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Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks vs Tanium comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 18, 2026

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Net...
Ranking in Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
5th
Ranking in Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
8th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
103
Ranking in other categories
Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (7th), Ransomware Protection (2nd), AI-Powered Cybersecurity Platforms (2nd)
Tanium
Ranking in Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
21st
Ranking in Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
21st
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
Server Monitoring (3rd), Vulnerability Management (23rd), Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) (7th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) category, the mindshare of Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is 3.3%, down from 4.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Tanium is 2.2%, down from 2.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks3.3%
Tanium2.2%
Other94.5%
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
 

Featured Reviews

ABHISHEK_SINGH - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Process Expert at A.P. Moller - Maersk
Gained full visibility and streamlined threat detection through behavior-based insights and AI integration
Initially, we got to have a lot of false positives when we onboarded, but nowadays it's quite smooth. We have fine-tuned our security policies and allowed different levels of policies to get rid of those false positives. Currently, we are getting a fairly good amount of incidents that are not false positives or benign, but actionable items. The process is streamlined. In the initial days, the operations used to get involved in a lot of benign and other activities, but now the process is streamlined. We are leveraging the auto-detection and remediation plans. The operations teams are now more involved in other business roles as well, not just looking into the logs and fetching out what's happening there. They have fixed a lot of things. Initially, they didn't have IAC code drift detection, cloud posture management, or security posture management, but they have those now. They purchased different vendors and did a merger with that. They have now Prisma Cloud that gets integrated and now they are working with Cortex Cloud. Everything that was negative has now been addressed, and the product altogether looks to be in a very better and mature shape now. Currently, it's more or less detecting the workloads with AI-based best practices. Since most organizations are consuming AI agents and other things, we are looking forward to seeing what other feature enhancements Palo Alto can support in that.
VK
Infra Vulnarability Manager at Rezilyens
Immediate results in patching promptly address vulnerabilities
When working with Tanium, there are some older devices that haven't been patched for a long time, and certain patches are not included in Tanium. I have to search outside to download patches, create bundles, and then perform the task. It would be easier if Tanium provided the patches directly. Some other brands provide the patch with a direct download link, which facilitates the process. Also, I feel that if there were more detailed documents and remediations readily available online for troubleshooting, especially more up-to-date information, it would be beneficial. Currently, some resources online are very out-of-date.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The live terminal is probably the best thing ever. It gives you the access to get straight onto any machine."
"The most valuable for us is the correlation feature."
"Threat identification and detection are the most valuable features of this solution."
"Cortex is the best tool for endpoint detection, and I have used it to verify hashes or domains to identify malicious activity, trigger playbooks that automate and gather endpoint logs, block malicious processes, and update incident tickets, showcasing end-to-end processes with automation in investigation and reducing the analysis workflow."
"The tool is designed to scale for large enterprises and handle large volumes of data."
"I like the centralized console and the predictive analysis it does of malware. It is very stable and also scalable."
"Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is easy to use and does not consume a lot of hardware resources."
"One of the main benefits of the solution is its intelligence to correlate the events into an incident."
"I like the tool's incident response and security patching."
"When I push a quick update, it's done right away, and I can rescan immediately to confirm completion within minutes."
"The security features are very valuable."
"For incident response tasks, all these tasks can get done in minutes with minimal disruption to the end-user."
"I would say Tanium is the best tool for vulnerability management."
"The product is granular and can build complex roles compared to other EDR vendors."
"Tanium's most valuable feature is its instant discovery aspect."
"The interrogation piece was the most valuable feature because it was very detailed."
 

Cons

"Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks could improve by offering remote management. It would be useful to look at the client's issue to fix it."
"The setup is quite easy. We had appropriate support from the manager. One thing that was missing was the integration part."
"Currently, if you use Palo Alto endpoint protection as the only solution it's very complicated to remove pre-existing threats."
"Additionally, I think the price is very high, and if it can be adjusted, I believe it will be a very good solution."
"There are some third-party solutions that are difficult to integrate with, which is something that can be improved."
"It's not an ideal choice for smaller businesses, as you need a minimum of 200 endpoints to even use the solution at all."
"While using Cortex, I noticed some aspects that could be improved, such as increasing the synchronization speed between XDR and Xnor."
"Being able to filter the events to see those that are related to the actual alert would save time spent by the engineer."
"We had some issues with the solution's OS upgrade."
"The solution needs to improve the reporting and tracking capabilities."
"The main issues are the network connection because different customers have issues with their networks. It's difficult implementing this type of solution because the network is the main feature in the architecture for these types of solutions. Tanium could improve by creating some network optimization."
"I would like to have more integrations and custom plugins to input. Integration is always a big deal in a lot of different environments."
"Tanium’s scalability could be improved."
"Most of the time, agent-relative issues have to be more equipped with self-healing features. At times, the agent is there, but for some reason, it doesn't report a status. It gives certain problems that are obviously agent-based."
"Any movement into a SaaS solution has challenges since the processes and data flows are not well defined. Hence, you need to build it at the same time."
"The most painful thing is the interface. It's a bit unclear sometimes."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I don't like that they have different types of licenses."
"It is present, but when compared to other competitive products, I would say it is not less expensive; however, when all of the other added values are considered, the price is reasonable."
"The cost depends on your chosen license type, like Pro or other licenses."
"I don't have any issues with the pricing. We are satisfied with the price."
"It is cost-effective compared to similar solutions. It fits for the small businesses through to the big businesses."
"Very costly product."
"Cortex XDR’s pricing is very reasonable."
"The price was fine."
"It's an expensive solution. It would be nice if the cost were lower."
"The solution offers value for money."
"Tanium is a more expensive solution in Latin America than some of the competitors, such as BigFix."
"The solution is expensive but it's a good investment."
"The product's pricing differs from region to region depending on negotiations and the number of endpoints."
"There is an annual license required to use this solution."
"It is higher than some competitors in the market."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
6%
Financial Services Firm
16%
Government
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business43
Midsize Enterprise20
Large Enterprise44
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise11
 

Questions from the Community

Cortex XDR by Palo Alto vs. Sentinel One
Cortex XDR by Palo Alto vs. SentinelOne SentinelOne offers very detailed specifics with regard to risks or attacks. The ability to reverse damage caused by ransomware with minimal interruptions to...
Comparing CrowdStrike Falcon to Cortex XDR (Palo Alto)
Cortex XDR by Palo Alto vs. CrowdStrike Falcon Both Cortex XDR and Crowd Strike Falcon offer cloud-based solutions that are very scalable, secure, and user-friendly. Cortex XDR by Palo Alto offers ...
How is Cortex XDR compared with Microsoft Defender?
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is a cloud-delivered endpoint security solution. The tool reduces the attack surface, applies behavioral-based endpoint protection and response, and includes risk-ba...
What needs improvement with Tanium?
While there is always room for improvement, I am pleased with Tanium.
What is your primary use case for Tanium?
The primary use case for Tanium ( /products/tanium-reviews ) is compliance, patching, and inventory as part of the core functions.
What advice do you have for others considering Tanium?
For smaller companies, Tanium is quite a big investment, and one needs to have a considerable setup to make it economically viable. I would recommend it to others with a similar use case. The solut...
 

Also Known As

Cyvera, Cortex XDR, Palo Alto Networks Traps
Tanium Inc Cloud, Tanium XEM
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

CBI Health Group, University Honda, VakifBank
JPMorgan Chase, eBay, Amazon, US Bank, MetLife, pwc, Cerner, Delphi, MGM Grand, New York Life
Find out what your peers are saying about Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks vs. Tanium and other solutions. Updated: January 2026.
880,901 professionals have used our research since 2012.