Huntress vs WatchGuard Endpoint Security (2026): which should you pick?

Pick Huntress if

• Fits if you run IT for several small businesses and want a security team watching
• Works for a company with endpoints to cover and no in-house analysts

Look elsewhere if

• Skip it if you're a home user, as there's no consumer plan
• Not for you if you want a free plan, as the pricing page lists none
• Pricey if you want a plain antivirus: $8.99 per endpoint a month is a managed service price
• Watch out: pricing is list price, quotes come from a demo form, the term is 12 months and multi-year price protection isn't offered

Pick WatchGuard Endpoint Security if

• Fits if you manage many small customers from one console
• Works for teams that want a 24/7 managed EDR service on top

Look elsewhere if

• Not for you if you want a published price, since the page says contact sales
• Skip it if you need response tools on the lowest tier: Basic has none
• Pricey if you add patching or full-disk encryption, which are paid modules
• Watch out: advanced investigation tools are in Elite only
• Too light for a free try: no trial or free plan is on record

Huntress

• Pricing shown is MSRP and falls as volume rises; exact quotes come from a demo form, and Huntress says it is channel-first and sells mostly through partners.
• The standard term is 12 months, and the pricing FAQ says multi-year price protection is not offered.
• Business product only: there is no consumer plan, and the pricing page lists no free plan.
• Each product is priced on a different unit: endpoints, identities, data sources or learners.

WatchGuard Endpoint Security

• No prices are published on the product page; the page directs buyers to contact sales.
• Supported operating systems are not listed on the page read, so platforms here show only the cloud console.
• Anti-exploit and response features are not in the Basic tier, and advanced investigation tools are in Elite only.
• Patch management and full-disk encryption are add-on modules.

Huntress

Managed EDR

A lightweight agent for Windows and macOS, with Linux also covered, feeds detections to the Huntress SOC, which investigates and remediates.

Free managed antivirus

The Managed EDR price includes managed antivirus, so the product can stand in for a conventional antivirus on a business machine.

Identity threat detection

Managed ITDR looks for privilege escalation, suspicious logins and mail flow manipulation in Microsoft 365 and Google accounts.

Athena engine

The site describes Athena as agentic AI that investigates every alert alongside the human SOC analysts.

Incident reporting

Custom incident reports come with Managed EDR and Managed ITDR at no extra cost, according to the pricing page.

Log collection and training

Managed SIEM correlates logs from many sources, and Managed SAT runs phishing simulations and training for employees.

WatchGuard Endpoint Security

Four endpoint tiers

A comparison table lists Basic, Prime, 360 and Elite. All four have malware and ransomware protection and AI-based behavioral detections.

Detection and response

Anti-exploit detections, endpoint isolation and response, MITRE ATT&CK-mapped alerts and root cause analysis start at the second tier.

Zero-trust application service

Appears in the upper two tiers, together with lateral movement detection and containment; advanced investigation tools are Elite only.

Managed EDR

A 24/7 service where WatchGuard's security experts monitor and investigate threats on top of the endpoint product.

Add-on modules and multi-tenant console

Modules cover patch management, deeper visibility and full-disk encryption, and one cloud console can manage many customer tenants.

Huntress

• Managed EDR$8.99

  per endpoint / month, MSRP

  24/7 detection and response by the SOC, remediation, incident reporting and managed antivirus. Rate falls with volume.

• Managed ITDR$4.80

  per licensed identity / month, MSRP

  Watches Microsoft 365 and Google identities for account takeover, suspicious policy changes and mail flow tampering.

• Managed SIEM$4.00

  per data source / month, MSRP

  Collects and correlates logs from endpoints, firewalls, cloud apps and identity systems, with pooled storage.

• Managed ISPM$4.00

  per licensed identity / month, MSRP

  Managed hardening of Microsoft 365 identity settings, with drift fixed in about 15 minutes, as the page says.

• Managed SAT$2.08

  per learner / month, MSRP

  Managed security awareness training with phishing simulation and automated reporting.

WatchGuard Endpoint Security

Pricing could not be confirmed. See watchguard.com.