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CrowdStrike Falcon Insight XDR vs Zscaler Client Connector comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 11, 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...
Sponsored
Ranking in Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
5th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
115
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (4th), Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (4th), Ransomware Protection (2nd), AI-Powered Cybersecurity Platforms (1st)
CrowdStrike Falcon Insight XDR
Ranking in Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
138
Ranking in other categories
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) (6th), Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (3rd), Threat Intelligence Platforms (TIP) (2nd), Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (2nd), Attack Surface Management (ASM) (2nd), Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) (1st), AI-Powered Cybersecurity Platforms (3rd)
Zscaler Client Connector
Ranking in Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
25th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
5.9
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) category, the mindshare of Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is 3.7%, down from 3.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of CrowdStrike Falcon Insight XDR is 7.2%, down from 13.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zscaler Client Connector is 0.6%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
CrowdStrike Falcon7.2%
Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks3.7%
Zscaler Client Connector0.6%
Other88.5%
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
 

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.
Dipak M Gohil - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Manager at Jord International Pty Ltd
Efficient threat detection and seamless deployment improve overall security
The single panel console of CrowdStrike Falcon is very user-friendly, which is what we are looking for. Having multiple administrators between various offices with this single console gives us the ability to see all offices, branch offices, and partners, making it very useful to detect machines, identify machines, and check security risks. Everything in the single console is very useful. CrowdStrike Falcon has positively impacted our organization in terms of efficiency because it's very lightweight, easy to deploy, easy to manage, and works very efficiently. It quickly detects issues and doesn't have a signature-based system, so it works fast and takes immediate action.
DA
IT Support Admin at Kuehne & Nagel Inc.
Client activity has been monitored efficiently through in-depth log analysis and traffic filtering
I use the Zscaler speed test, and it is very nice. We use some logs from Zscaler Client Connector to collect data and see what is happening, such as if there is an interruption or something. There is a specific tunnel version that we have to use because, depending on the internet provider, some of them have lower speed, so we have some issues. This is because of the provider, not from Zscaler. We use Office 365 services and Office applications, and because some connections are slow and they do not have full coverage from the internet provider, we have some issues. If the speed is slow for Zscaler Client Connector connection, then we have issues because if the speed is not good, then Zscaler Client Connector goes down. This may be because they put some policy. Of course, if you use Office 365 services such as Outlook, the minimum bandwidth is 5 megabits and more, so this causes issues if the users do not have a good remote connection. This depends on the companies and the users, so they need to fix it. This is not from us or our company. It is very useful, and the logs are very helpful. When we go to logs, we understand what is happening.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Cortex is the best solution for avoiding security breaches, malware attacks, and other kinds of security issues."
"From the Palo Alto side, whatever they buy, they integrate that really well into their integration suite, and that makes a massive difference."
"From a single pane of glass, you can easily manage all of your endpoints."
"The initial setup isn't too bad."
"The product has an intuitive dashboard."
"The most valuable for us is the correlation feature."
"Its ability to react to cyber data attacks is awesome. That is pretty much the use of it. What blows your mind is the ability to access your assets remotely and see what is actually going on with them. You can not only see them in a console. You can also react very rapidly to your assets that are compromised."
"I recognize that Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is one of the best products in its category regarding capabilities."
"CrowdStrike enables the infrastructure managers to visualize all the events and get information about the network."
"The most valuable feature of CrowdStrike Falcon is its accuracy."
"The solution's reporting console is phenomenal, and I can get a lot of data out of it."
"The automatic alert feature is the most important feature of the solution."
"CrowdStrike Falcon offers a comprehensive dashboard that is highly effective in protecting against and blocking external infiltration attempts."
"The most valuable features of CrowdStrike Falcon include Falcon Fusion workflows and endpoint detection capabilities."
"The features we showcase to potential customers are prevention, malware protection, zero-day protection, and application scripting, and vulnerability assessment is another valuable feature."
"We like Falcon's network visibility. We can see how threats are evolving on PCS or in the company network. The solution's real-time incident response is very fast."
"The best features of Zscaler Client Connector are that it gives the client a much more transparent experience, as they don't have to worry about connecting to a VPN."
"Zscaler Client Connector is quite scalable, and I would rate its scalability as nine or ten out of ten."
"Zscaler Client Connector has eliminated VPN bottlenecks and outages, improved user productivity with instant secure access, and reduced help desk tickets related to VPN issues, overcoming 60% of VPN-related problems while allowing faster onboarding of remote users and better enforcement of zero-trust security policies."
"The real-time analytics feature in Zscaler Client Connector is another valuable feature called Digital Experience, or ZDX, which can easily identify the root cause of issues accessing public or internal resources and provide good analysis so relevant teams can quickly resolve them, making it a very good tool that helps customers."
"It is very useful, and the logs are very helpful; when we go to logs, we understand what is happening."
"The solution operates in the background seamlessly without the user noticing."
"I'd rate the solution nine out of ten."
"It is very important to see what is happening between the user and the applications that we have, and to filter the traffic from outbound traffic and inside traffic."
 

Cons

"The solution lags to the real-time scenarios here and there."
"The price could be a little lower."
"Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks could improve its user interface, which is more complicated compared to competitors such as SentinelOne."
"It would be good to have a better way to search for a file within the UI."
"It's more focused on network communication. If a customer wants to increase the level of protection and start working with documents, it's impossible to integrate these features into the system. It's more of a communication-oriented system than a content security-oriented system."
"The solution could improve by providing better integration with their own products and others."
"The deployment is pretty hard."
"Previously, the endpoint would leave the environment, not being on our VPN, essentially unable to interact with the server to upload files. It was unable to retrieve new file verdicts. It was using a thing called "local analysis" to determine if something was a malicious file or not. There was no dynamic analysis."
"We can do a threat analysis of any machine at any time, but that threat analysis is very limited."
"The ability to receive text alerts natively in the console would be kind of cool."
"We would like to be able to perform on-demand scanning, rather than relying on the scheduler."
"There is room for improvement in managing multiple customer IDs."
"One area for improvement in CrowdStrike Falcon could be the user interface and reports; it requires some improvements to be easily handled."
"There are a lot of open integrations, but they are external factors that cause dependencies on the integrator, not really on CrowdStrike, so it's a bit of a challenge as there is no comprehensive solution."
"Basically, they don't cover legacy OS or applications. That's the only issue we're concerned about."
"Dashboard creation is one of the areas for improvement in CrowdStrike Falcon. Sometimes, management asks for a custom dashboard, so my team has to collect data from CrowdStrike Falcon, integrate that in Splunk, then create the dashboard in Splunk. The Splunk dashboard is more elaborate, so the CrowdStrike Falcon dashboard needs improvement. Another area for improvement in the tool is the malware detection report, as it needs to be more detailed and include some graphics so that if you want to present that data in a nutshell, it's easier to do. For example, the report should consist of some graphical representation that shows a month's worth of data. In terms of an additional feature I'd like CrowdStrike Falcon to have, it's the device posture assessment feature that detects the device posture within the network. Whichever device connects to the corporate network, my company should be able to analyze the device posture. Then there should be communication with the network, which means that as soon as a device connects, CrowdStrike Falcon can assess the device posture, detect its corporate asset, and decide whether it should be allowed on the network."
"There is a hard learning curve for Zscaler Client Connector; their support isn't the greatest all the time."
"If the speed is slow for Zscaler Client Connector connection, then we have issues because if the speed is not good, then Zscaler Client Connector goes down."
"I rate this product nine out of ten because I have seen some minor instability issues after updates and some room for UI improvement for deeper analytics, with instances of major issues after updating the GCC that required rollbacks."
"There is room for improvement regarding the price of Zscaler Client Connector, as it is one of the most expensive solutions available."
"The stability of Zscaler Client Connector needs improvement, as it often disconnects and reconnects."
"Zscaler Client Connector is not low in cost; it is definitely on the higher side."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It has a yearly renewal."
"Compared to CrowdStrike, Cortex XDR is an expensive solution."
"The price of the solution could be reduced. I have customers that have voiced that the solution is good for the value but if I want to sell more of the solution the price reduction would help."
"The pricing is a little high. It is per user per year."
"It's about $55 per license on a yearly basis."
"The pricing seems fair, and I do like the licensing model. You use wherever they are, and it is elastic."
"Our license will require renewal in August, after which the maintenance will continue as usual."
"The price is on the higher side, but it's okay."
"The pricing is not bad. It's on the higher end of the market, but you get what you pay for."
"Crowdstrike Falcon is relatively cheap."
"We bought a very small number of licenses, then ran it for a year. We bought a 100 licenses for a year, so we didn't actually do a proof of concept. We just bought them. Then, the next year, we bought 10,000 licenses."
"The licensing model is straightforward. We choose the features we want and we then can download the package we want."
"CrowdStrike Falcon is one of the more expensive endpoint solutions on the market."
"The cost of CrowdStrike Falcon could be reduced. It is quite expensive if you compare it to other solutions, such as Blue Coat, Symantec, McAfee, or Kaspersky."
"CrowdStrike is well priced. On a yearly basis, it costs between $60 and $100 per user."
"CrowdStrike Falcon can be more expensive than some competitors, and its base price doesn't cover every feature."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Government
5%
Manufacturing Company
19%
Construction Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business46
Midsize Enterprise21
Large Enterprise54
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business54
Midsize Enterprise34
Large Enterprise63
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Large Enterprise5
 

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. ...
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 th...
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,...
How does Crowdstrike Falcon compare with Darktrace?
Both of these products perform similarly and have many outstanding attributes. CrowdStrike Falcon offers an amazing u...
How does Microsoft Defender for Endpoint compare with Crowdstrike Falcon?
The CrowdStrike solution delivers a lot of information about incidents. It has a very light sensor that will never pu...
Is Crowdstrike Falcon better than Trend Micro Deep Security?
I like that Crowdstrike allows me to easily correlate data between my firewalls. What’s most useful for my needs is t...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zscaler Client Connector?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that the pricing is fair, though it is a bit costly. It oper...
What needs improvement with Zscaler Client Connector?
For Zscaler Client Connector, I would appreciate more granular control over the client update rollout and slightly fa...
What is your primary use case for Zscaler Client Connector?
My main use case of Zscaler Client Connector is to provide secure, seamless access to the internet and internal appli...
 

Also Known As

Cyvera, Cortex XDR, Palo Alto Networks Traps
CrowdStrike Falcon XDR, CrowdStrike Falcon Threat Intelligence, CrowdStrike Identity Protection, CrowdStrike Falcon Surface, CrowdStrike Falcon Platform
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

CBI Health Group, University Honda, VakifBank
Information Not Available
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Find out what your peers are saying about CrowdStrike Falcon Insight XDR vs. Zscaler Client Connector and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
909,563 professionals have used our research since 2012.