CrowdStrike vs Microsoft

There’s no comparison. Discover why businesses choose CrowdStrike over Microsoft Defender for Endpoint.

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3 reasons why

customers choose CrowdStrike over Microsoft Defender for Endpoint



Better protection

CrowdStrike protects across workloads and across different operating systems with a single, cloud native solution. Broad coverage with a cloud-native platform that is automatically kept up-to-date reduces security gaps that can result from inconsistent updates, version control or dependency on signatures.

Reduced complexity

A single lightweight agent reduces drag on your endpoints and minimizes end-user interruption. Installation and day-to-day operations bear little impact on endpoints—even when analyzing, searching and investigating. An easy-to-use, single console enables simple policy management across operating systems and versions.

Accelerated security operations

CrowdStrike minimizes efforts spent handling alerts, empowering you to quickly investigate and respond to attacks with the data you need, when you need it—all in one spot. From the same console, contain and remediate compromised systems—across operating systems—including on-the-fly remote access to take immediate action.

Compare CrowdStrike to Microsoft Defender




Feature Microsoft Defender
Detection Signatureless
Advanced, signatureless protection through machine learning, behavioral analytics and integrated threat intelligence.		 Signatures
Includes signature-based AV engine.
Maintenance Frictionless updates
Lightweight agent. No reboot required.		 Reboot required
Sensor updates require OS-level updates and device reboots, including critical servers.
Cross-platform support Consistent
One platform for all workloads. Provides comprehensive protection coverage that can be deployed across Windows, Linux and macOS servers and endpoints.		 Varied
Varied capabilities outside Windows 10. Inconsistency between Windows versions and other operating systems, including macOS support and Linux distro support.
Managed threat hunting 24/7 expert hunting
Elite team of experts proactively hunt, investigate and advise on threat activity.		 Machine led hunting
Threat Experts service mostly uses “Hunter-trained AI” rather than human analysts. No direct interaction between hunter-customer is offered.
Integrated threat intel Best in class Integrated intel
Alerts are automatically enriched with CrowdStrike's industry leading threat intelligence, for maximum analyst efficiency.		 Inefficient intel
Defender for Endpoint includes separate dashboards for specific threats, requiring analysts to pivot between screens.

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See why customers trust CrowdStrike

"When we engaged CrowdStrike, it was a complete 180. Now we've found that partner that will get us back to a stable operating point."

Jason Rooks
CI | Parkway Schools

"We don't have an antivirus solution that's waiting on signatures to be developed and pushed out. What we've got is that we're part of a larger collection of organizations that are running CrowdStrike, so any data that we see gets fed back into the system and someone else will benefit from that knowledge. And it's all because it is cloud-based."

Scott Stoops
Security Analyst | Ashland University

Protecting all companies from small business to enterprise


 

Ready to try CrowdStrike for yourself?

Explore the CrowdStrike Falcon® platform, powered by the CrowdStrike Security Cloud, and see for yourself why CrowdStrike excels over the competition.

Try CrowdStrike free

Ready to try CrowdStrike for yourself?

Explore the CrowdStrike Falcon® platform, powered by the CrowdStrike Security Cloud, and see for yourself why CrowdStrike excels over the competition.

Try CrowdStrike free

Compare CrowdStrike to other endpoint protection platforms