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CrowdStrike Falcon vs. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs. Sophos Central Device Encryption

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    CrowdStrike Falcon

    Score9 out of 10
    N/ACrowdStrike offers the Falcon Endpoint Protection suite, an antivirus and endpoint protection system emphasizing threat detection, machine learning malware detection, and signature free updating. Additionally the available Falcon Spotlight module delivers vulnerability assessment with no performance impact, no additional agents, hardware, scheduled scans, firewall exceptions or admin credentials.

    $59.99

    per endpoint/month (minimum number of endpoints applies)

    Microsoft Defender for Endpoint

    Score8.8 out of 10
    N/AMicrosoft Defender for Endpoint (formerly Microsoft Defender ATP) is a holistic, cloud delivered endpoint security solution that includes risk-based vulnerability management and assessment, attack surface reduction, behavioral based and cloud-powered next generation protection, endpoint detection and response (EDR), automatic investigation and remediation, managed hunting services, rich APIs, and unified security management.

    $2.50

    per user/per month

    Sophos Central Device Encryption

    Score8.9 out of 10
    N/ASophos Central Device Encryption (formerly SafeGuard) is a full disk encryption solution, based on the technology acquired with Utimaco by Sophos in 2008. It provides full disk encryption for Windows and macOS, and enables users to confidentially share sensitive files. A password protected HTML wrapper ensures only recipients with the correct password can access a document.N/A
    Pricing
    CrowdStrike FalconMicrosoft Defender for EndpointSophos Central Device Encryption
    Editions & Modules
    Falcon Go (Small Business)
    $59.99
    per endpoint/month (minimum number of endpoints applies)
    Falcon Go (Small Business)
    $59.99
    Falcon Pro
    $99.99
    per endpoint/month (for 5-250 endpoints, billed annually)
    Falcon Enterprise
    $184.99
    per endpoint/month (minimum number of endpoints applies)
    Academic
    $2.50
    per user/per month
    Standalone
    $5.20
    per user/per month
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    CrowdStrike FalconMicrosoft Defender for EndpointSophos Central Device Encryption
    Free Trial
    YesYesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesNoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    CrowdStrike FalconMicrosoft Defender for EndpointSophos Central Device Encryption
    Considered Multiple Products
    CrowdStrike
    Chose CrowdStrike Falcon
    In my opinion, CrowdStrike Falcon provides superior detection and prevention capabilities over Jamf Protect. At the time we purchased (2017) CrowdStrike Falcon was more advanced than SentinelOne and Microsoft Defender for Endpoint.
    Incentivized
    Chose CrowdStrike Falcon
    At the time of purchase CrowdStrike provided the best featureset and value proposition for the organisation. The cloud first nature of the product and the mix of heuristic and behaviour based detection technologies was better than anything else that we looked at.
    Incentivized
    Chose CrowdStrike Falcon
    It was the easiest to deploy and manage, while the dashboard was also very clear and precise in terms of useful information.
    Another major reason in selection CrowdStrike Falcon was its AI and ML detection capabilities which really impressed us during evaluation. Other tools …
    Incentivized
    Chose CrowdStrike Falcon
    The logs analysis is very easy to use as it uses splunk in the backend. The automated SOAR features helps to save time and response on the incidents. The threat intelligence is very up-to-date with the recent cyber attacks.
    Incentivized
    Chose CrowdStrike Falcon
    Since CrowdStrike is a cloud-native platform, it reduces the need to maintain many servers on-premise and worldwide architecture. McAfee uses very high CPU and RAM resources on endpoints and servers.
    Identity protection feature is a huge step towards zero trust implementation.
    Incentivized
    Chose CrowdStrike Falcon
    CrowdStrike Falcon Endpoint certainly comes in with a slight price premium compared to other offerings, but when you're talking about your last line of defense against malware it's well worth it. From a feature perspective, many players offer similar feature sets but what sets …
    Incentivized
    Chose CrowdStrike Falcon
    I was not part of the selection process; however after speaking with the team that did make the call, the following where the key scenarios or features that ultimately made the decision.
    1. The number one decision from the support team was the client deployment and management of …
    Incentivized
    Microsoft
    Chose Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
    We moved on from Microsoft Defender for Endpoint to a different product, CrowdStrike Falcon. And it does a lot better at detecting threats and stopping them.
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
    CrowdStrike Falcon is also a good solution for endpoint protection which offer EDR Soultion, threat hunting and AI driven threat protection. Sophos Intercept X combines next-gen antivirus with advanced EDR capabilities with its deep learning technology, exploit prevention, and …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
    CrowdStrike Falcon, and Sentinel One are other big ones that we use a bit. Cisco Secure Endpoint we've evaluated as well. Cisco Secure Endpoint capability-wise doesn't match up to Defender, SentinelOne, and CrowdStrike both do, but the cost profiles are a bit higher. So most of …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
    SentinelOne, Hunters. There's been some other ones. I can't remember. Those are the most recent ones, though. CrowdStrike is the other one. For what I use it for right now, it's been fine. I haven't had anything I've needed more advanced than that. CrowdStrike and some of …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
    Microsoft has always been a secondary, aside from one company I've worked at. And the honest truth is that it's already on the endpoint and already part of the Microsoft stack in most companies; it's already there. I don't have to worry about deploying it. It's very effective …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
    So five years ago, when we were looking at all the different antivirus and endpoint protection, we looked at CrowdStrike, Palo Alto, put together a package with Google, and then a few other small startups in that area.
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
    I think from a price to feature, it's good.
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
    When building up policies, being independent is much easier compared to CrowdStrike, I would say.
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
    Say licensing and cost primarily. And from our evaluation and our use cases, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint did relatively the same thing.
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
    Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is the most cost effective solution considering our Microsoft 365 licensing status. While many 3rd party solutions are great and have been used over the years, in the non-profit world, cost is a huge driving factor of items. Coupled with …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
    Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is on par or exceeds the competitor products and provides an enterprise grade EDR solution. Based on the savings by bundling Microsoft products under the E5 license and the benefits it provides; it is an excellent choice for customers looking for …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
    Crowdstrike is the more feature complete product but licensing model and cost does not work well with the small business model. ESET PROTECT is considerably more complicated from a licensing perspective but once operational is a fine product.
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
    We use Microsoft Defender for Endpoint along with Crowdstrike on some of our critical systems as it enhances the protection we have for our environment.
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
    We previously used CrowdStrike on our servers. However, the seamless integration of Microsoft Defender (MD) with XDR and the entire Microsoft ecosystem led us to choose Microsoft Defender for Endpoint (MDE).
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
    Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is more advantageous in our windows heavy infrastructure and it was unparalled in the ease of integration with windows endpoints. Security breaches, system crashes and outages with other competitors like Crowdstrike made it easier for us to go …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
    Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is unique for its effortless deployment into the Microsoft ecosystem, where it taps the broadest set of threat intelligence from more than 1.5 billion endpoints. Its state-of-the-art AI-powered automated investigation and remediation minimize …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
    CrowdStrike and SentinelOne. CrowdStrike, you have to deploy it, but it's the defender, it's already baked into the operating system. Same thing with SentinelOne.
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
    Easier to integrate, less hidden fees, easier to maintain, and easier to update. Support is much better on the Microsoft side than CrowdStrike.
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
    Because this product is easier to use and has a lot of development and Microsoft's behind it.
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
    I have worked with CrowdStrike and Carbon Black. Because of the performance in Linux environments.
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
    Competitive Pricing
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
    Microsoft Defender for Endpoint stacks up well against it competitors. It detects malicious files faster than other tools like CrowdStrike.
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
    Microsoft comes as a bundle suite and for other solutions the purchasing needs to be done separately.
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
    in an overall protection sentinelone is providing better protection for us, but as it comes with subscription's limitation, we have to be really careful in managing the licenses, the MS Defender for endpoint is providing us a decent protection which we are not complaining …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
    I feel that Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is much better in protecting our Windows based devices as it is developed by Microsoft itself. However, it comes with a little price hike.
    Incentivized
    Sophos
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    98%
    Would buy again
    82 Answers
    96%
    Would buy again
    157 Answers
    100%
    Would buy again
    8 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    95%
    Delivers good value for the price
    75 Answers
    99%
    Delivers good value for the price
    146 Answers
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    8 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    84 Answers
    95%
    Happy with the feature set
    155 Answers
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    8 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    93%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    68 Answers
    97%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    130 Answers
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    8 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    96%
    Implementation went as expected
    75 Answers
    95%
    Implementation went as expected
    140 Answers
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    8 Answers
    Features
    CrowdStrike FalconMicrosoft Defender for EndpointSophos Central Device Encryption
    Endpoint Security
    Comparison of Endpoint Security features of CrowdStrike Falcon and Microsoft Defender for Endpoint and Sophos Central Device Encryption
    Feature
    CrowdStrike Falcon
    8.7
    98 Ratings
    2% above category average
    Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
    8.7
    79 Ratings
    2% above category average
    Sophos Central Device Encryption
    -
    Ratings
    Anti-Exploit Technology8.989 Ratings9.075 Ratings00 Ratings
    Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)9.296 Ratings9.179 Ratings00 Ratings
    Centralized Management8.997 Ratings8.679 Ratings00 Ratings
    Hybrid Deployment Support8.24 Ratings7.110 Ratings00 Ratings
    Infection Remediation8.993 Ratings9.077 Ratings00 Ratings
    Vulnerability Management7.772 Ratings8.774 Ratings00 Ratings
    Malware Detection9.396 Ratings9.278 Ratings00 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    CrowdStrike FalconMicrosoft Defender for EndpointSophos Central Device Encryption
    Small Businesses
    SentinelOne Singularity
    Score9 out of 10
    SentinelOne Singularity
    Score9 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Medium-sized Companies
    BlackBerry Protect (CylancePROTECT)
    Score9.1 out of 10
    BlackBerry Protect (CylancePROTECT)
    Score9.1 out of 10
    Symantec Encryption
    Score9.9 out of 10
    Enterprises
    ESET PROTECT
    Score8.8 out of 10
    ESET PROTECT
    Score8.8 out of 10
    Trellix Complete Data Protection
    Score8.7 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    CrowdStrike FalconMicrosoft Defender for EndpointSophos Central Device Encryption
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.9
    (101 ratings)
    8.9
    (169 ratings)
    8.9
    (11 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    10.0
    (3 ratings)
    8.4
    (10 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Usability
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    8.6
    (40 ratings)
    8.5
    (6 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    10.0
    (9 ratings)
    9.0
    (7 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Configurability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    CrowdStrike FalconMicrosoft Defender for EndpointSophos Central Device Encryption
    Likelihood to Recommend
    CrowdStrike
    Crowdstrike is a unified platform for monitoring endpoint devices, whether they're workstations, servers, cloud-native machines, or even mobile devices. It uses AI/ML to monitor anomalies and suspicious behavior, including zero-day attacks. It is suitable for large organizations but may be costlier or less appropriate for smaller organizations, those who want an on-prem EDR setup, and those who need custom scanning based on compliance requirements.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    If you have multiple endpoints in your environment, if you're looking to understand what your environment looks like, if you're trying to identify the health of your environment, or identify any risks or vulnerabilities in your environment pertaining to your endpoints and devices.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Sophos
    It is mid-level when it comes to running it by a non-IT person. I have no technical/IT training and can figure out on my own (or with a little web search) how to do most tasks. It may not be best for the very tech-challenged operator.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    CrowdStrike
    • The Log analysis is very detailed and easy to use.
    • Prevent and block all type of malwares.
    • Great threat intelligence which is very up-to-date with the recent cyber attacks
    • very user friendly in access and management
    • Automated feature of detecting, taking action and closing incidents using fusion workflow.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • The big thing for us is on endpoint, it kind of integrates with everything else that we already have because we use Microsoft completely. And so that helps us with being able to integrate, and send things over to Azure Sentinel as we need to as well.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Sophos
    • Centralised portal for both Anti Virus and Encryption
    • Internet-facing with the ability for global / multi region access for large organizations
    • Multi-level, built-in admin roles for different access levels for your Support Team. Also, you can define new roles to tailor to your organization
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    CrowdStrike
    • Support - we are often tasked with running down problems rather than being directed by support.
    • The sales staff we have dealt with are not very responsive or timely.
    • I believe this is a product built for installations of 300 users or more.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • I'd say building out summaries and log reviews for analysts reviewing incidents. So, pivoting from the alerts themselves to actually getting the detail underneath. Trying to understand what caused an alert, where they went from there, et cetera, et cetera. And then trying to get into deeper log review to take that investigation further can be a pain point.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Sophos
    • Interface is a little difficult to get Hands On. It can be simplified for better adaptability
    • XDR compatibility should be enhanced
    • More simplified white-books should be provided to train the non tech teams
    • Commercially also the cost should be improved for different industry segments
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    CrowdStrike
    Crowdstrike has a large suite of tools built for helping the engineers triage and respond to security event whenever identified. The ability to customize the security policies and implement more granular policies to different devices based on the functionality is unmatched. Crowdstrike provides so much of ability in a decent budget which ascertains the value for money or ROI.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    Cost add-ons for Security features is nickel and diming the process to keep pace with cybercrime. Limited Education budgets require us to be more pro-active in finding cost-effective measures to protect our devices, staff and students. Defender is a strong, well-featured product that is pricing itself out of the education market
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Sophos
    Solution is easy to use and administer
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    CrowdStrike
    I think it is a complete and very trustful XDR platform, with very few False Positives. It is very well supported by highly skilled professionals on all levels: from pre-sales engineers, Customer Account Managers and support engineers.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    Because it's hard to find things sometimes. I can find things now because I know where they are. But you have to work with it a little while to figure out how. I'd basically say it was a security tool designed by developers. So you have to get that mindset to find things. So a new hire, a new person in the SOC would have a difficult time. I know that's sitting in here, or that screen is in here somewhere. So it's gotten better.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Sophos
    I am pretty satisfied with Sophos Central Device Encryption's overall capabilities. It is easy to implement and ultimately brings more peace of mind because fewer tickets are generated. As a result, security within the organization is also improved. Another significant advantage is that you can quickly see the statuses in real time on the dashboards. This gives you a better overview and reduces the chance of missing minor security settings.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    CrowdStrike
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    Microsoft Defender for Endpoint chugs along just fine no matter what we throw at it and what systems it's running on. It doesn't take up a lot of resources either, so that's welcomed.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Sophos
    No answers on this topic
    Performance
    CrowdStrike
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is easy on memory and resources on clients.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Sophos
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    CrowdStrike
    Any time we need to engage the Crowdstrike Falcon Complete Team, their response is switch, thorough, and they are sure to not close out any request until the customer confirms that they have provided an acceptable resolution. If I ever need anything from the account team related to the product, I also get a response from them within minutes typically to address my question. Top notch customer service!
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    The first time I tried to onboard my macOS endpoints to MDE I struggled for quite a bit. I had to reach out to Microsoft's MDE support team. The tech was very helpful in walking me through the steps during a screen share session
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Sophos
    No answers on this topic
    In-Person Training
    CrowdStrike
    There is limited amount of learning that can be completed in an in-person training available. In my opinion, the self-paced learning provided by Falcon portal is more useful over in-person training. The support from Falcon is great and useful to overcome difficulties, if any.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Sophos
    No answers on this topic
    Online Training
    CrowdStrike
    The training provided by Crowdstrike Falcon is complete in terms of the depth of technical knowledge and teaches the users about going through with the platform. There are lots of jargons for different tools that Crowdstrike Falcon has and this training teaches them all which helps in managing the platform better. Plus, the regular knowledge checks are also very helpful for the end user.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Sophos
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation Rating
    CrowdStrike
    Read the documentation
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    Deployment was handled by our team here and everything went pretty smoothly. We did have a few hiccups in our test group, but that only took a bit to get ironed out.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Sophos
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    CrowdStrike
    It was just a legacy AV program onboarded during initial setup days. As the org. As it expanded, its threat landscape also grew, and we needed a next-gen solution to protect against evolving threat vectors. Falcon EDR was the one that solved all these in a single place.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    Particularly, we're evaluating Symantec Endpoint Protection, the commercial version. We've looked at eSet, a couple of the others, and it's much too heavy or difficult to manage, things like that. Ease of use, ease of integration. It's already there. It's super easy to update it with the regular OS updates and everything. So we can manage it whether we're using SCCM or Intune or Dato, it's very easy to deploy updates and manage things.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Sophos
    At that time, we chose Sophos based on the reputation and our partnership with our partner. And in general Sophos could give us more benefit than other competitors with the similar solution. However we do not feel comfortable to disclose information about comparison with other solutions. Despite that, we think Sophos could deliver our requirements very well with the cost that were reasonable for us.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Scalability
    CrowdStrike
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is easily scaled from small orgs to giant enterprises.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Sophos
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    CrowdStrike
    • CrowdStrike Falcon's proactive threat mitigation has significantly reduced the risk of successful cyber attacks, resulting in tangible savings related to potential data breaches or system compromises.
    • The cloud-native architecture and automated features have improved operational efficiency.
    • The platform's real-time visibility and threat hunting capabilities have drastically improved incident response times.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • I think the positive impact overall is that we do a lot of sitting in front of assessors- federal assessors, government assessors. And it really comes down to when the assessor has to think about another product that you're bringing in that's not Microsoft, it creates a lot of confusion, more paperwork, more explanation. But the positive impact is that they know it, everybody kind of knows Microsoft. And so when you tell them you have this endpoint for Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, they're like, okay. The questions go away, and it makes the overhead a lot less during an assessment.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Sophos
    • It's had a positive impact as it's allowed us to effectively secure hard drives with bitlocker encryption
    • A larger part of our work force works from home, and Sophos can be deployed remotely and will start encryption almost straight away on any computer that isn't already encrypted.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Screenshots

    Screenshot of blocked activitiesScreenshot of Detects & respondsScreenshot of discovers vulnerabilityScreenshot of Eliminates blind spotsScreenshot of Risk management