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CrowdStrike Falcon vs Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management 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 Attack Surface Management (ASM)
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
138
Ranking in other categories
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) (6th), Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (1st), Threat Intelligence Platforms (TIP) (1st), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (1st), Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (1st), Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) (1st), AI-Powered Cybersecurity Platforms (1st)
Microsoft Defender External...
Ranking in Attack Surface Management (ASM)
12th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.0
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
Microsoft Security Suite (33rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Attack Surface Management (ASM) category, the mindshare of CrowdStrike Falcon is 7.2%, down from 20.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management is 3.2%, up from 2.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Attack Surface Management (ASM) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
CrowdStrike Falcon7.2%
Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management3.2%
Other89.6%
Attack Surface Management (ASM)
 

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.
AndyChan3 - PeerSpot reviewer
General manager at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Enhanced visibility and exposes vulnerabilities but needs more integration
I am currently in the pilot stage of implementing Microsoft External Attack Surface Management (EASM). My organization is transitioning to a comprehensive track of Microsoft solutions, and we will move to full-scale production in another year, maybe Microsoft External Attack Surface Management…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It provides very good protection and the ability to crosscheck environments."
"CrowdStrike Falcon features are robust and reliable."
"Everything we've done with CrowdStrike is due to Arctic Wolf. We don't even need to get alerts from CrowdStrike anymore. It'll send those to Arctic Wolf, and then Arctic Wolf analyzes those and let us know if there's a major issue."
"It's given me a level of confidence that my network is secure."
"The stability is good; we haven't experienced any glitches or bugs."
"It seems to do a pretty good job of protecting the host. It offers good insights that it gives you when it has a detection. It's pretty incredible."
"CrowdStrike Falcon has helped my customers predict and prevent potential breaches because of its proactive approach."
"I like the Overwatch feature the most."
"Microsoft External Attack Surface Management helps improve the visibility of my exposed vulnerabilities and provides an overview of my security posture across the globe."
"Microsoft External Attack Surface Management helps improve the visibility of my exposed vulnerabilities and provides an overview of my security posture across the globe."
"It seems to be better at protecting from cyberattacks."
 

Cons

"A year and a half ago or more, if you put in a support request by email, then it wasn't timely addressed. It could be a day to three days before you received a response, which was a bit frustrating. There was a lot of customer feedback around this issue, which has been greatly refined."
"CrowdStrike Falcon needs to improve their host management system."
"The installation process for this software needs to be simplified."
"Too many false positives."
"There are some areas where some customers would prefer a different service."
"CrowdStrike Falcon could improve the EDR functionality. Once the functionality of the solution improves, it will be even better in the market and able to compete with Carbon Black."
"To simplify the budgeting process for our clients, CrowdStrike should consider offering bundled packages that include essential features."
"I have worked with their technical support on several problems that were never fully resolved."
"Further integration across different Microsoft products would be an improvement."
"The integration is not as seamless compared to competitors like Palo Alto."
"With Microsoft, support is always crazy, it's not easy to get support."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is no license required to use this solution."
"The other administrator and I can log in to check the exact details of what happened, what was running, and what caused the detection. We know exactly what was happening on the end users PC and we can tell if it's something that we actually need or something that's malicious."
"All I can say about the licensing cost is that it's negotiable."
"CrowdStrike Falcon can be more expensive than some competitors, and its base price doesn't cover every feature."
"With respect to pricing, my suggestion to others is to evaluate the environment and purchase what you need."
"The pricing is definitely high but you get what you pay for, and it's not so high that it prices itself out of the market."
"The more endpoints an organization adds the cheaper the cost."
"The price of CrowdStrike Falcon is reasonable."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Outsourcing Company
7%
Government
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business50
Midsize Enterprise33
Large Enterprise62
No data available
 

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 needs improvement with Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management?
Further integration across different Microsoft products would be an improvement. Introduction of more AI automation into the products would also be beneficial. The integration is not as seamless co...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management?
I am currently in the pilot stage of implementing Microsoft External Attack Surface Management (EASM). My organization is transitioning to a comprehensive track of Microsoft solutions, and we will ...
 

Also Known As

CrowdStrike Falcon XDR, CrowdStrike Falcon Threat Intelligence, CrowdStrike Identity Protection, CrowdStrike Falcon Surface, CrowdStrike Falcon Platform
No data available
 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about CrowdStrike Falcon vs. Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management and other solutions. Updated: February 2026.
884,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.