eset Protect Complete

What is included in ESET PROTECT Complete?

ESET PROTECT console – Central management, available as cloud or on-premises deployment.
Endpoint and server protection – Covers Windows, macOS and Linux workstations and servers.
Vulnerability and Patch Management – Scans operating systems and third-party applications, then patches them.
ESET Full Disk Encryption – Encrypts Windows and macOS system disks from the console.
Mail and cloud protection – Exchange servers plus Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace.
Important – EDR is not included; ESET Inspect needs Elite or an add-on.

What are the main benefits of ESET PROTECT Complete?

ESET PROTECT Complete is the prevention-focused upper tier of the ESET PROTECT platform, bundling endpoint, server, mobile, mail and cloud application protection under one console that runs either in ESET's cloud or on a server you host yourself. Its cloud sandbox module was previously sold as ESET Dynamic Threat Defense and is now called ESET LiveGuard Advanced, which is worth knowing when you compare an older quote against a current one.

One agent stack – One management agent carries antivirus, encryption and patching.
Cloud sandbox – Suspicious files detonate off-network before reaching your users.
Mobile fleet control – Android antimalware and anti-theft, iOS and iPadOS via MDM.
Cloud workload protection – Covers virtual machines on Azure, AWS and Google Cloud.
Evidence-ready reporting – Over 170 built-in reports drawn from console data.
Deployment choice – The same subscription runs cloud or on-premises management.

Best antivirus? Why Windows Defender alone is not enough
Explains where the built-in Windows protection stops and what a managed security suite adds on top of it.

Which company size is ESET PROTECT Complete suitable for?

This tier fits organisations that need one console for laptops, servers, mobiles and mailboxes but do not employ anyone whose job is to watch security alerts all day. The Swiss reporting obligation follows sector, not headcount, so a small utility can be in scope while a larger retailer is not.

Does ESET PROTECT Complete meet the requirements of Swiss cybersecurity legislation?

The Swiss obligation applies to operators of critical infrastructure, not to companies by size, so most SMEs buying this tier are not directly in scope. Since 1 April 2025 the revised Information Security Act and the Cybersecurity Ordinance require organisations in scope, such as energy and drinking water suppliers, transport companies and cantonal and communal administrations, to report a significant cyberattack to the Federal Office for Cybersecurity (BACS) within 24 hours of discovering it. ESET PROTECT Complete supports that deadline in one concrete way: detection, firewall, HIPS and audit events from every managed device arrive timestamped in a single console, and the same categories can be forwarded to a Syslog server so your SIEM holds an independent copy for the report. What it does not give you is the attack chain around a detection, because root-cause analysis sits in ESET Inspect, which this tier does not include. It also cannot judge whether an incident is significant enough to report, and it does nothing for the organisational side of the obligation such as an on-call rota or a documented escalation path. This text is general product information and not legal advice.

Does ESET PROTECT Complete meet the requirements of European cybersecurity legislation?

No security product makes a company NIS 2 compliant, because the directive addresses governance, processes and reporting rather than software. NIS 2 requires essential and important entities to take risk management measures and names categories including incident handling, business continuity, supply chain security, vulnerability handling and disclosure, cyber hygiene and training, cryptography and encryption, access control, and multi-factor authentication. ESET PROTECT Complete maps onto several of these directly: vulnerability handling through Vulnerability and Patch Management, cryptography through full disk encryption on Windows and macOS, access control through permission sets and Active Directory synchronisation in the console, and part of incident handling through central detection logging with Syslog export. It does not cover multi-factor authentication, which ESET sells as ESET Secure Authentication from the Elite tier or as an add-on, and it does not cover business continuity or backup in any form. Supply chain security, staff training and the reporting process itself also stay outside the product and remain organisational work.

Does ESET PROTECT Complete help with security questionnaires from large customers?

Yes, for the prevention half of a typical questionnaire. With console evidence it answers whether endpoint protection is deployed and centrally managed, whether removable media are restricted through device control, whether laptop disks are encrypted, whether operating systems and third-party applications are scanned for vulnerabilities and patched, whether email is filtered before it reaches mailboxes, and whether administrator access is role-based and synchronised with Active Directory. It does not answer the detection and response half: there is no EDR telemetry, no root-cause timeline, no threat hunting and no 24/7 monitoring, and it will not answer questions on multi-factor authentication or on backup and recovery. If those items are what block a contract, moving to ESET PROTECT Elite adds ESET Inspect and multi-factor authentication inside the same console and the same agent, which is normally cheaper and faster to evidence than bolting a second vendor's EDR onto endpoints that already run an ESET agent. Backup stays a separate purchase in every ESET tier, so plan for it as its own line item rather than expecting a higher tier to absorb it.

What is the difference between ESET PROTECT Complete and ESET PROTECT Elite?

The decisive difference is detection and response: Elite includes ESET Inspect, ESET's EDR and XDR component, while Complete stops at prevention. Elite also adds multi-factor authentication through ESET Secure Authentication. Looking downwards, ESET PROTECT Advanced carries the same endpoint, server, mobile, encryption, cloud sandbox and cloud workload modules as Complete but leaves out mail server security, cloud application protection and vulnerability and patch management. If you run Microsoft 365 alongside an on-premises Exchange server, Complete is usually the cheaper route than Advanced plus those three bought separately.

Test: Best antivirus programs for Windows
Compares how the leading Windows security engines perform in independent testing and where each one is strongest.

Which limitations should you know before buying?

There is no ESET security app for iOS or iPadOS: those devices are covered by ESET Cloud MDM for device management only, while Android endpoints get full antimalware and anti-theft. Full disk encryption runs on Windows and macOS but not on Linux, and on-premises mail protection covers Microsoft Exchange, so other mail platforms fall outside this tier. Vulnerability and patch management scope varies by operating system and on Linux is limited to supported distributions, which matters if your server estate is mixed. For evaluation, the self-service trial covers the Advanced tier, so testing cloud application protection and mail server security means contacting ESET sales first. No feature in this tier is restricted to the United States or the United Kingdom: the cloud console runs on Microsoft Azure with the physical region following your selection, and ESET's business data processing agreement commits to the European Economic Area or a country the European Commission has designated as adequate.

Data loss is expensive: How backups help you avoid outages
Covers why endpoint protection and backup solve different problems and how to plan the recovery side separately.

Frequently asked questions about ESET PROTECT Complete

Does this tier require a management server in your own data centre?

No. The same subscription covers both ESET PROTECT in ESET's cloud and ESET PROTECT On-Prem, which you host on your own Windows or Linux server. Choosing on-premises means you also own the console database, its backups and its patching.

Which ESET products are actually installed under this tier?

Modern Endpoint Protection installs ESET Endpoint Security or ESET Endpoint Antivirus for Windows, macOS and Linux; Server Security installs ESET Server Security for Windows Server or Linux; the sandbox is ESET LiveGuard Advanced; mail server protection is ESET Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange Server; and cloud application protection is ESET Cloud Office Security. Knowing these names makes it much easier to match ESET knowledge base articles and older quotations to what you have bought.

Does it protect virtual machines running in a public cloud?

Yes. Cloud Workload Protection covers Windows and Linux virtual machines on Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud Platform, managed from the same console as your on-site devices. You connect it by linking the relevant cloud subscription, so the cloud account itself stays a prerequisite.