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CrowdStrike Falcon vs Microsoft Active Directory comparison

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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
4.7
Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks provides cost savings, enhanced security, and compliance with reduced administrative effort and robust threat detection.
Sentiment score
7.1
CrowdStrike Falcon boosts ROI with cost savings, efficiency, and proactive security, preventing breaches and reducing deployment costs.
Sentiment score
4.4
Microsoft Active Directory enhances efficiency and access control, providing value through centralized management despite lacking direct ROI calculation.
They appreciate the rich telemetry data from the solution, as it provides in-depth threat identification.
Cyber Security Manager at Welab bank
Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks helps to reduce my total cost of ownership significantly.
Detection and Response Consultant at Inovasys
In Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks, most of the remediation is automated and the accuracy is quite good.
Network Security Engineer at Cyberwell Solution
There is a 60 to 70 percent reduction in false positives, allowing us to disregard those.
Team Lead - Network and Security at a outsourcing company with 11-50 employees
The false positive rate—that is, the number of false alarms—decreased significantly, so the number of valid alerts that the security team actually had to handle dropped by more than fifty percent.
AI And Automation Engineer at PeerSpot
CrowdStrike Falcon saves time and offers good value for money, especially for enterprise companies, because it can stop breaches.
IT consultant at Asuransi Ramayana
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.
Senior Consutant at HCLSoftware
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.0
Cortex XDR support varies by plan and location; premium plans provide better experiences but others report delays.
Sentiment score
7.0
Customer opinions on CrowdStrike Falcon's service vary, citing both effective support and areas needing improvement in responsiveness and depth.
Sentiment score
5.5
Microsoft Active Directory support is inconsistent, with varying response quality, reliance on online resources, and better service via premium options.
The technical support from Palo Alto deserves a mark of ten because they reach out within an hour whenever assistance is needed.
Head of data centers at a non-profit with 10,001+ employees
There is no back and forth, and they know what we are asking for and come up with the best resolution for a solution.
Senior Process Expert at A.P. Moller - Maersk
If any of these services are missed, it becomes a problem in terms of support tickets, follow-up, or special configuration that needs to be done in the system.
Chief of IT Architecture at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
On a scale of one to ten, I would rate the technical support as a 10 because they resolve many issues for us.
Cyber Security Architects at VaporVM
The CrowdStrike team is very efficient; I would rate them ten out of ten.
Security Analyst at NTT Ltd
They could improve by initiating calls for high-priority cases instead of just opening tickets.
Information Security Specialist at Arab Open University
Support documents are available on the internet in every language.
Owner at a computer software company with 1-10 employees
If you purchase retail, the support will be more difficult because they will assess the priority or rating from the customer.
IT Operations & Security at veris
Sometimes support takes long to engage and resolve, extending over weeks or even months.
Senior Consutant at HCLSoftware
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
Cortex XDR offers scalable, flexible management for enterprises, supporting thousands of users with easy deployment and cloud-based maintenance.
Sentiment score
7.8
CrowdStrike Falcon is praised for its seamless scalability and easy deployment in diverse environments, despite some cost concerns.
Sentiment score
6.2
Microsoft Active Directory is scalable and integrates well, but faces challenges at larger scales, suggesting hybrid solutions.
You can onboard 10,000 endpoints in just hours, which demonstrates the excellent scalability of this product.
Assistant Security Architect at Cloudnomics
Activating the newly purchased licenses is instantaneous, allowing installations without adjustments since it's cloud-based.
Junior Security Analyst at ITSEC Asia
Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks can be expanded anytime by purchasing another license without any issues related to scalability.
Head of data centers at a non-profit with 10,001+ employees
Because it is cloud-based, we could integrate many additional devices in real time without installing extra hardware, and we did not feel any performance degradation.
AI And Automation Engineer at PeerSpot
It has adequate coverage and is easy to deploy.
Senior Principal Information Security Analyst at Veritas Technologies LLC
In terms of scalability, I find CrowdStrike to be stable, and I have not encountered any limitations with it.
Cyber Security Architects at VaporVM
Microsoft Active Directory scales effectively; I don't foresee any issues with that at all.
Network Security Administrator at a retailer with 51-200 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.0
Cortex XDR is praised for its stability and performance, with manageable upgrades and frequent updates enhancing its features.
Sentiment score
8.1
CrowdStrike Falcon is highly stable, with users praising its reliability and quick resolution of issues, enhancing productivity.
Sentiment score
6.4
Microsoft Active Directory is praised for its stability and reliability, with minor issues not significantly affecting performance.
Cortex remains fast and responsive, even with increasing data and alerts.
Final Year Student at Gitam University
The thresholds we've seen on our firewall boxes at some instances reached 80% to 85%, but even at that level of utilization, we don't observe any latency or any issues reported with respect to accessing the application.
Senior Process Expert at A.P. Moller - Maersk
Cortex XDR is stable, offering high quality and reliable performance.
Cyber Security Manager at Welab bank
During the period we have used it at our company, we have never experienced system downtime or unexpected errors caused by security-related stability issues.
AI And Automation Engineer at PeerSpot
I have never seen instability in the CrowdStrike tool.
Security Analyst at NTT Ltd
We are following N-1 versions across our environment, which is stable.
Senior Principal Information Security Analyst at Veritas Technologies LLC
If you meet the installation requirements from Microsoft, it will be very stable.
IT Operations & Security at veris
With multiple domain controllers, stability is ensured.
Senior Consutant at HCLSoftware
I've been working with Microsoft Active Directory for over 3 years, and we've had no problems.
Network Security Administrator at a retailer with 51-200 employees
 

Room For Improvement

Cortex XDR users desire better OS integration, interface, threat detection, and pricing, while facing complexity and compatibility challenges.
CrowdStrike Falcon users seek better customization, pricing, OS support, integration, interface, device management, security features, and support services.
Microsoft Active Directory needs improvements in usability, integration, security updates, synchronization, setup, reporting, support, scalability, and email group sync.
Improving reporting and dashboard customization, along with the addition of real-time and exportable reports, would help SOC teams greatly.
Final Year Student at Gitam University
The inclusion of this feature would allow the application of DLP policies alongside antivirus policies via a single agent and console, making it more competitive as other OEMs often offer DLP solutions as part of their antivirus products.
Pre Sales Architect at network techlab
If the per GB data could be provided at a certain level free of cost or at the same cost which the customer is taking for the entire bundle, that would be better.
Cyber Security Information Security Specialist at MHM Holding GmbH
If they offered more flexible pricing plans or SME-focused packages so that smaller companies could adopt it without too much burden, I think many more organizations would benefit.
AI And Automation Engineer at PeerSpot
Simplifying the querying process, such as using double quote queries or directly obtaining logs based on IP addresses or usernames, would be beneficial.
Security Analyst at NTT Ltd
Another concern is CrowdStrike's GUI. It changes annually, making it hard to work and find options.
Senior Principal Information Security Analyst at Veritas Technologies LLC
Exporting and verifying group memberships require command line scripts, which isn't simple.
Senior Consutant at HCLSoftware
There are some features that need improvements in terms of ease of use and frequency of updates.
Information Technology Specialist at stelios@biolandenergy.com
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.
Network Security Administrator at a retailer with 51-200 employees
 

Setup Cost

Cortex XDR is seen as costly by some, but offers scalable licensing and satisfaction varies with advanced features.
CrowdStrike Falcon's pricing is high but valued for enterprise users, with negotiable costs and free trials available.
Microsoft Active Directory pricing varies by region and model; Azure offers cost-effective solutions for large enterprises despite perceived expense.
The pricing on SentinelOne is far more reasonable and cheaper than Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks.
Consultant at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
I would say it is definitely not a cheap product, considering how mature it is and how scalable all Palo Alto products are together.
Senior Process Expert at A.P. Moller - Maersk
Cortex XDR is perceived as expensive by some customers, yet offers dynamic pricing.
Cyber Security Manager at Welab bank
It is expensive compared to SentinelOne, but as the market leader, it is worth it.
Senior Principal Information Security Analyst at Veritas Technologies LLC
The licensing cost and setup costs are affordable.
Computer Engineer at OIC, Alshirawi
The solution is a bit expensive.
Information Security Specialist at Arab Open University
For the cloud solution in our region, the pricing of Microsoft Active Directory is very high.
Network & Security Section Head/Digital Transformation at a government with 201-500 employees
I consider Microsoft Active Directory expensive because if you buy this thing bundled with the Windows Directory Server, you get five user licenses for about a thousand euros, or a little bit less than this.
Owner at Syntlogo GmbH
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.
Network Security Administrator at a retailer with 51-200 employees
 

Valuable Features

Cortex XDR offers advanced security with robust detection, integration, and AI capabilities, praised for flexibility and user-friendly interface.
CrowdStrike Falcon excels in EDR with rapid alerts, AI threat detection, and seamless integration, enhancing security operations and performance.
Microsoft Active Directory simplifies management with integration, group policies, and scalable operations across on-premises and cloud environments.
It incorporates AI for normal behavior detection, distinguishing unusual operations.
Cyber Security Manager at Welab bank
The product provides automation responses in case of a threat attack, severity assessments, centralized manageability, and comprehensive compliance features, resulting in reduced costs.
Pre Sales Architect at network techlab
It includes machine learning to easily analyze data and detect complex threats across endpoints, networks, or clouds.
Final Year Student at Gitam University
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.
Security Analyst at NTT Ltd
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.
Cyber Security Architects at VaporVM
Being an EDR solution, it helps us identify attacks in real-time.
Information Security Specialist at Arab Open University
To assess the impact of Microsoft Active Directory's centralized domain management on security protocols and access permissions, Microsoft Active Directory itself has constraints with security because when we have a solution such as SSO or Single Sign-On, which makes it easier for users to log in, some parts have security openings.
IT Operations & Security at veris
One valuable feature is the centralized creation of IDs.
Senior Consutant at HCLSoftware
I can control all the devices in my domain by just changing the group policies in one place.
Information Technology Specialist at stelios@biolandenergy.com
 

Categories and Ranking

Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Net...
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Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
110
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (4th), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (7th), Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (6th), Ransomware Protection (2nd), AI-Powered Cybersecurity Platforms (1st)
CrowdStrike Falcon
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
141
Ranking in other categories
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) (5th), Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (1st), Threat Intelligence Platforms (TIP) (1st), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (1st), Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (1st), Attack Surface Management (ASM) (1st), Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) (1st), AI-Powered Cybersecurity Platforms (2nd)
Microsoft Active Directory
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
47
Ranking in other categories
Single Sign-On (SSO) (8th), Active Directory Management (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

Extended Detection and Response (XDR) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
CrowdStrike Falcon9.4%
Wazuh6.0%
SentinelOne Singularity Complete5.9%
Other78.7%
Extended Detection and Response (XDR)
Single Sign-On (SSO) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Active Directory3.2%
Microsoft Entra ID10.3%
Okta Platform10.0%
Other76.5%
Single Sign-On (SSO)
 

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.
Dotan Sadka - PeerSpot reviewer
AI And Automation Engineer at PeerSpot
Centralized threat visibility has improved detection speed and strengthened endpoint protection
CrowdStrike Falcon is a very powerful tool, but at times the high initial adoption cost can be burdensome. To get the maximum benefit, as in our case where we integrate it with other security systems, a certain level of expertise is required, which is somewhat disappointing. Sometimes updates can cause unexpected issues in the system, so rigorous pre-testing is essential, and that is another point of concern. In the future, I would like to see even smoother integration with other security tools. If more flexible pricing models or SMB-focused packages were introduced so that small and medium-sized businesses can adopt it without too much burden, I think many more organizations could benefit.
Eko Kurniawan - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Operations & Security at veris
Has simplified credential management and improved secure access control across departments
The features I find most useful in Microsoft Active Directory are especially for the Single Sign-On. This is very useful for users, particularly if they have plenty of applications, such as tablet applications. When they log in to their computer, the application will automatically log in with their credentials. They don't need to remember another user and password to log in to the application because it's already maintained with Microsoft Active Directory using Single Sign-On. To assess the impact of Microsoft Active Directory's centralized domain management on security protocols and access permissions, Microsoft Active Directory itself has constraints with security because when we have a solution such as SSO or Single Sign-On, which makes it easier for users to log in, some parts have security openings. When their computer is compromised with a threat, malware, or other cyber threats, it becomes easier to enter the application without login permission.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
6%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Healthcare Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business45
Midsize Enterprise20
Large Enterprise48
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business54
Midsize Enterprise33
Large Enterprise63
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business21
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise20
 

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 needs improvement with Microsoft Active Directory?
The best way to protect this is to use Microsoft Defender. For Microsoft support for Microsoft Active Directory, I wo...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Active Directory?
My main use cases for Microsoft Active Directory are to manage user access and credentials.
What advice do you have for others considering Microsoft Active Directory?
Regarding Microsoft Active Directory's integration with third-party applications, it depends on the requirements. It'...
 

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
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Find out what your peers are saying about CrowdStrike Falcon vs. Microsoft Active Directory and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
891,869 professionals have used our research since 2012.