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CrowdStrike Falcon vs Microsoft Active Directory comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
7.4
CrowdStrike Falcon enhances productivity and security, reducing costs and downtime while efficiently managing threats with rapid deployment and detection.
Sentiment score
8.8
Microsoft Active Directory offers high ROI, efficient user access control, and centralized management, enhancing organizational productivity and cost-effectiveness.
CrowdStrike Falcon saves time and offers good value for money, especially for enterprise companies, because it can stop breaches.
The solution is really time-saving since I don't need to create users in each server or system manually, and user access control is streamlined.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.0
CrowdStrike Falcon support is valued for responsiveness and expertise, though growth causes delays; premium support is highly rated.
Sentiment score
5.9
Microsoft Active Directory support varies, with slow responses, costly premium help, mixed experiences, and reliance on external resources.
On a scale of one to ten, I would rate the technical support as a 10 because they resolve many issues for us.
The CrowdStrike team is very efficient; I would rate them ten out of ten.
They could improve by initiating calls for high-priority cases instead of just opening tickets.
Support documents are available on the internet in every language.
Sometimes support takes long to engage and resolve, extending over weeks or even months.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.9
CrowdStrike Falcon's scalability and adaptability make it ideal for diverse platforms, though costs may limit expansive deployments.
Sentiment score
7.0
Microsoft Active Directory scales well for small and large businesses, with Azure suggested for extreme scalability and integration ease.
It has adequate coverage and is easy to deploy.
In terms of scalability, I find CrowdStrike to be stable, and I have not encountered any limitations with it.
There's no scalability limitation from CrowdStrike itself, as it just requires agent deployment.
Microsoft Active Directory scales effectively; I don't foresee any issues with that at all.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.1
CrowdStrike Falcon is highly regarded for its stability, efficiency, and reliability, with minor update issues quickly resolved.
Sentiment score
7.8
Microsoft Active Directory is stable and reliable, with high satisfaction despite minor bugs and occasional patch issues.
I have never seen instability in the CrowdStrike tool.
We are following N-1 versions across our environment, which is stable.
The biggest issue occurred when every computer worldwide experienced a blue screen.
With multiple domain controllers, stability is ensured.
I've been working with Microsoft Active Directory for over 3 years, and we've had no problems.
 

Room For Improvement

CrowdStrike Falcon needs system integration, better reporting, reduced false positives, enhanced support, advanced features, and flexible pricing.
Active Directory needs a user-friendly interface, better integration, security upgrades, and improved cloud synchronization for enhanced usability.
Simplifying the querying process, such as using double quote queries or directly obtaining logs based on IP addresses or usernames, would be beneficial.
Another concern is CrowdStrike's GUI. It changes annually, making it hard to work and find options.
Threat prevention should be their first priority.
Exporting and verifying group memberships require command line scripts, which isn't simple.
There are some features that need improvements in terms of ease of use and frequency of updates.
Sometimes, it can be overly complicated, and when you apply Group Policy in an Active Directory environment, sometimes those settings apply and sometimes they don't.
 

Setup Cost

CrowdStrike Falcon's pricing ranges from $30-$100 per user annually, ideal for large enterprises but costly for smaller businesses.
Microsoft Active Directory offers affordable licensing, often bundled, with Azure cloud reducing costs by eliminating server fees.
It is expensive compared to SentinelOne, but as the market leader, it is worth it.
The licensing cost and setup costs are affordable.
The solution is a bit expensive.
The pricing, setup cost, and licensing with Microsoft Active Directory is straightforward; you just buy the server and then have to buy the user CALs.
 

Valuable Features

CrowdStrike Falcon provides robust threat intelligence, AI-driven detection, and seamless integration with minimal system impact and intuitive interface.
Microsoft Active Directory offers seamless Azure integration, user-friendly management, and scalability, enhancing network efficiency and usability for large organizations.
I can investigate by accessing the customer's host based on the RTR environment and utilize host search to know details for the past seven days, including logins, processes, file installations, malicious processes, and network connections.
The real-time analytics aspect of CrowdStrike performs well because we get all logs in real-time, with no delay, allowing us to take action immediately.
Being an EDR solution, it helps us identify attacks in real-time.
One valuable feature is the centralized creation of IDs.
I can control all the devices in my domain by just changing the group policies in one place.
Having active deployment and well-configured systems helps me manage tasks and easily oversee thousands of users.
 

Categories and Ranking

CrowdStrike Falcon
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
132
Ranking in other categories
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) (6th), Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (2nd), Threat Intelligence Platforms (1st), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (1st), Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (1st), Attack Surface Management (ASM) (1st), Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) (2nd), AI-Powered Cybersecurity Platforms (1st)
Microsoft Active Directory
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
43
Ranking in other categories
Single Sign-On (SSO) (7th), Active Directory Management (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Security Software solutions, they serve different purposes. CrowdStrike Falcon is designed for Extended Detection and Response (XDR) and holds a mindshare of 14.1%, down 19.0% compared to last year.
Microsoft Active Directory, on the other hand, focuses on Single Sign-On (SSO), holds 3.2% mindshare, up 2.5% since last year.
Extended Detection and Response (XDR)
Single Sign-On (SSO)
 

Featured Reviews

Waleed Omar - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides effective real-time threat detection with potential for cost optimization
Some features such as device control, firewall management, and file analysis are standalone products that we need to purchase separately. If these features came out of the box within the product, it would be much more beneficial for us. Other providers such as SentinelOne include these features in their base product. We attended a CrowdStrike Falcon event where they discussed some shallow AI features, but we cannot see these in our panel yet. We work with different solutions such as Darktrace and SocRadar, where AI features are automatically displayed in our dashboards after release. However, for CrowdStrike Falcon, we cannot see these features.
Roberta Politano - PeerSpot reviewer
Has good authentication features
The solution's group policy is a normal way to deploy configuration and helps deploy to a wider environment. The solution is deployed both on-premises and on the cloud. I would recommend the solution to other users based on their infrastructure. Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
7%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Educational Organization
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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 does Crowdstrike Falcon compare with Darktrace?
Both of these products perform similarly and have many outstanding attributes. CrowdStrike Falcon offers an amazing user interface that makes setup easy and seamless. CrowdStrike Falcon offers a cl...
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 push your machine hardware to "test", you don't have the usual "scan now" feature ...
What do you like most about Microsoft Active Directory?
The solution is easy to install and has good reliability.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Active Directory?
Technology is evolving. AI is offering solutions. However, short-term fixes are like band-aids.
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Active Directory?
I utilize it in almost every scenario. I use the Hazer database and meet daily needs across every industry, every time.
 

Also Known As

CrowdStrike Falcon, CrowdStrike Falcon XDR, CrowdStrike Falcon Threat Intelligence, CrowdStrike Identity Protection, CrowdStrike Falcon Surface
No data available
 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about CrowdStrike Falcon vs. Microsoft Active Directory and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
859,687 professionals have used our research since 2012.