManageEngine product and add-on you run today. For each vendor, mark which ones it replaces and which stay.
2. Deploy on a representative slice. Include laptops, servers, any Linux or macOS machines, and at least one high-privilege user group.
3. Test patching on your real software list. Measure how many of your installed third-party apps each vendor patches, and how fast.
4. Run a scripted attack chain. Phishing link, credential use, privilege escalation, lateral movement. See whether the platform tells one story or four separate alerts.
5. Check MITRE ATT&CK coverage. Ask each vendor for its technique mapping and compare coverage against the techniques that matter to your sector.
6. Price the full stack. Get an itemised quote for everything in step 1, not the entry tier.
7. Ask about exit. Data export, documented APIs and portable detection content.

A suggested weighting for a ManageEngine-replacement shortlist

This is our analytical framework, not an industry standard. Adjust it to your situation.

ManageEngine and the alternatives, compared

A note on Heimdal’s independent evidence

Third-party validation. In May 2026 we were named in the Gartner Europe Context Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection. In August 2026 we were listed as a representative vendor in Gartner’s Market Overview for Workspace Cybersecurity Platforms, alongside vendors including Microsoft, CrowdStrike, and Sophos. We’re also in an active analyst relationship with Forrester.

Our MITRE ATT&CK coverage is published on the Tidal Cyber Registry, so you can review it and add it to your proof-of-concept scorecard. Search for Heimdal and you can see which attack techniques and sub-techniques we map coverage against, down to the sub-technique level. We did not take part in MITRE ATT&CK Evaluations Enterprise 2025. If you’re weighing a patching-plus-security platform, pull the mapping into your PoC scorecard next to your patch success rates and compare it directly against any other vendor you’re evaluating.

A note on other’s independent evidence

Independent comparative data is thinner in this category than most buyers expect. As of September 2026:

• MITRE ATT&CK Evaluations Enterprise 2025 had 11 participants, down from 19 the year before. They were Acronis, AhnLab, CrowdStrike, Cyberani, Cybereason, Cynet, ESET, Sophos, Trend Micro, WatchGuard, and WithSecure. Microsoft, SentinelOne and Palo Alto Networks withdrew. ManageEngine did not take part.
• The Forrester Wave: XDR Platforms, Q2 2026 invited seven vendors, according to Forrester. CrowdStrike and Microsoft have each announced they were named Leaders. Bitdefender, Elastic, Palo Alto Networks, SentinelOne, and TrendAI (Trend Micro) are reported as the other participants. Check Forrester’s own page for their exact placements. ManageEngine was not evaluated.
• Gartner covers XDR through a Market Guide, which names representative vendors but does not rank them.

ManageEngine (the incumbent)

What it is. ManageEngine is the enterprise IT management division of Zoho Corporation. It covers ITSM, UEM, network monitoring, IAM, SIEM, APM, and endpoint security, and states that more than 280,000 organisations use its products.

The security stack, as of September 2026:

• Endpoint Central. UEM in several editions, including a Security Edition.
• EDR add-on. ManageEngine documents behavioural threat detection, MITRE ATT&CK-mapped threat hunting, automated remediation, anti-ransomware with file rollback, and exploit prevention.
• Next-Gen Antivirus. Sold as a separate add-on, not included in the standard Security Edition licence, according to ManageEngine.
• Patch Manager Plus. ManageEngine states it covers OS updates and 1,100+ third-party applications.
• Vulnerability Manager Plus and Endpoint DLP Plus. Sold separately.
• Log360 and Log360 Cloud. A SIEM with UEBA, SOAR, CASB, and DLP. ManageEngine says Log360 Cloud supports 700+ log sources, and positions it as combining “the agility of an XDR with the enterprise-wide authority of a SIEM.” It is marketed as a SIEM and security operations product rather than a separately named XDR product.

Best for. Organisations standardised on ManageEngine IT tools that want to add security modules incrementally, particularly where on-premises deployment matters.

Key strengths:

• Very broad IT operations coverage from one vendor
• Mature patching with a large third-party catalogue
• On-premises deployment option for regulated or isolated environments
• Low entry prices for individual modules

Trade-offs:

• Each product tends to have its own console, database, and licence metric, a recurring theme in user reviews
• Reviewers mention a learning curve for advanced configuration and a functional but dated interface
• Support experiences are reported as uneven
• Security capabilities are licensed separately, so the full-stack cost is hard to see from list prices
• Not in the MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise 2025 evaluation or the Forrester XDR Wave

Pricing. Published starting prices for Patch Manager Plus, as of September 2026, are under $1 per endpoint per month for Professional and about $1 per endpoint per month for Enterprise. The EDR add-on is priced on top of the Endpoint Central base licence:

NGAV, Vulnerability Manager Plus, Endpoint DLP Plus, and Log360 are priced separately. Ask for an itemised quote.

1. Heimdal

What it is. We’re a unified security platform with more than 10 natively integrated modules, all running from one agent and one console. Buy a module standalone, take the full platform, or hand detection and response to our managed service. Founded in Copenhagen in 2014. Today we protect more than 3 million endpoints for over 20,000 customers.

Best for. Mid-market and enterprise teams replacing a patching, antivirus, privileged access, and DNS filtering stack with one vendor, with the option to hand 24/7 response to our SOC.

How we map to the ManageEngine security stack:

Key strengths:

• Patching that runs fast. As of September 2026, we deliver automated OS and third-party patching for 350+ applications, with updates available within four hours of release. Infinity Management extends that to custom and in-house software. ManageEngine’s published catalogue is larger by count, so check your own software list against both.
• Full privileged access, not just elevation. PEDM handles just-in-time elevation with approval workflows and a full audit trail. PASM adds a credential vault, session monitoring, recording, and playback over RDP and SSH. Application Control with AppFencing™ controls what can run and what a running application is allowed to spawn. All three sit in the same console as patching and EDR, and Application Control can be tied directly to PEDM policy.
• DNS-layer prevention. DNS Security uses Predictive DNS, an AI and ML-driven analysis that flags malicious domains before threats fully materialise. It has been live in the platform for some time.
• Email fraud detection. Email Fraud Prevention uses AI-led outlier detection to catch impersonation, CEO fraud and out-of-character messages across inbound and outbound mail.
• One place to hunt and act. The Threat-hunting and Action Center pulls every module’s telemetry into one view with MITRE ATT&CK-catalogued events and risk scores. Response actions include isolating an endpoint, quarantining a file, blocking a domain, denying an elevation, and deleting an email.
• AI Wingman. Built on top of those existing capabilities, AI Wingman is a cross-platform intelligence layer delivered in phases. AI Wingman Assist gives platform guidance in the dashboard. AI Wingman Triage uses multi-agent systems to help validate incidents and is included with TAC. AI Wingman SOC accelerates investigations in our managed SOC and is included with TAC plus MXDR.
• EU headquarters. Relevant if data sovereignty is on your requirements list.

Independent validation. We were named in the Gartner Europe Context Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection in May 2026. In August 2026 we were listed as a representative vendor in Gartner’s Market Overview for Workspace Cybersecurity Platforms, alongside vendors including Microsoft, CrowdStrike, and Sophos. We also have an analyst relationship with Forrester and expect a report to publish soon.

Our MITRE ATT&CK coverage is publicly mapped on the Tidal Cyber Registry. Search for Heimdal and you can see exactly which attack techniques and sub-techniques we detect and stop, down to the sub-technique level. We haven’t paid to participate in the MITRE Engenuity Evaluations, which are a vendor-funded programme. Our coverage is transparent and independently verifiable at any time. Pull the mapping into your PoC scorecard and compare it directly against ManageEngine’s EDR add-on or any other vendor on your list.

Trade-offs:

• Scale. We’re smaller than the platform leaders on this list.
• Not a SIEM replacement. If you need multi-year log retention across hundreds of third-party sources, keep a SIEM alongside us.
• Linux coverage is module-specific. As of September 2026, Patch and Asset Management supports Linux (Debian and Ubuntu), and PASM manages privileged sessions to Linux servers over SSH. Next-Gen Antivirus and Firewall, Ransomware Encryption Protection, DNS Security for endpoints, and PEDM support Windows and macOS, with Android for some modules, but not Linux. If you need endpoint protection on Linux servers, scope that during your PoC.
• Hardware monitoring. Hardware health insight and alerting are lighter than in dedicated IT operations tools.

Pricing. Use our pricing calculator for an instant estimate. Pick your modules and endpoint count and you get a price on the page and by email. Monthly, one-year, three-year, and five-year terms are available.

2. Microsoft Defender XDR

What it is. Native XDR across Defender for Endpoint, Defender for Office 365, Defender for Identity, and Defender for Cloud Apps, included in Microsoft 365 E5.

Best for. Organisations already on Microsoft 365 E5 that want to use security licences they already pay for.

Key strengths:

• Strong licensing economics if you’re already on E5
• Deep identity integration with Entra ID
• Microsoft Security Copilot for AI-assisted investigation
• Microsoft announced it was named a Leader in The Forrester Wave: XDR Platforms, Q2 2026, with the highest score in the Strategy category

Trade-offs:

• Licensing is complex, and the value depends on standardising on Microsoft
• Defender Vulnerability Management identifies and prioritises vulnerabilities, but patch deployment typically runs through Intune, SCCM, or another tool
• Microsoft withdrew from the MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise 2025 evaluation in June 2025

Pricing. Included in Microsoft 365 E5. Standalone Defender plan pricing depends on your licensing agreement. Check with Microsoft or your licensing partner.

3. CrowdStrike Falcon Insight XDR

What it is. A cloud-native, single-agent platform known for threat intelligence and hunting, with Charlotte AI for investigation and Falcon Next-Gen SIEM for log data.

Best for. Enterprises with an established SOC that want intelligence depth and are prepared to pay for it.

Key strengths:

• Strong threat intelligence and managed hunting options
• CrowdStrike announced it was named a Leader in The Forrester Wave: XDR Platforms, Q2 2026, with the highest score in the Current Offering category
• Participated in MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise 2025
• A path to SIEM consolidation through Falcon Next-Gen SIEM

Trade-offs:

• Premium pricing, and modular add-ons add up quickly
• No native third-party patch deployment
• In July 2024, a faulty content update caused a global Windows outage that Microsoft estimated affected about 8.5 million devices. Buyers often ask about update-staging controls in evaluations as a result.

Pricing. CrowdStrike publishes per-device prices, as of September 2026:

• Falcon Go: $59.99 per device per year (limited to 100 devices)
• Falcon Pro: $99.99 per device per year
• Falcon Enterprise: $184.99 per device per year
• Falcon Complete Next-Gen MDR: contact sales

Add-ons such as identity protection and firewall management cost extra.

4. SentinelOne Singularity

What it is. An autonomous endpoint agent with EPP and EDR in one, plus Purple AI for investigation and optional identity threat detection.

Best for. Lean teams that value automated response and fast recovery from ransomware.

Key strengths:

• Documented one-click rollback on Windows using Volume Shadow Copy
• Autonomous on-agent detection and response
• Identity detection and response in the Commercial tier
• Reported as a participant in The Forrester Wave: XDR Platforms, Q2 2026

Trade-offs:

• Withdrew from the MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise 2025 evaluation
• No native third-party patch deployment
• Data retention differs by tier (14 days in Complete, 90 days in Commercial)

Pricing. SentinelOne publishes list prices for five to 100 workstations, as of September 2026. Singularity Complete is $179.99 per endpoint per year and Singularity Commercial is $229.99 per endpoint per year. Singularity Enterprise is contact sales. Purchases go through partners, and partner pricing may differ.

5. Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR

What it is. An XDR platform with strong correlation of network and endpoint signals and a migration path to Cortex XSIAM.

Best for. Organisations with a large Palo Alto firewall estate that want endpoint and network data in one analytics layer.

Key strengths:

• Network and endpoint correlation, especially with Palo Alto firewalls in place
• A path toward SOC platform consolidation through XSIAM
• Reported as a participant in The Forrester Wave: XDR Platforms, Q2 2026

Trade-offs:

• In practice, cost and operational complexity can be high for mid-market teams
• Withdrew from the MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise 2025 evaluation
• No native third-party patch deployment

Pricing. Not published. Contact Palo Alto Networks or a partner.

6. Sophos XDR with Sophos MDR

What it is. XDR that correlates endpoint, firewall, and email telemetry and is closely tied to Sophos MDR. Sophos completed its acquisition of Secureworks, including the Taegis platform, in February 2025.

Best for. Mid-market organisations that want XDR backed by an established managed detection service.

Key strengths:

• Tight integration between Sophos firewalls and endpoint protection
• A mature MDR service
• Participated in MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise 2025

Trade-offs:

• No native PEDM or PASM, so privileged access needs another tool
• Most value comes from running Sophos across endpoint and firewall
• In practice, integration of the Secureworks Taegis platform is still recent

Pricing. Not published as a list price. Contact Sophos or a partner.

7. Bitdefender GravityZone XDR

What it is. Endpoint-led XDR with risk analytics and an optional patch management add-on.

Best for. Mid-market teams that want strong endpoint prevention with the option to add patching.

Key strengths:

• Long record of high scores in independent AV-Comparatives and AV-TEST rounds (check the latest round before relying on specific results)
• Patch management available as an add-on in the same console
• Reported as a participant in The Forrester Wave: XDR Platforms, Q2 2026

Trade-offs:

• Patching and some XDR sensors are add-ons, so pricing depends on configuration
• No native PAM
• Did not take part in MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise 2025

Pricing. XDR-tier pricing is not published as a list price. Contact Bitdefender or a partner.

8. Trend Micro Vision One (TrendAI)

What it is. A broad-telemetry platform covering endpoint, email, cloud, network, and OT.

Best for. Organisations with mixed IT and OT environments that need wide sensor coverage.

Key strengths:

• One of the widest telemetry footprints in the category, including OT
• Participated in MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise 2025
• Reported as a participant, under the TrendAI name, in The Forrester Wave: XDR Platforms, Q2 2026

Trade-offs:

• In practice, this breadth brings configuration effort
• No native third-party patch deployment

Pricing. Not published as a list price. Contact Trend Micro or a partner.

9. ESET PROTECT with ESET Inspect

What it is. Endpoint protection with ESET Inspect adding EDR and XDR capabilities.

Best for. Mid-market teams that want a lighter endpoint-led platform with recent independent evaluation data.

Key strengths:

• Participated in MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise 2025
• Well established in the mid-market

Trade-offs:

• Narrower cross-domain correlation than the larger platforms
• No native PAM

Pricing. Check ESET’s current pricing page or contact a partner.

Also worth a look

• WithSecure Elements XDR. Participated in MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise 2025. A European vendor, which may matter for data residency.
• Cynet. Participated in MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise 2025. Cynet states that MDR is included at no additional cost.

Replacing ManageEngine’s IT tools instead?

If your project is about ServiceDesk Plus, OpManager, or Applications Manager rather than the security stack, you’re shopping in a different category of IT management software.

• ITSM (replacing ServiceDesk Plus). Freshservice, SysAid, ServiceNow and Jira Service Management are common shortlist names.
• Network monitoring (replacing OpManager). PRTG, Auvik and Datadog’s network monitoring tools are the usual comparison set.
• Observability and APM (replacing Applications Manager). Datadog, Dynatrace and New Relic are the usual starting points.
• RMM and patching (replacing Endpoint Central’s IT operations side). NinjaOne is a frequent choice as a unified endpoint management platform for device management and patching. It relies on integrated third-party antivirus and EDR rather than native XDR, so pair it with a security platform.

Which one fits your situation

• You run Endpoint Central for patching, your gap is security, and you want one agent for it. Heimdal, either as the full platform or starting with the modules that fill your gap.
• You want to keep Endpoint Central but fix third-party patching and asset visibility. Heimdal Patch and Asset Management on its own, running alongside Endpoint Central.
• No appetite for another vendor console, but privileged access needs locking down? Heimdal PEDM, PASM and Application Control with AppFencing™.
• You’re on Microsoft 365 E5 and your estate is mostly Windows. Microsoft Defender XDR, with Intune or another tool for patching.
• You have a staffed SOC and want intelligence depth. CrowdStrike Falcon Insight XDR.
• Small team, need automated response and fast ransomware recovery? SentinelOne Singularity fits that brief.
• Your network is built on Palo Alto firewalls. Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR.
• You want someone else running detection 24/7. Sophos MDR, CrowdStrike Falcon Complete, or Heimdal MXDR. Compare what each SOC actually does when it finds something.
• Heavily on-premises and happy with ManageEngine’s IT tools already? Staying put and adding its EDR and NGAV add-ons is a reasonable choice. Get the itemised quote first.

The right answer depends less on which vendor has the longest feature list and more on who will run it on a Tuesday night. Pick the operating model first, then the platform that fits it.

Frequently asked questions

Does ManageEngine have an XDR product?

ManageEngine offers an EDR add-on for Endpoint Central and positions Log360 as combining XDR-style agility with SIEM capabilities. As of September 2026, it does not market a separately named XDR product. Log360 is sold as a SIEM and security operations product.

What is the best ManageEngine alternative for endpoint security?

It depends on what you want to replace. If you want patching, antivirus, EDR, and privileged access from one agent and console, Heimdal maps most closely to the ManageEngine security stack. If you’re on Microsoft 365 E5, Defender XDR is the obvious starting point. For an enterprise SOC that wants intelligence depth, CrowdStrike is a common choice.

Can Heimdal replace Patch Manager Plus?

Yes. Our Patch and Asset Management module handles OS and third-party patching for 350+ applications, with updates available within four hours of release, plus custom software through Infinity Management. You can buy it on its own, like any of our modules, or as part of the platform. Check your installed software list against our catalogue during a PoC.

Does Heimdal support Linux?

Partly, and it depends on the module. As of September 2026, Patch and Asset Management supports Linux (Debian and Ubuntu), and PASM manages privileged SSH sessions to Linux servers. Our antivirus, firewall, ransomware protection, endpoint DNS, and PEDM modules support Windows and macOS, with Android for some, but not Linux.

How much does Heimdal cost?

Pricing depends on the modules you choose and your endpoint count. Our pricing calculator gives you an instant estimate on the page and by email.

How much does ManageEngine’s security stack cost?

As of September 2026, Patch Manager Plus starts at under $1 per endpoint per month. The Endpoint Central EDR add-on is listed at $995 a year for 50 workstations and $11,245 for 500, on top of the base licence. NGAV, vulnerability management, DLP, and Log360 are priced separately, so ask for an itemised quote covering everything you need.

Do I still need a SIEM if I buy XDR?

Often, yes. If you need long log retention across many third-party sources for compliance, a SIEM usually stays. XDR handles detection and response across your security controls. The two work together.

Can I run a new platform alongside ManageEngine during migration?

Usually, yes, and that’s the safest way to migrate. Plan a phased rollout, confirm that the two agents coexist without conflict, and migrate patch policies before you retire the old tool. Heimdal Patch and Asset Management is built to run alongside an existing UEM, so you can move one function at a time.

Which XDR vendors are Leaders in the Forrester Wave for 2026?

CrowdStrike and Microsoft have each announced they were named Leaders in The Forrester Wave: XDR Platforms, Q2 2026. Forrester invited seven vendors. Bitdefender, Elastic, Palo Alto Networks, SentinelOne, and TrendAI are reported as the other participants. Check Forrester’s published report for their exact placements.

Danny Mitchell

Head of Content at Heimdal. A journalist by trade who cares about helping MSPs and security teams make better decisions, enjoy their work, and see real results.