Cortex XDR vs. CrowdStrike

Learn why organizations choose Cortex XDR® over CrowdStrike for attack prevention, detection and response.

Cortex XDR is the better choice to stop modern threats


Endpoint protection lays the groundwork for an effective security strategy and Cortex XDR’s endpoint protection consistently rates superior to CrowdStrike EDR in independent third-party evaluations. In the 2021 MITRE ATT&CK®evaluations, Cortex XDR blocked 100% of attacks versus CrowdStrike’s 70%. And in the just-released 2022 MITRE ATT&CK Evaluations, Cortex XDR led with 98% technique-level detections over CrowdStrike's 71%, continuing to demonstrate leadership in endpoint protection and detection.

So why trust CrowdStrike when these endpoint-focused results are clear? And what about the fuller scope of true XDR across endpoint, network, cloud and more? Cortex XDR®is the first XDR with a proven track record of success and is trusted by over 5,000 customers. Learn the details about how Cortex XDR outperforms CrowdStrike below.

 Comprehensive Prevention

The Best Protection

A prevention-first approach should be the foundation of your organization’s endpoint security strategy. And when it comes to unknown malware, Cortex XDR’s behavioral threat protection and AI-driven analysis bests CrowdStrike in both real-world MITRE ATT&CK evaluations and AV-Comparatives testing.

Behavioral threat protection matters. By tracking the sequence of the activity chain and applying context to those actions as they occur, behavioral threat protection is able to recognize and prevent highly evasive, complex attacks automatically and accurately while minimizing false positives. Combined with technique-based exploit prevention, global threat intelligence, and cloud-assisted analysis, the Cortex XDR agent offers better, more robust protection.

CrowdStrike’s reliance on hash-based protections and IoCs focuses only on known attacks and after-the-fact detection, so protection suffers, as evidenced by their inability to stop 30% of attacks in the 2021 MITRE ATT&CK Evaluations.

Broader Visibility

Clearly Superior Detection

Protection is never perfect. And when it comes to detection and visibility, Cortex XDR is again clearly superior to CrowdStrike. Cortex’s rich telemetry collection and extensive cloud-based analytics detection modules identify malicious activity across the attack lifecycle and arm analysts with the data they need to drive resolution.

These superior detection capabilities help explain why Cortex XDR consistently outperforms CrowdStrike in MITRE ATT&CK Evaluations. In the 2021 evaluations, Cortex XDR had 85 more analytics detections than CrowdStrike, which also required 25 configuration changes or “do-overs” when initial detections were missed. In the real world, attackers don’t give you second chances.

Superior Analytics & Detection

Faster, More Complete Investigation & Response

Cortex XDR automatically groups alerts into incidents, provides threat modeling, gathers full context and builds a timeline and attack sequence to understand the root cause and impact of an attack. Customer studies show that Cortex XDR can reduce security alerts by over 98%* and cut investigation times by 88%.** Plus, one-click remediation speeds attack recovery across all affected endpoints.

CrowdStrike relies much more heavily on the analyst to investigate and recover from attacks. Events are presented separately, responses are done individually, and remediation is done manually with limited automation. More risk, less efficiency and delayed recovery may be the end result.

*Based on an analysis of Cortex XDR customer environments.
** Palo Alto Networks SOC analysis showing reduced investigation time from 40 minutes to 5 minutes.
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Compare Cortex XDR to CrowdStrike

Cortex XDR
CrowdStrike
The Best Protection
Cortex XDR
    100% threat prevention – leading the pack
  • 100% threat prevention in MITRE ATT&CK evaluation.
  • 100% Overall Active Prevention in AV-Comparative EPR and one of the highest Prevention/Response ratings.
  • Includes purpose-built ransomware engine.
  • Local analysis includes Behavioral Threat Protection against sophisticated and evasive attacks.
  • Built-in WildFire® sandbox-plus analysis identifies new threats and automatically distributes updates.
  • Built-in endpoint firewall and device control.
CrowdStrike
    Is 70% protection good enough?
  • 70% threat prevention, failing to stop 30% of attacks in MITRE ATT&CK Evaluations.
  • Continues to struggle with misses; delays with configuration changes needed to address tested threats.
  • First-order identification is largely based on static hash analysis.
  • Prevention modes limited to cloud verdict lookup (no auto-submission) and ransomware modules.
  • Endpoint firewall and device control are not included; they are costly add-ons.
  • Cloud Sandbox is optional and provides limited, manual-only submissions.
  • Loss of cloud lookup and back-end human surveillance access means diminished protection.
Clearly Superior Detection
Cortex XDR
    Analytics-based detection drives results
  • 97% detection visibility in MITRE ATT&CK Evaluations.
  • 85% of detections based on real-time analytics covering MITRE tactics and techniques.
  • Extensive data collection and AI-driven data analysis drive detection and visibility.
  • New detection rules analyze all new and historic data collected.
CrowdStrike
    Incomplete visibility and missed detections
  • Missed 22 detections in the last MITRE ATT&CK Evaluations.
  • 60% of detections failed to provide enhanced analysis (tactic or technique).
  • Machine learning is narrowly focused on identity-related events and logs and only available for an added cost.
  • Historical data is excluded from new detection rules scope.
Faster, More Complete Investigation & Response
Cortex XDR
    Automation speeds results
  • Automatic correlation of events lets analysts see the entire incident.
  • Intelligent alert grouping and incident scoring reduce investigation time by 88%.
  • Machine isolation and restoration can be done individually or in bulk.
  • One-click remediation allows responders to quickly recover from incidents.
  • Python support for scripted responses at scale.
  • Custom prevention rules enable immediate gap closure.
CrowdStrike
    Manual activities add delays
  • Events are each presented separately, requiring more effort and time to analyze and determine the incident scope.
  • Response actions are done individually, wasting time and effort on repetitive tasks.
  • No one-click remediation. Manual actions are required per affected endpoint.
  • No support for remediation scripting.
Enterprise Fit
Cortex XDR
    Tailored to your organization
  • Data can be ingested from virtually any syslog, event log, filebeat, or source, enterprise-wide.
  • Industry-leading Linux OS coverage.
  • XDR includes endpoint protection and is fully delivered through a single unified agent.
  • Detection rules and dashboards are easily customizable to support each organization’s unique needs.
  • Proven, mature XDR product.
CrowdStrike
    One size does not fit all
  • Data beyond CrowdStrike endpoints requires integration vendor’s participation in CrowdStrike Alliance.
  • Incomplete Linux support.
  • Separate agents for EDR and identity analysis increase complexity and user experience.
  • Rudimentary and minimal “customization” options.
  • Unproven, first-release XDR product.

Ready to see Cortex in action?

Is Your Endpoint Security Solution Good Enough?

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Cortex XDR consistently outperforms CrowdStrike in MITRE ATT&CK® Evaluations

In the 2021 MITRE ATT&CK Evaluations, Cortex XDR blocked 100% of attacks and achieved the highest overall combined detection and protection rate. In the real-world test environment, CrowdStrike continues to struggle with misses, delays and configuration changes.

Your business cannot afford to let 30% of cyberattacks into your network! You should demand that your endpoint security provider be able to defend against all adversary tactics and techniques to avoid overloading your SOC team with alerts, incidents and possible breaches – all of which could have been prevented.

Need more proofpoints?

Check out more but don’t delay – your endpoint security and SOC productivity depend on it!

The Essential Guide to MITRE ATT&CK Round 3

Read how Cortex XDR performed, including how it blocked 100% of attacks in the protection evaluation on both Windows® and Linux endpoints.

AV-Comparatives Endpoint Prevention and Response (EPR) Report

Cortex XDR is once again named a Strategic Leader in the latest EPR Test by AV-Comparatives.

XDR For Dummies

Download this e-book to get up to speed on everything XDR. You’ll become well-versed in all things XDR and learn what XDR is and isn’t.

Request your Personal Cortex XDR Demo

Let's explore ways to find fewer alerts, build end-to-end automation and enable smarter security operations.

Request your Personal Cortex XDR Demo

Request your Personal Cortex XDR Demo

Let's explore ways to find fewer alerts, build end-to-end automation, and enable smarter security operations.
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