Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks vs Rapid7 InsightIDR comparison

Palo Alto Networks and Rapid7 are both solutions in the Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) category. Palo Alto Networks is ranked #8 with an average rating of 8.6, while Rapid7 is ranked #23 with an average rating of 7.8. Palo Alto Networks holds a 3.4% mindshare in EDR, compared to Rapid7’s 1.2% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of Palo Alto Networks users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 96% of Rapid7 users who would recommend it.

Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Net...

Read 103 Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks reviews

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7,882 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Rapid7 InsightIDR

Read 32 Rapid7 InsightIDR reviews

6,954 Views
2,017 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Net...

Rapid7 InsightIDR

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 8, 2024

Cortex XDR and Rapid7 InsightIDR compete in the threat detection and response category. Rapid7 InsightIDR has an edge due to its advanced analytics features, providing detailed threat insights, although it comes at a higher cost.

Features: Cortex XDR offers comprehensive integration, easy threat detection across multiple environments, and unified threat management. Rapid7 InsightIDR delivers strong log management, enriched alerting capabilities, and robust analytical features for deeper threat context.

Room for Improvement: Cortex XDR could benefit from enhanced threat intelligence updates, faster real-time responses, and greater customization flexibility. Rapid7 InsightIDR needs simpler customization options, improved user interface for non-technical users, and streamlined setup processes.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cortex XDR is known for straightforward deployment and responsive customer service. Rapid7 InsightIDR offers a fast deployment process, with noted initial challenges that could be alleviated with better customer training, but maintains efficiency.

Pricing and ROI: Cortex XDR is competitive in pricing with solid ROI due to its comprehensive protection features. Rapid7 InsightIDR is more costly but offers high-value returns from superior threat identification, catering to enterprises prioritizing advanced features over budget.

To learn more, read our detailed Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks vs. Rapid7 InsightIDR Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks vs. Rapid7 InsightIDR

December 2025

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Review summaries and opinions

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

Categories and Ranking

Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Net...

Ranking in Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)

8th

Ranking in Extended Detection and Response (XDR)

7th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

103

Ranking in other categories

Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (5th), Ransomware Protection (2nd), AI-Powered Cybersecurity Platforms (2nd)

Rapid7 InsightIDR

Ranking in Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)

23rd

Ranking in Extended Detection and Response (XDR)

18th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) (14th), User Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) (8th), Threat Deception Platforms (4th)

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) category, the mindshare of Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is 3.4%, down from 4.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Rapid7 InsightIDR is 1.2%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks	3.4%
Rapid7 InsightIDR	1.2%
Other	95.4%

Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)

Featured Reviews

ABHISHEK_SINGH

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.

Read full review

SohailHyder

Head Of Cyber Security at Super Secure

Has supported compliance needs for mid-sized organizations but lacks customization and advanced integration

If we pitch Rapid7 InsightIDR against solutions such as SIEMs from Splunk or LogRhythm, it is not as customizable as a SIEM solution is. This is where it can improve if we keep in front the feature sets of a complete SIEM solution. Most common in the market is QRadar, but it is depleting now. It has been taken over by some other products such as Splunk and LogRhythm. If we compare these things with Rapid7 InsightIDR, then there are definitely some gaps that need to be filled. Data retention is also one concern because Rapid7 InsightIDR is cloud-based and operates on a subscription model. Whatever data you want to retain, it has to be paid for separately or it has a cost. Other solutions that are on-premises can have their own infrastructure or they provide some data retention for a month or in some capacity-wise, they provide that solution to them which makes them more attractive.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The dashboard is customizable."

"The normal protection was really effective, and we detected situations that if we didn't have Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks, it's highly likely that we would have been affected, but it protected the infrastructure."

"Being a cloud solution it is very flexible in serving internal and external connections and a broad range of devices."

"The solution allows control over the user and his machine through Cortex XDR security policies."

"The solution allows us to make investigations. Other XDR solutions also provide similar capabilities but for investigation, Cortex XDR is better."

"The ability to kind of stitch everything together and see the actual complete picture is very useful. I guess you'd call it a playbook. Some people call it the forensics analysis of what was happening on particular endpoints when they detected some malicious behavior, and what transpired before that to cause that. It is also very user friendly. The way they have done everything and integrated all the solutions that they've purchased over the years to make it a very seamless, effective product is very good. One thing about Palo Alto is that they take the products or services that they purchase and make them seamless for the end user as compared to some companies that purchase other companies and then just kind of have their products off to the side or keep different interfaces. Palo Alto doesn't do that."

"The positive impacts I see from Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks include a complete 360-degree view of our security posture altogether, being a uniform platform where we are ingesting logs from multiple resources."

"Automation and playbooks have helped me significantly, as Cortex Xnor's playbooks predefine the workflow of the automation, such as response processes, alert triggering, and enriching the context, efficiently detecting and blocking malicious attacks with firewalls while eliminating workload and speeding responses for next-generation operations."

More Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks pros

"I am able to run automated actions based on the output of reports, leaving me extra time to focus on more pressing matters."

"Intelligent alerting to avoid the common problem of alert fatigue associated with traditional SIEMs."

"Features for user behavior analytics and the rules for attack review are good."

"If you were on other solutions, you would notice that they use agents from third-party, from open-source, from a native OS, or from other tools. Here, however, it is an agent from Rapid7 itself. This adds to the solution's overall capabilities."

"I like that it's a cloud-based solution."

"The log aggregation and storage provided by InsightIDR has shown no issues with scalability; aggregating over one hundred millions events daily."

"Rapid7 is easy to use and deploy. It is a simple solution and has easy data pulling."

"Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten. As a cloud tool, the product is highly scalable."

More Rapid7 InsightIDR pros

Cons

"There are a large number of false positives."

"The dashboard is the area that needs to improve so that we can have the ability to drill down without having to go elsewhere to verify results."

"It's very time-consuming to log support issues and the people that answer the tickets aren't very knowledgeable."

"When it comes to core analysis, and security analysis, Cortex needs to provide more information."

"While using Cortex, I noticed some aspects that could be improved, such as increasing the synchronization speed between XDR and Xnor."

"To jump from the partner to Palo Alto directly was challenging."

"Initially, we got to have a lot of false positives when we onboarded, but nowadays it's quite smooth."

"Whenever the tool releases a new version when deploying the product across the organization, I feel like there are some disturbances in the CPU usage after upgrading the tool to the latest version."

More Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks cons

"The solution needs improvement in threat intelligence. Increasing the depth of intelligence to help users understand more about threats is a possibility. My suggestion is to expand access to other websites or resources."

"I feel it would greatly benefit from more supported log sources."

"One thing that springs to mind is easier API integration with ITSMs. We are evaluating a new ITSM and I would like to have InsightIDR create a ticket when an attack is identified, and the ticket would be closed in InsightIDR when the ITSM resolution is completed. This would take out the "single point of failure" we currently have, if the email recipient is somehow absent, in recording the risk appetite for the incident and the actions taken to mitigate or not."

"Tenable Nessus is easier to deal with. It's more efficient and accurate. InsightIDR is heavier than Tenable in terms of performance and scanning. Rapid7 would be much easier to use if it had a network connector like Tenable. Tenable's connector allows continuous monitoring over the B caps."

"Lacks a mobile application."

"Needs a better ability to customize the check within the console."

"Inability to get access to compliance reports within the solution."

"There is a future in AI with Rapid7, however, it is not fully operated. There are certain limitations with Rapid7 that I am working on."

More Rapid7 InsightIDR cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's way too expensive, but security is expensive. You pay for your licensing, and then you pay for someone to monitor the stuff."

"It has a yearly renewal."

"The tool's price is moderate."

"I feel it is fairly priced."

"If one wishes to work with another team or large number of users at a future point, he must purchase a license for them."

"Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is quite an expensive solution."

"It's the most expensive solution, but features-wise, it's quite strong. It's very good for protection, so the results are very good in the case of protection. I would rate it a two out of ten in terms of pricing."

"I am using the Community edition."

More Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks pricing and cost advice

"I rate Rapid7 InsightIDR's price a four on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive."

"The solution has a mid-range price point in the market"

"Rapid7 InsightIDR is a cheaply priced product. On a scale of one to ten, where one is very expensive, and ten is very cheap, I rate the product's price at seven or eight."

"Accurately predict your licensing counts as this is a subscription based product."

"Licensing is straightforward. If, for some reason, you don’t meet the minimum licensing requirements, there is a third-party managed service that can help."

"Licensing is by endpoint and amount of retention time (at least ours is). Default retention was one year, but we are able to push the retention further if needed. There's also a provide-your-own-S3 option for longer retention if you don't want to pay for the additional retention years in your Rapid7 agreement."

"The team is very willing to work with companies. My suggestion is to call the Rapid7 sales department and see how they can help."

"The pricing of the solution depends on the user. But there is a yearly licensing cost."

More Rapid7 InsightIDR pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Computer Software Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	43
Midsize Enterprise	20
Large Enterprise	45

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	20
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	6

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. The ability to reverse damage caused by ransomware with minimal interruptions to...

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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 ...

See all answers

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, applies behavioral-based endpoint protection and response, and includes risk-ba...

See all answers

What SOC product do you recommend?

For tools I’d recommend: -SIEM- LogRhythm -SOAR- Palo Alto XSOAR Doing commercial w/o both (or at least an XDR) is asking to miss details that are critical, and ending up a statistic. Also, rememb...

See all answers

What do you like most about Rapid7 InsightIDR?

During simulations or demonstrations, the tool generates alerts, providing details such as the specific application, its origin, and potential threats. For instance, it can identify if an applicati...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Rapid7 InsightIDR?

The product pricing is very cheap.

See all answers

Comparisons

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks

Compared 8% of the time

SentinelOne Singularity Complete vs Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks

Compared 5% of the time

CrowdStrike Falcon vs Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks

Compared 5% of the time

Cortex XSIAM vs Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks

Compared 4% of the time

Trellix Endpoint Security Platform vs Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks

Compared 3% of the time

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Rapid7 InsightVM vs Rapid7 InsightIDR

Compared 5% of the time

Microsoft Sentinel vs Rapid7 InsightIDR

Compared 5% of the time

Splunk Enterprise Security vs Rapid7 InsightIDR

Compared 5% of the time

CrowdStrike Falcon vs Rapid7 InsightIDR

Compared 4% of the time

Darktrace vs Rapid7 InsightIDR

Compared 3% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks

January 2026

Download Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks product report

Buyer's Guide

Rapid7 InsightIDR

January 2026

Download Rapid7 InsightIDR product report

Also Known As

Cyvera, Cortex XDR, Palo Alto Networks Traps

InsightIDR

Overview

Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks provides advanced threat detection with AI-driven endpoint protection and seamless integration, ensuring multi-layered security and automatic threat response.

Cortex XDR is designed to safeguard endpoints against malware and suspicious activities. It offers advanced threat detection and response capabilities using behavioral analysis, AI, and machine learning. It seamlessly integrates with security infrastructures, providing endpoint security, firewall integration, and enhanced visibility in both cloud-based and on-premises environments.

What are the key features of Cortex XDR?

Advanced Threat Detection: Uses AI and machine learning for proactive threat identification.
Multi-layered Security: Combines various security measures for comprehensive protection.
Endpoint Protection: Safeguards against malware and exploits.
Behavioral Analysis: Monitors suspicious activity for early detection.
Automatic Threat Response: Automates responses to neutralize threats.

What benefits should users expect?

Ease of Use: Simplifies security management with intuitive design.
Resource Efficiency: Minimizes impact on system resources.
Integration Capabilities: Works well with existing security setups.
Reduced Analyst Workload: Automates processes to decrease manual intervention.

Organizations in diverse sectors deploy Cortex XDR to protect against malware, leveraging its advanced threat detection capabilities. Its integration with existing security infrastructures appeals to those seeking comprehensive protection in both cloud and on-premises environments, providing enhanced visibility and threat intelligence.

Palo Alto Networks

Parsing hundreds of trivial alerts. Managing a mountain of data. Manually forwarding info from your endpoints. Forget that. InsightIDR instantly arms you with the insight you need to make better decisions across the incident detection and response lifecycle, faster.

Rapid7

Sample Customers

CBI Health Group, University Honda, VakifBank

Liberty Wines, Pioneer Telephone, Visier

Buyer's Guide

Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks vs. Rapid7 InsightIDR

December 2025

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