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CrowdStrike Falcon vs MetaDefender comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 11, 2026

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

CrowdStrike Falcon
Ranking in Threat Intelligence Platforms (TIP)
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
139
Ranking in other categories
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) (5th), Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (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)
MetaDefender
Ranking in Threat Intelligence Platforms (TIP)
14th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (24th), Anti-Malware Tools (11th), Cloud Detection and Response (CDR) (10th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2026, in the Threat Intelligence Platforms (TIP) category, the mindshare of CrowdStrike Falcon is 4.5%, down from 9.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of MetaDefender is 1.7%, down from 2.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Threat Intelligence Platforms (TIP) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
CrowdStrike Falcon4.5%
MetaDefender1.7%
Other93.8%
Threat Intelligence Platforms (TIP)
 

Featured Reviews

Waleed Omar - PeerSpot reviewer
Information Security Specialist at Arab Open University
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.
reviewer2805510 - PeerSpot reviewer
Partner Account manager at a wholesaler/distributor with 51-200 employees
File sanitization has protected critical networks and prevents hidden malware from entering
In my experience, the best features MetaDefender offers include the number of different antivirus engines that can scan files through multi-file scanning, often using 20 to 30 engines, with the top premium package around 33 engines, capturing 80 to 90% of malware in all those files. If any engine detects malware, the file is blocked, which increases detection because different engines catch different malware. When dealing with central government and defense, we find that if there is any kind of malware on the network or the file, whether that is a software file, hard disk file, or a pen drive, it cannot be allowed on the network. This is when we put it into the sandbox and perform file sanitization to ensure that nothing malicious comes into the network. Whenever we are dealing with central government or defense contracts, MetaDefender's core philosophy of trusting no file means it scans files, rebuilds them, and verifies their reputation, ensuring they contain no malicious content. This positively impacts our organization by detecting malware and stopping any kind of data leaks through the network. In terms of measurable outcomes across central government and defense, we are seeing saved time when files go through the antivirus file scanners. In financial services, such as with mortgage applications, the process sends files straight into MetaDefender file scanning that cleans out any malicious content.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"So far, in the past three years, they've been absolutely great."
"Probably the most valuable thing to me is the real-time response piece. The fact that I can connect to an endpoint as long as it is on the Internet, no matter where it is globally. I can remove files from the endpoint, drop files on the endpoint, stop processes, reboot it, run custom scripts, and deploy software. Pretty much no other tool can do all that."
"I like the overall reports of this solution. They are crisp, and to the point."
"During the PoC, we figured out that this product is far better, and it met our requirements."
"The ability to execute real-time response, or, that you can connect to the agent and see exactly what processes are operating, is the most important feature of this solution."
"CrowdStrike is very easy to set up."
"We have a small IT Team, and this allows us to get sleep at night, knowing that someone else is taking care of any incidents that occur."
"The features I like the most are the response time and the dashboard are both excellent."
"OPSWAT is the best alternative."
"I like the simplicity, the way it works out of the box. It's pretty easy to run and configure. The integration of the network devices with the ICAP server was easily done."
"MetaDefender is 100% stable, making it one of the best cybersecurity solutions we offer, which provides confidence in promoting and recommending it to others."
"Overall, MetaDefender is a strong solution for file security, especially for handling email attachments and downloadable files."
"MetaDefender has positively impacted my organization by reducing the risk of file-based attacks, which has significantly improved our overall defense against phishing and malware delivery techniques."
"MetaDefender is 100% stable, making it one of the best cybersecurity solutions we offer, which provides confidence in promoting and recommending it to others."
 

Cons

"The support for different OS versions needs improvement because sometimes due to business conditions, updating our OS is impossible."
"I've found that CrowdStrike's technical support could benefit from increased technical expertise."
"The new interface, the UI, seems a bit messy."
"Too many false positives."
"CrowdStrike Falcon could improve if it became an XDR. When we look only to an end-point, we lose the context of the environment."
"As for stability, I would rate it around eight because last year they faced some downtime with around eight thousand computers, but it will improve."
"Tighter integration around XDR could be included."
"Forensic controls have room for improvement."
"The documentation is not well written, and I often need to talk with support."
"The UI can be more user-friendly, and initial steps and policy tuning take some time."
"The main improvement needed is pricing because, as an enterprise solution, smaller partners do not often receive the attention they deserve."
"Some capabilities are lacking in reporting because we do not have full statistics that are easy for users to understand."
"The licensing cost is somewhat high for smaller organizations like ours, so these are my personal suggestions for improvement."
"The main improvement needed is pricing because, as an enterprise solution, smaller partners do not often receive the attention they deserve."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Pricing and licensing seem to be in line with what they offer. We are a smaller organization, so pricing is important. Obviously, we would make a business case if it is something we really needed or felt that we needed. So, the pricing is in line with what we are getting from a product standpoint."
"It has an annual license, and it is not that expensive."
"Our licensing fees were between $50,000 and $60,000 per year, which was pretty expensive for a small business."
"I am not aware of the price, but I believe that it is among the most expensive XDRs out there. Of course, this is dependent on the features you choose. Depending on the features, the price might increase."
"The pricing will depend upon your volume of usage."
"The cost of CrowdStrike Falcon could be reduced. It is quite expensive if you compare it to other solutions, such as Blue Coat, Symantec, McAfee, or Kaspersky."
"The solution's pricing is great for us."
"I do not have experience with the cost or licensing of the product."
"We bought a three-year license, and that was pretty expensive. We agreed that it was really worth buying. It could be cheaper, but we understand that quality comes at a price."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
11%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
6%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Healthcare Company
11%
Construction Company
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business51
Midsize Enterprise33
Large Enterprise62
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Large Enterprise3
 

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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for MetaDefender?
The pricing of MetaDefender is about hundreds of dollars. If I remember correctly, when someone attempted to buy from us one instance of OPSWAT, it was about nine thousand dollars for multi-scannin...
What needs improvement with MetaDefender?
Some feedback indicated that it takes too much time to configure certain policies because there are many options. Some people appreciate this because you can configure anything, but I believe MetaD...
What is your primary use case for MetaDefender?
I have used MetaDefender for one and a half years, deploying it in different environments and managing a team of professional services that deploy MetaDefender products in customer environments. I ...
 

Also Known As

CrowdStrike Falcon XDR, CrowdStrike Falcon Threat Intelligence, CrowdStrike Identity Protection, CrowdStrike Falcon Surface, CrowdStrike Falcon Platform
OPSWAT MetaDefender, MetaDefender Core
 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about CrowdStrike Falcon vs. MetaDefender and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
886,576 professionals have used our research since 2012.