CrowdStrike Falcon vs Qualys Multi-Vector EDR comparison

CrowdStrike and Qualys are both solutions in the Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) category. CrowdStrike is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.5, while Qualys is ranked #73. CrowdStrike holds a 7.8% mindshare in EDR, compared to Qualys’s 0.3% mindshare. Additionally, 97% of CrowdStrike users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Qualys users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 11, 2026

CrowdStrike Falcon and Qualys Multi-Vector EDR compete in the endpoint security space. CrowdStrike appears to have an edge due to its swift threat detection and AI capabilities, while Qualys stands out with its comprehensive vulnerability management.

Features: CrowdStrike Falcon emphasizes real-time detection and response, offering robust threat intelligence, behavioral analysis, and endpoint protection. Qualys Multi-Vector EDR provides comprehensive vulnerability management, asset inventory, and threat prioritization, with a strong emphasis on extensive vulnerability management.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: CrowdStrike uses a streamlined cloud-native architecture for quick integration, without heavy hardware requirements. Its customer support is known for being responsive and effective. Qualys Multi-Vector EDR, also cloud-based, facilitates cross-platform integration and scales well for various business sizes. While both deployments are smooth, CrowdStrike's process is more straightforward and less resource-intensive. Customer service for both is comparable, but CrowdStrike's rapid resolution reputation provides an advantage.

Pricing and ROI: CrowdStrike Falcon tends to have a higher initial setup cost, justified by its rapid threat detection returns. Qualys Multi-Vector EDR is often more competitively priced, offering savings for environments needing broad coverage. Despite its higher cost, CrowdStrike's quick ROI is appealing to organizations requiring immediate security. Qualys offers better value for cost-conscious firms with diverse security requirements.

To learn more, read our detailed Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) Report (Updated: April 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)

April 2026

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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...

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2026, in the Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) category, the mindshare of Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is 3.4%, down from 3.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of CrowdStrike Falcon is 7.8%, down from 15.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Qualys Multi-Vector EDR is 0.3%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
CrowdStrike Falcon	7.8%
Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks	3.4%
Qualys Multi-Vector EDR	0.3%
Other	88.5%

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.

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Waleed Omar

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.

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reviewer1668453

Director, Security Innovation at a insurance company with 10,001+ employees

Provides contextual alerts and risk ratings on findings

It's kind of difficult to quantify areas for improvement. In the larger picture, one challenge is that the NDR space is very crowded today. I can mention half a dozen names just off the top of my head. There are at least 12 to 20 different players. All of them are well-known brand names, and it's difficult to compare them. They all claim to be giving you the same network difference capability: catching malware, dealing with all the minor taxonomy of attack, all that. Still, it's very difficult to compare them side by side because they all do things a little differently, and they all have different presentations and output. We haven't deployed it, so I can't give you what we felt about it exactly. But in the larger perspective, the critical feature is really giving a clear separation between a low, high, and medium criticality. You need a rating that is really true to the actual attack. There's one other capability we are evaluating them for, and it's for custom alerts detection. A lot of these products are trying to profile the threats that are already out there in the industry. They're very well known and published. Today, there are targeted acts being played against organizations, so you have to be sensitive to how your firewalls, protocols, and your HTTP are all operating. You might have some fine-tuned threats that are targeting you, and you should be able to build custom defenses. They should have some openness in terms of how you specify your threats. You get a standard library of threats. On top of it, every organization builds its own.

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

"I have found the solution to be very easy in respect of the integration and configurable."

"Cortex XDR is a very capable solution for protecting large networks and a lot of endpoints. It's very useful because the automation is very high, and if you combine it with the features on Palo Alto firewalls, it provides very strong protection."

"I like the centralized console and the predictive analysis it does of malware. It is very stable and also scalable."

"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."

"Threat identification and detection are the most valuable features of this solution."

"The anti-exploit is impenetrable. We chose Traps because it is the only product that we were not able to get anything past."

"Traps has drastically reduced our endpoint attack surface via advanced detection capabilities, sandboxing of never before seen programs, and by drastically limiting where executables can launch in the first place."

"We can visualize and control the activities in the environment from anywhere."

More Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks pros

"The biggest advantage of this solution for my customers is that it is a single solution that fulfills most of their security concerns while being easy to manage."

"We just moved over from McAfee to CrowdStrike, which detected a lot of things that McAfee did not."

"This product has worked flawlessly to prevent breaches, and then it has allowed us to prevent any downtime."

"The product is really good, but there is a lot of additional features that you need to have for it to be a complete solution."

"The solution's most valuable feature is that it is robust and can detect almost every malicious activity that occurs within the endpoint."

"CrowdStrike's advantage is that the agent is light, so it doesn't require many resources on the machines, it's easy to install, and the results are useful to the organization."

"We receive good ROI when using this solution."

"From what we have seen, it is very scalable. We have recently acquired a company where someone had a ransomware attack when we joined networks. Within the course of just a few days, we were able to easily get CrowdStrike rolled out to about 300 machines. That also included the removal of that company's legacy anti-malware tool."

More CrowdStrike Falcon pros

"They can provide you with very contextual alerts on if something bad is happening—coming into your network or going out of your network."

"They can provide you very contextual alerts on if something bad is happening—coming into your network or going out of your network. As part of that, they gather a lot of threat intelligence and map your connections against that. The larger benefit is that they give you a risk rating on their findings."

Cons

"The solution should force customers to integrate with network traffic to see the full benefits of XDR."

"It should support more mobile operating systems. That is one of the cons of their infrastructure right now."

"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."

"The server sometimes stops continuously to check things so it would be helpful to receive access updates or technical reasons."

"This product has not improved my organization - in fact, we are in the process of moving back to another product as a result of Cortex's horrible impact on system performance."

"It is not easy to sell Cortex XDR, not because it isn't a good tool."

"There are a large number of false positives."

"If you compare it to SentinelOne, which has more functionalities and detection capabilities on an open platform, the pricing on SentinelOne is far more reasonable and cheaper than Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks."

More Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks cons

"The management of log aggregation is in need of improvement."

"Dashboard creation is one of the areas for improvement in CrowdStrike Falcon. Sometimes, management asks for a custom dashboard, so my team has to collect data from CrowdStrike Falcon, integrate that in Splunk, then create the dashboard in Splunk. The Splunk dashboard is more elaborate, so the CrowdStrike Falcon dashboard needs improvement. Another area for improvement in the tool is the malware detection report, as it needs to be more detailed and include some graphics so that if you want to present that data in a nutshell, it's easier to do. For example, the report should consist of some graphical representation that shows a month's worth of data. In terms of an additional feature I'd like CrowdStrike Falcon to have, it's the device posture assessment feature that detects the device posture within the network. Whichever device connects to the corporate network, my company should be able to analyze the device posture. Then there should be communication with the network, which means that as soon as a device connects, CrowdStrike Falcon can assess the device posture, detect its corporate asset, and decide whether it should be allowed on the network."

"It does take more time to scan than other solutions."

"There are a lot of open integrations, but they are external factors that cause dependencies on the integrator, not really on CrowdStrike, so it's a bit of a challenge as there is no comprehensive solution."

"The stability of the solution varies, several weeks ago I had some difficulties deploying CrowdStrike."

"CrowdStrike should provide better visibility in its reporting. There should be more forensic details about detected threats."

"There are some areas where some customers would prefer a different service."

"Too many false positives."

More CrowdStrike Falcon cons

"My challenge is actually comparing offerings from different vendors across a threat spectrum that is very large. We are talking about millions of threats. How are you confident that Blue Hexagon is catching all one million of them and Palo Alto is doing the same thing? They all have their strengths. Within that, Blue Hexagon might cover 990,000 of them. Palo Alto might cover another 990,000. It's a bit difficult to compare them and say, "Oh, are they catching the same 990,000?" I don't know."

"My challenge is actually comparing offerings from different vendors across a threat spectrum that is very large."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It has a yearly renewal."

"I did PoCs on products called Cylance and CrowdStrike. Although, I consider these products and they were also good, when it come to cost and budgetary factors, Traps has been proven to be better than the other two products. It is quite cost-effective and delivers all the entire solution which we require."

"The price was fine."

"Compared to CrowdStrike, Cortex XDR is an expensive solution."

"Our license will require renewal in August, after which the maintenance will continue as usual."

"It has a higher cost than other solutions, like CrowdStrike or Microsoft’s EDR tools, but it reduces the cost of our operations because it’s a new generation antivirus tool."

"Cortex XDR is a costly solution."

"I am using the Community edition."

More Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks 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."

"The price of CrowdStrike Falcon is expensive."

"We are at about $60,000 per year."

"CrowdStrike Falcon is one of the more expensive endpoint solutions on the market."

"I'm not directly involved in sales, so I can't comment on the exact price, but I know the price decreases the higher the quantity we purchase."

"I would like them to further reduce the price, because it is quite pricey at the moment."

"The more endpoints an organization adds the cheaper the cost."

"The pricing and licensing are reasonable. I don't think we are getting charged more than what it is worth. It is fair, but I do not like how it is a la carte. I realize they do that so other organizations can buy and get the agent, getting it cheaper than you could otherwise. However, if you want the main core package, which has all the main features with the exception of maybe the multi-cloud protections, that can get pricier for an organization. So, you have to pick and choose what you want. I do not care for a la carte pricing."

More CrowdStrike Falcon pricing and cost advice

"It's difficult to state the setup cost. All the NDRs range anywhere between $500,000, plus or minus, to $2 million. There's a spread of pricing here, depending on who you are talking to. Obviously the major brand names want more money. They typically bundle it with their other offerings. With Cisco, for example, you don't just buy an NDR. So, typically it gets rolled into the cost."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Construction Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

11%

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

14%

Comms Service Provider

12%

Construction Company

12%

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	45
Midsize Enterprise	20
Large Enterprise	48

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	52
Midsize Enterprise	33
Large Enterprise	63

No data available

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. ...

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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 th...

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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,...

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How does Crowdstrike Falcon compare with Darktrace?

Both of these products perform similarly and have many outstanding attributes. CrowdStrike Falcon offers an amazing u...

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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...

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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...

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Comparisons

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Compared 8% of the time

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Cortex XSIAM vs Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks

Compared 4% of the time

Symantec Endpoint Security vs Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks

Compared 3% of the time

Trellix Endpoint Security Platform vs Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks

Compared 2% of the time

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Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs CrowdStrike Falcon

Compared 3% of the time

Fortinet FortiEDR vs CrowdStrike Falcon

Compared 3% of the time

Microsoft Defender XDR vs CrowdStrike Falcon

Compared 3% of the time

SentinelOne Singularity Endpoint vs CrowdStrike Falcon

Compared 2% of the time

VMware Carbon Black Endpoint vs CrowdStrike Falcon

Compared 2% of the time

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Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs Qualys Multi-Vector EDR

Compared 20% of the time

ExtraHop Reveal(x) vs Qualys Multi-Vector EDR

Compared 12% of the time

Huntress Managed EDR vs Qualys Multi-Vector EDR

Compared 8% of the time

Darktrace vs Qualys Multi-Vector EDR

Compared 7% of the time

Lookout vs Qualys Multi-Vector EDR

Compared 6% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks

April 2026

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Buyer's Guide

CrowdStrike Falcon

April 2026

Download CrowdStrike Falcon product report

Buyer's Guide

Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)

April 2026

Download Qualys Multi-Vector EDR product report

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

Blue Hexagon

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

CrowdStrike Falcon provides cutting-edge endpoint detection with automatic alerts, real-time monitoring, and seamless integration capabilities. Cloud-native architecture and AI-driven processes ensure scalable protection and efficient threat remediation.

CrowdStrike Falcon is recognized for its robust EDR and threat intelligence features that enhance security and streamline operations. Its lightweight agent minimizes system impact while offering real-time monitoring and detailed reporting. This platform uses cloud-native architecture for scalable, consistent protection, significantly reducing administrative demands. AI and machine learning empower precise threat hunting and behavioral analysis, which mitigates false positives and boosts cybersecurity efficiency. Users seek improvements in integration with other systems, reporting functions, and compatibility with specific operating systems. While the solution handles malware mitigation and threat response efficiently, suggestions for on-demand scanning, enhanced visibility, and better dashboard features are noted.

What are the key features of CrowdStrike Falcon?

Automatic Alert System: Provides instant alerts to enhance threat detection.
Robust EDR: Offers advanced endpoint detection capabilities.
Threat Intelligence: Delivers detailed insights for proactive security measures.
Real-time Monitoring: Enables continuous security assessments.
Seamless Integration Options: Streamlines operations with existing infrastructure.
Lightweight Agent: Minimizes system impact, maintaining performance efficiency.
Cloud-native Architecture: Provides scalable, consistent protection against threats.
AI and ML-driven Processes: Offers accurate threat hunting and behavioral analysis.

What benefits or ROI should users expect from CrowdStrike Falcon?

Enhanced Security: Comprehensive protection for endpoints using cutting-edge technologies.
Reduced Administrative Burden: Simplifies management of security incidents.
Efficient Threat Remediation: Minimizes downtime with quick threat response actions.
Improved Threat Visibility: Provides detailed reports and insights.
Scalable Protection: Ensures adaptable security measures across multiple devices.

In technology sectors, CrowdStrike Falcon commonly supports endpoint protection and threat response initiatives, allowing companies to replace traditional antivirus systems with more advanced solutions. In finance, it secures sensitive data across multiple platforms, ensuring compliance. In healthcare, real-time security analysis protects patient data on critical devices like servers and laptops, utilizing AI to enhance cybersecurity defenses.

CrowdStrike

Qualys Multi-Vector EDR is designed for real-time threat detection and response, offering comprehensive visibility into potential security breaches across endpoints.

This solution integrates seamlessly with other Qualys modules, facilitating automated workflows that streamline incident management and enhance efficiency in monitoring and mitigating cyber threats. With features like real-time monitoring, detailed reporting, and proactive alerting, security teams can quickly identify and address vulnerabilities. While appreciated for its scalability and ease of deployment, users suggest improvements in integration, reporting, and configuration to further enhance its capabilities.

What are the key features of Qualys Multi-Vector EDR?

Real-time Threat Detection: Continuously monitors endpoints to detect potential threats immediately.
Seamless Integration: Integrates with other Qualys modules and existing systems for streamlined operations.
Automated Response: Automates incident response workflows to enhance efficiency and reduce manual tasks.
Detailed Reporting: Provides in-depth reports to support proactive security measures and quick remediation.
Scalability: Suitable for businesses of varying sizes due to its scalable architecture.

What are the benefits and ROI to look for when evaluating Qualys Multi-Vector EDR?

Enhanced Security: Comprehensive threat detection ensures robust security measures.
Improved Efficiency: Automated workflows save time and reduce manual intervention.
Quick Remediation: Real-time alerts and detailed reports facilitate swift vulnerability mitigation.
Cost-effective Deployment: Scalable and resource-efficient architecture suitable for businesses large and small.

Qualys Multi-Vector EDR is implemented across industries such as finance, healthcare, and retail, where real-time threat detection and automated response are critical. Its ability to integrate with existing systems and provide detailed reporting makes it a valuable asset for enhancing cybersecurity measures in diverse environments.

Qualys

Sample Customers

CBI Health Group, University Honda, VakifBank

Information Not Available

Pacific Dental Services, Greenhill and Co, Heffernan Insurance Brokers

Buyer's Guide

Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)

April 2026

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