Crowdstrike Falcon Endpoint Security and XDR vs Microsoft Defender for Endpoint comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary
Updated on Mar 20, 2022

We performed a comparison between Crowdstrike Falcon and Microsoft Defender for Endpoint based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.

  • Ease of Deployment: Users of Microsoft Defender For Endpoint provided mixed reviews regarding the solution’s deployment. Some reviewers said that the setup was easy and straightforward, while other users felt that the initial setup could be complex (especially in regards to the configuration of extra parts), and the deployment can take up to a few months depending on the size of the organization.

    Most CrowdStrike Falcon reviewers agreed that its deployment is a simple and quick process. Only one user reported the manual sensor deployment to be time-consuming.

  • Features: Users of both products were happy with their stability and scalability. Valuable features of Microsoft Defender For Endpoint include holistic integration with all Defender products and MCAS, data leak prevention, high stability, attack surface reduction controls, exploit prevention control, application control, scalability, ransomware, and auto-remediation as well as manual-remediation. There are certain things that users found were lacking. Some users mentioned that other vendors provide a lot more customization when it comes to integration; Others said they encountered some misbehavior between Microsoft Office Suite and Defender; Still other users felt the GUI could be better optimized, the monitoring could be better, onboarding could be a little faster, log collection could be easier, and that the dashboard could be more streamlined.

    CrowdStrike Falcon users noted the high level of threat detection. A few reviewers had difficulties with integrations and felt that CrowdStrike Falcon’s user interface needed improvements.

  • Pricing: Reviewers of both products agreed that their pricing is reasonable.

  • Service and Support: Reviewers of Microsoft Defender For Endpoint felt that their service and support were just average, while Crowdstrike falcon users gave it very positive reviews for technical support.

Comparison Results: All other things being equal, Crowdstrike Falcon is the favorite when it comes to both ease of deployment and customer service and support.

To learn more, read our detailed CrowdStrike Falcon vs. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Report (Updated: September 2023).
735,226 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"Fortinet is very user-friendly for customers.""Fortinet FortiEDR made our clients feel secure and more at ease, knowing that they had an EDR solution that would close the gap in their security posture.""Fortinet FortiEDR's scalability is quite good, and you can add licenses to the solution.""Forensics is a valuable feature of Fortinet FortiEDR.""The console is easy to read. I also like the scanning part and the ability to move assets from one to the other.""The stability is very good.""The solution was relatively easy to deploy.""The most valuable feature is the analysis, because of the beta structure."

More Fortinet FortiEDR Pros →

"CrowdStrike enables the infrastructure managers to visualize all the events and get information about the network.""The CS falcon agent is a lightweight agent compared with other agents of EDR products.""Everything we've done with CrowdStrike is due to Arctic Wolf. We don't even need to get alerts from CrowdStrike anymore. It'll send those to Arctic Wolf, and then Arctic Wolf analyzes those and let us know if there's a major issue.""The features I like the most are the response time and the dashboard are both excellent.""The CrowdStrike Falcon dashboard is good, and we haven't had any problems with it.""The stability is very good.""I have found the connection to search the hosts for detections very useful in CrowdStrike Falcon.""The initial setup was straightforward."

More CrowdStrike Falcon Pros →

"We are a Microsoft shop, and Defender is a Microsoft solution that provides some security at a reasonable cost.""Defender for Endpoint is a robust solution that works well out-of-the-box.""Microsoft Defender for Endpoint has been secure and there is zero maintenance required because it updates with Microsoft Windows.""Defender is stable, I haven't had any problems with viruses when using it, and it's easy to update.""The solution's threat protection is mostly AI and machine-learning based. That is the most important feature of the product. It also offers centralized management so I can remotely manage devices.""Its threat intelligence feature is beneficial. This solution smoothly integrates with SIEM.""This solution definitely increases our security posture. When you are reviewing your existing fleet or endpoints and based on the configuration that you put out of your Defender for Endpoint, you then receive a security score from Microsoft. Depending on what rules you have configured, what policies you have deployed, and what attack surface reduction rules that you have set up and deployed, it is almost gamifying information security in the sense that you are always trying to achieve a higher score. The more hardening you perform on your endpoints, the better score you receive. This generally tends to give you a better peace of mind, but also makes you secure at the same time.""One feature I like the most is vulnerability management, which shows any vulnerable software or OS present in my environment. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint provides a complete overview and also recommends the steps to mitigate the vulnerabilities or threats. Most of the other antivirus or EDR solutions generally don't provide vulnerability management. It is an add-on that Microsoft Defender for Endpoint provides."

More Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Pros →

Cons
"ZTNA can improve latency.""Cannot be used on mobile devices with a secure connection.""To improve Fortinet, we need to see more features and technology areas at the endpoint level introduced.""The only minor concern is occasional interference with desired programs.""Integration with Azure and SaaS provisioning tools could improve Fortinet FortiEDR.""The solution is not stable.""Everything with Fortinet having to do with their cloud services. They need to invest more in their internal infrastructure that they are running in the cloud. One of the things I find with their cloud environment compared to others' is that they go cheap on the equipment. So it causes some performance degradation.""Once, we had an event that was locked and blocked, but information about it came to us two or three days later."

More Fortinet FortiEDR Cons →

"Falcon could be improved with more function on the mobile end of things and better optimization with mobile devices.""On the firewall management side, there should be more granularity. There should also be more granularity for device control. Everything else is brilliant.""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.""The malware analysis could be improved, as that's what we use the solution for the most and that change would make it a better EDR tool.""Crowdstrike Falcon XDR can improve the integration. There are some locks on the cloud to on-premise integrations.""Tighter integration around XDR could be included.""I have experience with a product called SentinelOne, which has a feature that allows for the customization of query languages. I would like to see such a feature for CloudStrike.""CrowdStrike costs a little more than its competitors."

More CrowdStrike Falcon Cons →

"The profiling method currently in use is not very user-friendly and has ample scope for improvement.""Reporting could be improved. I would like to see how many security incidents occurred in the last six months, how many devices were highly exposed to security risks, and how many devices were actually compromised.""Our team's knowledge of the solution needs to be improved, and Microsoft could do a better job conveying the necessary information to users. We could proactively use the tool more and explore capabilities we are not yet utilizing.""Sometimes the software doesn't work the way we expect it to, and in those cases, we can't communicate with a device because it may be infected.""The solution can be more user-friendly.""Microsoft Defender for Endpoint can improve by making the reporting faster. It takes some time to reflect back to the administration portal of what has been updated. For example, out of 100 Computers, approximately 90 computers received updates, but when you check the administration portal over one or two days, you will only see 75, even though 90 were updated.""In terms of the architecture of the management infrastructure, we found that other technologies are more simple. Microsoft Defender could be simpler too.""The management console is something that can be improved."

More Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "The price is comprable to other endpoint security solutions."
  • "The pricing is typical for enterprises and fairly priced."
  • "I'm not familiar with pricing, but it looks a bit costly compared to other vendors I think."
  • "The pricing is good."
  • "I would rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten."
  • "The hardware costs about €100,000 and about €20,000 annually for access."
  • "Fortinet FortiEDR has a yearly subscription."
  • "It's not cheap, but it's not expensive either."
  • More Fortinet FortiEDR Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "The price of CrowdStrike Falcon could be better. It is very expensive, we pay approximately $900 per month for the licenses. There are not any additional fees."
  • "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."
  • "There is an annual license required to use this solution."
  • "We are on an annual subscription for the solution. There are not any additional costs."
  • "Annual licensing."
  • "The price of CrowdStrike Falcon is reasonable."
  • "The licensing model is straightforward. We choose the features we want and we then can download the package we want."
  • "There is no license required to use this solution."
  • More CrowdStrike Falcon Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "I don't know the standalone costs. It is my understanding that the M365 E5 is $56 a month or something close to that pricing. That would be for the full suite. Just Defender might be $8 a month. I can't say for sure."
  • "The solution comes free with Microsoft Windows 10."
  • "When customers haven't deployed the solution and don't have licenses, it can be expensive to start from scratch."
  • "I do not have to purchase antivirus solutions anymore because Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is integrated into Windows and comes free."
  • "It came with Windows."
  • "We pay a yearly license for Microsoft Defender. We also have a support contract with them."
  • "The solution is free with Windows."
  • "You do not need to pay any additional costs for antivirus and anti-malware solutions for endpoint protection."
  • More Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Answers from the Community
    Netanya Carmi
    Koji Miura - PeerSpot reviewerKoji Miura
    User

    Depends on your budget and on the conditions of a Microsoft license. If you have an M365 license (like E3 or E5), Microsoft is cheaper.


    In terms of functionality, CrowdStrike is better.

    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:I suggest Fortinet’s FortiEDR over FortiClient for several reasons. For starters, FortiEDR guarantees solid protection… more »
    Top Answer:Fortinet FortiEDR made our clients feel secure and more at ease, knowing that they had an EDR solution that would close… more »
    Top Answer:The price is on the higher side. It's in the upper quadrant. The hardware costs about €100,000 and about €20,000… more »
    Top Answer:Cortex XDR by Palo Alto vs. CrowdStrike Falcon Both Cortex XDR and Crowd Strike Falcon offer cloud-based solutions… more »
    Top Answer:Both of these products perform similarly and have many outstanding attributes. CrowdStrike Falcon offers an amazing… more »
    Top Answer:The CrowdStrike solution delivers a lot of information about incidents. It has a very light sensor that will never push… more »
    Top Answer:Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is a cloud-delivered endpoint security solution. The tool reduces the attack surface… more »
    Top Answer:We use Symantec because we do not use MS Enterprise products, but in my opinion, Microsoft Defender is a superior… more »
    Top Answer:We can run the virus scan across our entire environment.
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    enSilo, FortiEDR
    CrowdStrike Falcon, CrowdStrike Falcon XDR
    Microsoft Defender ATP, Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection, MS Defender for Endpoint, Microsoft Defender Antivirus
    Learn More
    Overview

    Fortinet FortiEDR is a real-time endpoint protection, detection, and automated response solution. Its primary purpose is to detect advanced threats to stop breaches and ransomware damage. It is designed to do so in real time, even on an already compromised device, allowing you to respond and remediate incidents automatically so your data can remain protected.

    Fortinet FortiEDR Features

    Fortinet FortiEDR has many valuable key features, including:

    • Easily customizable
    • Real-time proactive risk mitigation & IoT security
    • Pre-infection protection
    • Post-infection protection
    • Track applications and ratings
    • Reduce the attack surface with risk-based proactive policies
    • Achieve analysis of entire log history
    • Optional managed detection and response (MDR) service

    Fortinet FortiEDR Benefits

    Some of the key benefits of using Fortinet FortiEDR include:

    • Protection: Fortinet FortiEDR provides proactive, real-time, automated endpoint protection with the orchestrated incident response across platforms. It stops the breach with real-time postinfection blocking to protect data from exfiltration and ransomware encryption.

    • Single unified console: Fortinet FortiEDR has a single unified console with an intuitive interface, which makes management easier. The solution automates mundane endpoint security tasks so your employees don’t need to do it.

    • Cost savings: With Fortinet FortiEDR you can eliminate post-breach operational expenses and breach damage costs.

    • Flexibility: Fortinet FortiEDR can be deployed on premises or on a secure cloud instance. With Fortinet FortiEDR, endpoints are protected both on- and off-line.

    • Scalability: Because Fortinet can be deployed quickly and has a small footprint, it is easy to scale up to protect hundreds of thousand endpoints.

    Reviews from Real Users

    Below are some reviews and helpful feedback written by Fortinet FortiEDR users.

    An Owner at a security firm says, "The features that I have found most valuable are the ability to customize it and to reduce its size. It lets you run in a very small window in terms of memory and resources on legacy cash registers. The customer has literally about 800 cash registers. That was the use case for Fortinet FortiEDR - to get that down into a tiny space. The only way to do that was to use this product because it had that ability to unbundle services that were a surplus.”

    Chandan M., Chief Technical Officer at Provision Technologies LLP, mentions, “The ease of deployment and configuration is valuable. It's very easy compared to other vendors like Sophos. Sophos' configuration is complex. Fortinet is a lot easier to understand. You don't need a lot of admin knowledge to do the configuration.” He also adds, “The security is also very good and the firewall response is good.”

    Harpreet S., Information Technology Support Specialist at Chemtrade Logistics, explains, "It notifies us if there's any suspicious file on any PC. If any execution or similar kind of thing is happening, it just alerts us. It doesn't only alert. It also blocks the execution until we allow it. We check whether the execution is legitimate or not, and then approve it or keep it blocked. This gives us a little bit of control over this mechanism. Fortinet FortiEDR is also very straightforward and easy to maintain."

    DeAndre V., Senior Network Administrator at a financial services firm, states, “The dashboard is easy to follow and use. The deployment and uninstalling were easy. I like the detailed information about the path of a file that might be suspicious. Being able to check that out was easy to follow. Exceptions are easy to create and the interface is easy to follow with a nice appearance.

    CrowdStrike is the leader in cloud-delivered next-generation endpoint protection. CrowdStrike has revolutionized endpoint protection by being the first and only company to unify next-generation antivirus (AV), endpoint detection and response (EDR), and a 24/7 managed hunting service — all delivered via a single lightweight agent. 

    Many of the world’s largest organizations already put their trust in CrowdStrike, including three of the 10 largest global companies by revenue, five of the 10 largest financial institutions, three of the top 10 health care providers, and three of the top 10 energy companies.

    Request a free trial here: https://go.crowdstrike.com/try-falcon-prevent

    Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is a comprehensive security solution that provides advanced threat protection for organizations. It offers real-time protection against various types of cyber threats, including malware, viruses, ransomware, and phishing attacks.

    With its powerful machine-learning capabilities, it can detect and block sophisticated attacks before they can cause any harm. The solution also includes endpoint detection and response (EDR) capabilities, allowing organizations to quickly investigate and respond to security incidents. It provides detailed insights into the attack timeline, enabling security teams to understand the scope and impact of an incident.

    Microsoft Defender for Endpoint also offers proactive threat hunting, allowing organizations to proactively search for and identify potential threats within their network. It integrates seamlessly with other Microsoft security solutions, such as Microsoft 365 Defender, to provide a unified and holistic security approach. With its centralized management console, organizations can easily deploy, configure, and monitor the security solution across their entire network.

    Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is a robust and scalable security solution that helps organizations protect their endpoints and data from evolving cyber threats.
    Offer
    Learn more about Fortinet FortiEDR
    Get Fast and Easy Protection Against All Threats

    Protect your organization from all threats - not just malware - even when computers and servers aren’t connected to the internet. Start your free trial and deploy CrowdStrike Falcon within minutes to start receiving full threat protection.

    Learn more about Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
    Sample Customers
    Financial, Healthcare, Legal, Technology, Enterprise, Manufacturing ... 
    Information Not Available
    Petrofrac, Metro CSG, Christus Health
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm24%
    Comms Service Provider12%
    Educational Organization6%
    Media Company6%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company17%
    Government8%
    Manufacturing Company7%
    Financial Services Firm7%
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company20%
    Financial Services Firm18%
    Comms Service Provider8%
    Energy/Utilities Company6%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company14%
    Financial Services Firm10%
    Government8%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm20%
    Computer Software Company16%
    Comms Service Provider8%
    Energy/Utilities Company7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization20%
    Computer Software Company13%
    Government8%
    Financial Services Firm7%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business37%
    Midsize Enterprise22%
    Large Enterprise41%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business31%
    Midsize Enterprise19%
    Large Enterprise50%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business33%
    Midsize Enterprise23%
    Large Enterprise43%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business25%
    Midsize Enterprise18%
    Large Enterprise57%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business40%
    Midsize Enterprise17%
    Large Enterprise43%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business22%
    Midsize Enterprise31%
    Large Enterprise47%
    Buyer's Guide
    CrowdStrike Falcon vs. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
    September 2023
    Find out what your peers are saying about CrowdStrike Falcon vs. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint and other solutions. Updated: September 2023.
    735,226 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    CrowdStrike Falcon is ranked 3rd in EPP (Endpoint Protection for Business) with 50 reviews while Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is ranked 1st in EPP (Endpoint Protection for Business) with 96 reviews. CrowdStrike Falcon is rated 8.6, while Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of CrowdStrike Falcon writes "Robust threat hunting and great ability to do on-keyboard remote response and quarantining of devices". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint writes "You can access all your security data and telemetry from a single pane of glass". CrowdStrike Falcon is most compared with Darktrace, Trend Micro Deep Security, SentinelOne Singularity Complete, Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks and Kaspersky Endpoint Security for Business, whereas Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is most compared with Intercept X Endpoint, Symantec Endpoint Security, SentinelOne Singularity Complete and Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks. See our CrowdStrike Falcon vs. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint report.

    See our list of best EPP (Endpoint Protection for Business) vendors and best EDR (Endpoint Detection and Response) vendors.

    We monitor all EPP (Endpoint Protection for Business) reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.