ESET Product Review: Pricing & Features

Antivirus solutions have long been a staple of cybersecurity practices. However, antivirus is no longer enough to protect an entire organization’s infrastructure. 

Some antivirus solutions have expanded their offerings to include a more comprehensive suite of security tools to match the needs of modern organizations. These solutions must be manageable from a centralized platform and must provide visibility into the security posture of a network. ESET is one such vendor that has expanded its antivirus solution.

About ESET

ESET was founded in Slovakia solely as an antivirus product and has provided security solutions for over 30 years. The current version of its product implements multiple layers of protection to detect malware before, during and after execution. The multiple layers are able to:

• Protect against ransomware
• Block targeted attacks
• Prevent data breaches
• Stop fileless attacks
• Detect advanced persistent threats

The combination of machine learning, advanced behavior analytics, big data and human expertise from the ESET R&D centers located around the world ensure that the solution is prepared to take on the newest and most advanced threats. ESET acts as a single point of network security management and is available as both a cloud-based or on-premises solution.

Notable features

ESET’s malware engine and ransomware shield are powerful tools for detecting signs of infection. The solutions continuously monitor network activity and compare it to known signatures of malicious behaviors. The ESET Live Grid cloud lab uses machine learning to identify new threats and continuously distributes those malicious signatures to all of its users.

The Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) scanner is a valuable tool for protecting firmware. Capabilities for scanning firmware are not common in antimalware solutions, setting ESET ahead of the competition in this vertical. This tool can detect persistent malware that survives system reinstallation, reboots and newly installed hardware. 

ESET’s Antispam feature is also a valuable asset for bolstering data integrity. This tool can block suspicious emails that may contain spyware, ransomware and phishing websites. Antispam can also identify patterns of malicious emails to prepare for similar techniques in the future.

ESET plans

ESET offers three different business plans that vary in price by how many devices it will cover. The following prices reflect having five devices per plan:

• ESET Protect Entry: $239 per year
• ESET Protect Advanced: $310.50 per year for 5 devices
  • Adds Full Disk Encryption and Cloud Sandbox
• ESET Protect Complete: $382.50 per year for 5 devices
  • Adds Full Disk Encryption, Cloud Sandbox, Mail Security and Cloud App Protection