CrowdStrike Falcon vs. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
CrowdStrike Falcon
Score 9.1 out of 10
N/A
CrowdStrike 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.
$6.99
per endpoint/month (for 5-250 endpoints, billed annually)
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
Score 8.3 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft 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
Pricing
CrowdStrike FalconMicrosoft Defender for Endpoint
Editions & Modules
Falcon Pro
$6.99
per endpoint/month (for 5-250 endpoints, billed annually)
Falcon Enterprise
$14.99
per endpoint/month (minimum number of endpoints applies)
Falcon Premium
$17.99
per endpoint/month (minimum number of endpoints applies)
Academic
$2.50
per user/per month
Standalone
$5.20
per user/per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
CrowdStrike FalconMicrosoft Defender for Endpoint
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
CrowdStrike FalconMicrosoft Defender for Endpoint
Considered Both Products
CrowdStrike Falcon
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 …
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.
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.
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 …
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 …
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
Chose Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
CrowdStrike Falcon EDR is one the Best solution available in Market ,However, I think they are lack in Threat visibility and Vulnerability assessment& Management for application versions & configurations .
Chose Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
Microsoft comes as a bundle suite and for other solutions the purchasing needs to be done separately.
Chose Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
I found CrowdStrike to be confusing and complex when it comes to managing assets and incidents around endpoints. While it provides quality intelligence, it lacks a more admin-friendly way of presenting that information. Hence, as I have mentioned in the previous points as well, …
Chose Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
Enterprise Endpoint Protection: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is well suited for large organizations with numerous endpoints, such as desktops, laptops, and servers, as it provides centralized management and monitoring of security across the entire network. Microsoft …
Chose Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is east to deploy, hence safed lot of efforts in implementation and management. When I evaluated CrowdStrike I found that not all threats are identified in it, which was a matter of concern for us. We also had issues with configuration and …
Chose Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
I would say Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is a little behind compared to those two market leaders in the space. However, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is easy to deploy and manage for windows devices and the cost is more reasonable.
Chose Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
Mostly it runs smoothly on host without impacting performance as other AVs like Symantec's impacts performance issue of host. Also because it's still a good product overall price range. Can upgrade to EDR solution with not much difficulty & onboarding on tool is not that …
Chose Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
CrowdStrike and Sentinel One, I believe. I think Microsoft's products far superior.
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
CrowdStrike FalconMicrosoft Defender for Endpoint
Endpoint Security
Comparison of Endpoint Security features of Product A and Product B
CrowdStrike Falcon
8.8
70 Ratings
3% above category average
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
8.2
51 Ratings
4% below category average
Anti-Exploit Technology8.963 Ratings8.049 Ratings
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)9.469 Ratings8.550 Ratings
Centralized Management8.570 Ratings7.950 Ratings
Hybrid Deployment Support8.24 Ratings7.810 Ratings
Infection Remediation8.967 Ratings8.250 Ratings
Vulnerability Management8.354 Ratings8.348 Ratings
Malware Detection9.369 Ratings8.551 Ratings
Best Alternatives
CrowdStrike FalconMicrosoft Defender for Endpoint
Small Businesses
SentinelOne Singularity
SentinelOne Singularity
Score 9.1 out of 10
SentinelOne Singularity
SentinelOne Singularity
Score 9.1 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
SentinelOne Singularity
SentinelOne Singularity
Score 9.1 out of 10
CrowdStrike Falcon
CrowdStrike Falcon
Score 9.1 out of 10
Enterprises
BeyondTrust Endpoint Privilege Management
BeyondTrust Endpoint Privilege Management
Score 8.7 out of 10
BeyondTrust Endpoint Privilege Management
BeyondTrust Endpoint Privilege Management
Score 8.7 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
CrowdStrike FalconMicrosoft Defender for Endpoint
Likelihood to Recommend
9.3
(73 ratings)
8.2
(71 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.5
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.1
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
10.0
(8 ratings)
9.0
(5 ratings)
In-Person Training
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
CrowdStrike FalconMicrosoft Defender for Endpoint
Likelihood to Recommend
CrowdStrike
I would highly recommend CrowdStrike Falcon to any organization serious about bolstering its cybersecurity defenses. The platform's effectiveness in threat detection, proactive mitigation, and scalability make it a valuable asset in today's ever-evolving threat landscape. Despite some learning curves and integration challenges, the return on investment and the overall security enhancement justify its strong recommendation.
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Microsoft
Usually we had lots two platforms tasked with scanning exposures, anti-malware and provision for information and threat management. But with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint we have an all inclusive platform that even integrate with other Microsoft security apps such as Microsoft Defender for Cloud for enhanced threat insights and visibility.
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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.
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Microsoft
  • It provides a unified security experience when combined with other Microsoft products such as Microsoft Defender for 365 and Azure Defender.
  • It has an excellent dashboard and centralized view that make it easy to see and control everything from one location.
  • It's an EDR tool designed to help you understand incidents and alerts better.
  • Real-time detection of attacks and prompt endpoint device responses. It effortlessly interacts with additional Microsoft security products.
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Cons
CrowdStrike
  • Sometimes updates to sensor versions fail, which requires manual intervention by internal staff members
  • The variety of different administrative privilege levels is vast and sometimes confusing
  • Proactive notifications confirming the health of the environment would be great instead of just reporting on potential issues
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Microsoft
  • Does not allow for remediation from the management console.
  • The ticket system doesn't alert the person assigned to the ticket.
  • You have to submit requests for whitelisting applications.
  • Scanning exclusions are tricky to find.
  • Adding devices, especially Apple devices, is very cumbersome.
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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.
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Microsoft
No answers on this topic
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.
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Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
CrowdStrike
Support is generally pretty fast and gets right to the issue. We haven't had to use them much, fortunately, but the issues and questions we've had are usually answered quickly. The customer success manager/account manager you're assigned will also follow up with you on a regular cadence to ensure you're getting the most out of the subscription. There's not a whole lot of room to improve, other than the general confusion about what is/what is not covered in custom packages you're subscribed to. The initial purchase took much longer because of a package name changes and realignments of different modules into those packages.
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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
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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.
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Microsoft
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.
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Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
CrowdStrike
CrowdStrike Falcon's cloud-native architecture gives it an edge in terms of scalability, ease of deployment, and real-time threat intelligence updates. The user interface of Falcon is intuitive and offers clear visibility into our organization's threat landscape. Our team felt more comfortable navigating Falcon's dashboard. CrowdStrike Falcon's API and integration capabilities meant we could easily incorporate it into our existing tech stack, enhancing our other tools. Falcon's seemed more flexible for our specific needs.
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Microsoft
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 about, why we chose them ? as mentioned, this is coming with our subscription
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Return on Investment
CrowdStrike
  • Centralized resource management means we need less tools to do the same job.
  • EDR data is massive and has to be factored into the overall cost of the product. You are exponentially punished for more devices.
  • CS has allowed larger coverage over devices and has discovered massive pockets of no protections.
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Microsoft
  • By providing robust threat protection, Defender for Endpoint can prevent downtime caused by security issues. Employees can work without interruptions, leading to increased productivity.
  • By significantly decreasing the frequency of security incidents like malware infections and data breaches, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint can protect your network. The cost of incident response, cleanup, and potential regulatory fines are reduced as a result of the decrease in events.
  • The implementation and configuration of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint may require an initial investment in licensing, training, and deployment, which can temporarily affect ROI.
  • The cost of licensing can be substantial, especially for larger organizations. This cost needs to be factored into the ROI calculation.
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ScreenShots

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Screenshots

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