Carbon Black review (2026): is it worth it?
Endpoint and workload security from Broadcom, bought via partners
Black Friday: is there a Carbon Black sale?
Carbon Black report card
Weak · out of 4.0 · graded Nov 13, 2026
Best for large teams with a security staff
Carbon Black, now a Broadcom product, collects detailed activity data across endpoints, networks and workloads for security analysts. No prices, plans or supported operating systems are published, and you buy through a partner. Look elsewhere if you want to see a price before you talk to anyone.
Who Carbon Black is for
- Fits if you run a security team that wants detailed endpoint activity data
- Works for public-sector and larger organisations that already buy through partners
Who Carbon Black is not for
- Not for you if you want a published price, since the page offers only Buy via Partner and Contact Us
- Skip it if you are one person or a small shop, as it is aimed at security staff
- Watch out: the product was VMware Carbon Black before Broadcom's acquisition and the name has changed
- Watch out: plan tiers and supported operating systems are not listed on the page
- Too light for a free try: there is no trial or free plan on record
Why Carbon Black gets a 1.6
Five grades, each with its reason. The GPA is their average: an A is 4 points, an F is none.
- CValue for moneyNo price is published, so there is nothing to set against this category's $2.58 to $6.50 a month; the listing says it is by quote. Buying goes through a partner.
- FFree plan and trialNothing free on record: no free plan and no trial, and a demo request is not a trial.
- CFeaturesPrevention policies, detection and response and a workload product are named, but plan tiers and supported operating systems are not on the page, so the listing cannot show the whole job.
- CEase of useBusiness product with a console and agents to roll out; no store rating is on record and the listing shows setup work, so it sits at the ordinary grade.
- CPlatforms and integrationsOnly a cloud console is on record. No operating systems, phone apps or integrations are listed.
What these grades rest on. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Broadcom's own pages on 13 November 2026. The vendor's page could not be read in full when this was graded, so we went by the listing. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. How we review and grade.
Make Carbon Black? Put this grade on your site
Paste this where you want the badge. It links here and follows the grade if it changes. About badges
<a href="https://toolgpa.com/tools/vmware-carbon-black#review"><img src="https://toolgpa.com/badge/vmware-carbon-black.svg" alt="Carbon Black: 1.6 GPA on ToolGPA" width="196" height="56"></a>Where Carbon Black stands among antivirus apps
Carbon Black's GPA of 1.6 is higher than 3 of the 56 other antivirus apps we grade, and level with 2.
It stands best on platforms and integrations (C, above 10 of 56) and worst on free plan and trial (F, above 0).
Each grade against the category
Every bar is all 57 antivirus apps we grade, cut by the letter each got. Carbon Black’s own letter is outlined.
- CValue for moneyAbove 8 of 56, level with 37
- FFree plan and trialAbove 0 of 56, level with 11
- CFeaturesAbove 7 of 56, level with 28
- CEase of useAbove 2 of 56, level with 20
- CPlatforms and integrationsAbove 10 of 56, level with 10
Keep Carbon Black, or make your own?
Keep it
To replace Carbon Black you would be making an engine that recognises new malware as it appears. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one.
That makes this kind of software worth paying for, not this one in particular: 51 of the 56 other antivirus apps grade higher.
What you could not
- An engine that recognises new malware as it appears.
- Millions of server log lines read to see what search bots crawl.
What this rests on. Carbon Black’s listing: what it does, where it runs, what it plugs into and what it costs. It is a judgement about the kind of software this is. We have not built a replacement for it, and making your own means looking after it too. How we decide, and every tool’s verdict.
What is Carbon Black?
Carbon Black, formerly sold as VMware Carbon Black, is now a Broadcom product. It combines threat prevention with detection and response across endpoints, networks and workloads, managed from a cloud console, and it is bought through partners or by contacting Broadcom.
Worth knowing
- No prices or plans are published; the page offers Buy via Partner and Contact Us.
- The product was VMware Carbon Black before Broadcom's acquisition; the page now uses the name Carbon Black.
- Supported operating systems and the plan tiers are not listed on the page read, so platforms show only the cloud console.
Key features
- Threat prevention
- Policy-based controls aimed at stopping targeted attacks and preventing repeat attacks, with room to customize.
- Threat detection and response
- Collects detailed activity data across endpoints, networks and workloads so analysts can see an attack and contain its impact.
- Workload protection
- A Carbon Black Cloud Workload product is named on the page for protecting servers and cloud workloads.
- Cloud-managed agents
- Customers quoted on the page describe agent deployment and a cloud-managed model.
Carbon Black pricing
We could not confirm Carbon Black’s current pricing from its own site, so we are not listing plans here. See broadcom.com for current prices.
Carbon Black alternatives
- Carbon Black vs CrowdStrike Falcon Go
Free trial · from $59.99/yr
- Carbon Black vs Huntress
Free trial · from $8.99/mo
Common questions
Does Carbon Black have an Android app?
No Android app was listed when its pages were read on Nov 13, 2026. Carbon Black is listed for Web.
Does Carbon Black have an iPhone app?
No iPhone app was listed when its pages were read on Nov 13, 2026. Carbon Black is listed for Web.
Is Carbon Black open source?
Carbon Black is not described as open source on its own site, as read on Nov 13, 2026.
Sources for this page
The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 13, 2026.