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Darktrace vs Stellar Cyber Open XDR comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 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

Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Net...
Sponsored
Ranking in Extended Detection and Response (XDR)
3rd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
121
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (4th), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (5th), Ransomware Protection (2nd), AI-Powered Cybersecurity Platforms (1st)
Darktrace
Ranking in Extended Detection and Response (XDR)
6th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
85
Ranking in other categories
Email Security (11th), Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (2nd), Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) (1st), Network Detection and Response (NDR) (1st), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (10th), Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) (10th), Attack Surface Management (ASM) (4th), AI-Powered Cybersecurity Platforms (4th), AI Observability (7th)
Stellar Cyber Open XDR
Ranking in Extended Detection and Response (XDR)
36th
Average Rating
0.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) (43rd), User Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) (29th), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (55th), Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) (17th), Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR) (23rd), Network Detection and Response (NDR) (21st), Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) (24th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Extended Detection and Response (XDR) category, the mindshare of Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is 4.8%, down from 6.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Darktrace is 4.5%, down from 8.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Stellar Cyber Open XDR is 2.3%, down from 2.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Extended Detection and Response (XDR) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks4.8%
Darktrace4.5%
Stellar Cyber Open XDR2.3%
Other88.4%
Extended Detection and Response (XDR)
 

Featured Reviews

ABHISHEK_SINGH - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Pasan Jayarathna - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Security Engineer at Cyberwell Solution
Monitoring has improved data loss detection and now spots abnormal internal file transfers quickly
In my understanding, the best feature Darktrace offers is the identification of copying files, which acts as a DLP, and it is a main concern for companies because users sometimes copy data outside without knowing, especially those without a technical background. When I mention the DLP-like feature and file copying detection, the alerts have been very timely, as we get an alert within a couple of minutes, which is excellent. Even if some developers are working after hours and copying files, our SOC team detects this, and most of the time they call us so we can identify the users. The alerts are quite accurate and proactive.
JC
Global Director, Commercial Operations at Promasecure LLC
Automated security monitoring increases efficiency, but market visibility needs improvement
I am currently evaluating Stellar Cyber Open XDR in terms of their support. I do not see any major areas for improvement as of now. Their support is good, and the team is small, enabling them to cater to everyone effectively. While I have not encountered significant drawbacks so far, market penetration is challenging due to the product's newness, despite its flexibility and customization features. I find their user interface to be quite good.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."
"Traps is quite a stable product. Once it was properly deployed and configured, you have nothing to be worried about."
"From a single pane of glass, you can easily manage all of your endpoints."
"But overall, when we speak about security and protection, they are one of the top providers."
"Monitoring is most valuable."
"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."
"The protection offered by this product is good, as is the endpoint reporting."
"The live terminal is probably the best thing ever. It gives you the access to get straight onto any machine."
"Technical support is helpful and responsive."
"Technical support is great. They are very responsive and helpful."
"The most valuable features of Darktrace are its full capabilities, as you have visibility of everything happening on your network, emails, and SaaS applications."
"We are able to detect a lot of things, actually, and see what is happening in our network."
"It's beneficial to me and I can see that with more time and energy put into optimizing it and personalizing the unit, it can be much more powerful than the way I am using it now."
"You can have a one-person IT team and with Darktrace, you can get notification of potential threats that are incoming or are already happening on the network."
"Because of all it does, Darktrace is a very good solution, and it doesn't take a lot of time to implement and to get results."
"I find it very good in the way that they show the past events, including the attack history, and you are able to visualize all of the attack paths and connectivity to see what's happened."
"Stellar Cyber Open XDR offers these functionalities at a more affordable price, making it easier for me to position it with price-sensitive customers."
"It can integrate with almost any cybersecurity tool available in the market."
 

Cons

"The main issue I could point out is the offline agents and the way that it is missing."
"Data privacy is a matter of concern. You have to be careful with data privacy, it can be sensitive and Cortex can have most of your access."
"Currently, if you use Palo Alto endpoint protection as the only solution it's very complicated to remove pre-existing threats."
"Previously, the endpoint would leave the environment, not being on our VPN, essentially unable to interact with the server to upload files. It was unable to retrieve new file verdicts. It was using a thing called "local analysis" to determine if something was a malicious file or not. There was no dynamic analysis."
"Currently, we are monitoring all USB drives and ports but we would like to improve our device control capabilities."
"Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks could improve by adding a sandbox feature to better compete with their competitors which have it."
"For Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks, if I had to point out improvements, I would say the UI is still somewhat difficult for beginners."
"The downsides of Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks are that in many incidents, when I enter the causality chain, there are numerous logs."
"The cost of the solution is expensive for smaller businesses."
"Its documentation is not up to the mark. At times, I have a lot of trouble finding a solution."
"They just need to work on their price."
"One area for improvement is the alerting system, which generates too many alerts and becomes labor-intensive for organizations not equipped with enough personnel in their SOC."
"There are numerous false positives."
"The level of tracking within the network from the transmission level up to the machine level can use improvement."
"The pricing needs improvement."
"Darktrace is a closed technology, meaning we know very little about how it works, including the architecture, which is significant. As a result, when we implement the system and find we're getting many false positives, we have minimal insight into why it's happening and what we can do to fix it. We don't know how the solution is configured, the criteria for threats to be determined, or the product's inner workings. We understand that they have to ensure privacy and their copyright, but we want to see some documentation or public research into the security Darktrace provides."
"I would rate the stability at about five to six. The platform requires some fine-tuning, especially when integrating data sources and creating connectors."
"Support is an issue because they have a limited number of resources."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing seems fair, and I do like the licensing model. You use wherever they are, and it is elastic."
"It is cost-effective compared to similar solutions. It fits for the small businesses through to the big businesses."
"Compared to CrowdStrike, Cortex XDR is an expensive solution."
"Licensing for Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR can be costly, especially when it comes to a hundred users. A license is required for each user, and the subscription must be renewed on a yearly basis."
"Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is an expensive solution."
"The solution is expensive. It's pricing is on a yearly-basis."
"Our license will require renewal in August, after which the maintenance will continue as usual."
"Cortex XDR’s pricing is very reasonable."
"Darktrace is expensive. You can pay for the license yearly."
"The price of Darktrace is high and could be reduced. We pay approximately $30,000 to $54,000 annually."
"The pricing is expensive. It costs over $100,000 a year."
"The pricing is quite high, estimated at around $350,000 per year."
"Our customers feel that the price of Darktrace is quite high compared to other solutions."
"Prior to negotiating, Darktrace offered their appliance and service for $80,000 per year."
"Darktrace is quite an expensive solution."
"When it comes to large installations, it can be expensive, but for small accounts it's fine."
"It’s a single license platform."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
14%
Outsourcing Company
12%
Construction Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Government
7%
Manufacturing Company
14%
Outsourcing Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Construction Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business49
Midsize Enterprise21
Large Enterprise56
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business44
Midsize Enterprise21
Large Enterprise29
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. ...
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...
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,...
How does Crowdstrike Falcon compare with Darktrace?
Both of these products perform similarly and have many outstanding attributes. CrowdStrike Falcon offers an amazing u...
Which is better - SentinelOne or Darktrace?
Which solution is better depends on which is more suitable specifically for your company. Darktrace, for example, is ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Darktrace?
Concerning pricing for the product, I would say it is somewhat expensive.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Stellar Cyber Open XDR?
Pricing is a major benefit of Stellar Cyber Open XDR. I rate it between three and four on the cost scale. It offers f...
What needs improvement with Stellar Cyber Open XDR?
I am currently evaluating Stellar Cyber Open XDR in terms of their support. I do not see any major areas for improvem...
What is your primary use case for Stellar Cyber Open XDR?
I use Stellar Cyber Open XDR ( /products/stellar-cyber-open-xdr-reviews ) as a 24/7 security monitoring tool, especia...
 

Also Known As

Cyvera, Cortex XDR, Palo Alto Networks Traps
No data available
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

CBI Health Group, University Honda, VakifBank
Irwin Mitchell, Open Energi, Wellcome Trust, FirstGroup plc, Virgin Trains, Drax, QUI! Group, DNK, CreaCard, Macrosynergy, Sisley, William Hill plc, Toyota Canada, Royal British Legion, Vitol, Allianz, KKR, AIRBUS, dpd, Billabong, Mclaren Group.
Sumitomo Chemical USA, PlastiPak Packaging, University of Denver, Large California State Agency, Large Midwestern American City
Find out what your peers are saying about Darktrace vs. Stellar Cyber Open XDR and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
919,586 professionals have used our research since 2012.