CrowdStrike vs. Palo Alto Networks

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Fatigue can’t stop cyberattacks.
But we can.

Palo Alto Networks
Disjointed products that slow critical investigations

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    3+ separate consoles across Cortex and Prisma Cloud, fragmenting SOC workflows
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    Requires analysts to manage multiple, disjointed UIs during investigations
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    "Requires a steep learning curve and may be less suitable for lean security teams and those pursuing ease of use", according to Gartner

The CrowdStrike difference

CrowdStrike
A single console that powers unparalleled SOC efficiency

CrowdStrike's single console consolidates endpoint, cloud, identity, data protection, IT automation, NG-SIEM, exposure management, and more, enhancing SOC operations by automatically correlating data across CrowdStrike’s unified platform. The result? Faster detection and response.

Palo Alto Networks
Hard to deploy, hard to maintain

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    3 separate agents required for full platform functionality
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    Requires constant manual tuning and configuration across modules

The CrowdStrike difference

CrowdStrike
Rapid deployment, streamlined operations

CrowdStrike simplifies operations with a single, lightweight agent that deploys all platform modules. It’s easy to maintain, saving customers valuable time and resources, and eliminating the need for manual configuration and tuning.

Customer assessment

100k

Agents deployed in less than 24 hours2.

Palo Alto Networks
Excessive TCO

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    Burdensome operations significantly increase total cost of ownership (TCO)
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    Complex point products raise training costs
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    Prolonged professional services commitments trap customers in overlapping vendor contracts

The CrowdStrike difference

CrowdStrike
Unmatched ROI

CrowdStrike’s single console, single agent architecture simplifies operations and provides an unmatched ROI, freeing up your time and resources. Our intuitive modules also cut down training expenses, and rapid deployment eases the shift from outdated systems—avoiding costly contract overlaps.

$6

Of return for every $1 invested.

Compare

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Palo Alto Networks

Platform

Single, unified console powers consolidation

CrowdStrike’s single console, single agent architecture enables rapid deployment of all platform modules and accelerates investigations through a unified, easy-to-use UI.

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Multiple consoles, multiple agents

Palo Alto Networks’ fragmented platform is spread over three disjointed consoles. It also requires three different agents for full platform functionality, lengthening deployment time and hindering SOC effectiveness.

Endpoint Security

Designed for modern endpoint security

CrowdStrike was named a “Leader” for the fifth consecutive time in the latest Gartner MQ for Endpoint Protection Platforms and positioned best on both axes. Our single lightweight agent streamlines deployment and operations, ensuring no performance impacts.

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Poor architecture prevents effective endpoint security

Palo Alto Networks' flawed architecture compromises endpoint security. The Cortex agent's high RAM and disk usage also slows down endpoints.

Identity Protection

Leading AI-powered identity threat protection

CrowdStrike detects identity attacks 85% faster with an anomaly detection engine that analyzes live traffic against behavior baselines and policies. It offers real-time threat prevention, including MFA enforcement and password resets, all through a unified agent.

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Identity protection that can’t stop attacks

Palo Alto Network’s Identity Threat Module is limited to detection without out-of-the-box blocking capabilities, missing essential responses such as risk-based access controls and step-up MFA for legacy apps. It also requires a complex setup involving a separate cloud identity engine and agent.

Cloud Security

Pre-built cloud detections and automated alert correlation

CrowdStrike Falcon® Cloud Security delivers pre-built runtime detections, on-sensor machine learning, and integrated threat intelligence. SOC analysts gain superior initial detections and alert context via a unified console with other CrowdStrike modules, boosting protection and speeding up investigations.

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Cloud security that struggles out of the box

Prisma Cloud relies on static behavioral baselines for detection, leaving customers vulnerable to breach for 24 hours after any new workload is deployed. Customers need to manually tune baselines to weed out false positives and false negatives.

SIEM

Unmatched speed and performance at a better cost

Designed for the modern SOC, CrowdStrike Falcon® Next-Gen SIEM delivers breach prevention with real-time alerts, rapid search capabilities, and elite threat intelligence. CrowdStrike processes petabytes of data with sub-second latency, all more cost-effectively than rival SIEM solutions.

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XSIAM can’t effectively address SIEM use cases

XSIAM struggles to address traditional SIEM use cases with slow search speeds, limited data visualization, and an arduous onboarding process. Their “automation” is nothing more than standard SOAR playbooks that require extensive manual configuration or expensive professional services.

Managed Detection and Response

Industry-leading managed detection and response

CrowdStrike is the #1 leader in MDR by market share (Gartner). Our service delivers end-to-end response across endpoint, identity, and cloud to conclusively remediate attacks, with zero customer handoffs that waste time or increase risk. CrowdStrike provides the most comprehensive detection coverage and delivers the fastest threat detection.

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Incomplete MDR leaves you with homework

Palo Alto Networks’ MDR only offers basic remediation through standard agent actions unless licensed for costly IR hours, putting the burden on the customer to fully mitigate attacks. Any remediation beyond basic endpoint response is limited to guidance, not action. Palo Alto Networks’ MDR also can’t respond to identity-based threats.

Threat Intelligence

Global leader in threat intelligence

Fully integrated, world-class threat intelligence enables SOC analysts to do their jobs faster and more effectively. Leverage a list of recently published IOCs, adversary attribution, and an automated malware sandbox, all within a single user interface. 257 adversaries tracked, 200,000 new IOCs published per day.

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Ineffective threat intel provides little context to analysts

Palo Alto Networks’ threat intel lacks adversary profiles, and fails to provide meaningful alert context to SOC analysts. Even with Autofocus, customers receive basic adversary attribution without comprehensive adversary information, hindering SOC analyst investigations and productivity.

Data Protection

A modern approach to stop data theft

Built on CrowdStrike’s single unified agent, Falcon Data Protection reliably detects and prevents the movement of sensitive data by combining both content and context across endpoints, identities, data, and egress channels.

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Network-based data protection creates visibility gaps

Palo Alto Networks' data loss prevention technology is network-based only, with no ability to reliably detect and prevent sensitive data egress from endpoints, particularly for endpoints not connected to corporate networks.

Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

Cost effective

CrowdStrike's single-agent platform minimizes deployment and maintenance costs, dramatically reducing TCO.

High TCO

Palo Alto Networks' fragmented platform requires multiple disjointed consoles and agents, complicating deployment and increasing operational overhead, leading to a higher TCO.

Validated by industry leading analysts

See what our customers think

1. IDC: The Business Value of the CrowdStrike Falcon XDR Platform
2. Individual results may vary. Based on a customer assessment of CrowdStrike vs traditional, legacy AV vendors