Endpoint detection and response · October 2026 Edition
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs CrowdStrike Falcon Insight
Three of fourteen models named Microsoft Defender for Endpoint first on the direct prompt; five named CrowdStrike Falcon Insight. Both were named by all fourteen models and both carry 57 labels, so the shares below are directly comparable.
Named in seven categories this edition.
Named in two categories this edition.
First-choice share30%22%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate11%19%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#1#2A position in a field of 9; printed, not drawn.
Labels5757Equal, which is what makes the shares comparable.
The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.SentinelOne Singularity was named alongside these two in eleven of the fourteen direct answers. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs SentinelOne Singularity · Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud · Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs Huntress Managed EDR
Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all fourteen models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category; every quote names the model and the prompt it came from. Both figures come from the endpoint detection and response page.
By framing
How many of the fourteen models made each the first choice, per way of asking, and how many argued against it.
Microsoft Defender for EndpointFirst choices, of fourteen modelsCrowdStrike Falcon Insight
Direct351 against CrowdStrike Falcon Insight
Paraphrase651 against CrowdStrike Falcon Insight
Comparative18
Budget-constrained513 against CrowdStrike Falcon Insight
Scale-constrained212 against CrowdStrike Falcon Insight
Negative016 against Microsoft Defender for Endpoint · 4 against CrowdStrike Falcon Insight
Bars are first choices, 0 to 14 each sideModels that argued againstA model can name both, so the two sides of a row do not sum to fourteen.
Across every category in the October 2026 Edition, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint and CrowdStrike Falcon Insight were named in the same answer 111 times, of the 307 answers naming Microsoft Defender for Endpoint and the 174 naming CrowdStrike Falcon Insight. In those answers CrowdStrike Falcon Insight took the first choice forty-eight times and Microsoft Defender for Endpoint twenty-three.
Every model, every framing
The eighty-four answers behind the chart above, one cell each: where Microsoft Defender for Endpoint and CrowdStrike Falcon Insight stood in it.
| Model | Direct | Paraphrase | Comparative | Budget-constrained | Scale-constrained | Negative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | | | | | ||
| GPT-5.4 mini | | | ||||
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | | | | | | |
| Perplexity Sonar | | | | |||
| Grok 4.1 Fast | | | | | | |
| Mistral Small | | | | |||
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | | | | | | |
| Llama 4 Maverick | | | ||||
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | | | | | | |
| Kimi K2 | | | | | ||
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | | | | |||
| MiniMax M2.5 | | | | | ||
| GPT-6 Luna | | | | |||
| Muse Glimmer 30B | | | | |
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint CrowdStrike Falcon Insight first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint on the left and CrowdStrike Falcon Insight on the right.The direct prompt
The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where Microsoft Defender for Endpoint and CrowdStrike Falcon Insight stood in it.
Both were the first choice
1 of 14 modelsThe answer named them together, and the judge labeled each a first choice.MiniMax M2.5CrowdStrike Falcon Insight, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint alternatives: Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR, SentinelOne Singularity, Sophos Intercept X
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint first, CrowdStrike Falcon Insight an alternative
2 of 14 modelsCrowdStrike Falcon Insight was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.DeepSeek V4 FlashMicrosoft Defender for Endpoint alternatives: Bitdefender GravityZone EDR, CrowdStrike Falcon Insight, Cynet, SentinelOne Singularity
GLM 4.7 FlashXMicrosoft Defender for Endpoint alternatives: CrowdStrike Falcon Insight, SentinelOne Singularity
CrowdStrike Falcon Insight first, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint an alternative
4 of 14 modelsMicrosoft Defender for Endpoint was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.GPT-5.4 miniCrowdStrike Falcon Insight alternatives: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, SentinelOne Singularity
Mistral SmallCrowdStrike Falcon Insight, SentinelOne Singularity alternatives: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Sophos Intercept X
Qwen 3.7 FlashCrowdStrike Falcon Insight alternatives: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, SentinelOne Singularity, Sophos Intercept X
Muse Glimmer 30BCrowdStrike Falcon Insight, SentinelOne Singularity alternatives: Bitdefender GravityZone EDR, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Sophos Intercept X
Neither was the first choice, one was named
7 of 14 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.Claude Haiku 4.5Sophos Intercept X alternatives: Bitdefender GravityZone EDR, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, SentinelOne Singularity
Gemini 3.5 FlashSentinelOne Singularity alternatives: CrowdStrike Falcon Insight, Huntress Managed EDR, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
Perplexity SonarSophos Intercept X alternatives: Bitdefender GravityZone EDR, CrowdStrike Falcon Insight, Huntress Managed EDR, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Sophos MDR
Grok 4.1 FastSophos Intercept X alternatives: Bitdefender GravityZone EDR, Huntress Managed EDR, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, SentinelOne Singularity
Llama 4 MaverickBitdefender GravityZone EDR alternatives: CrowdStrike Falcon Insight
Kimi K2SentinelOne Singularity alternatives: CrowdStrike Falcon Insight, Huntress Managed EDR, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Sophos Intercept X
GPT-6 LunaSophos Endpoint with MDR alternatives: CrowdStrike Falcon Insight, Microsoft Defender
Bold names in an answer are the products the judge labeled a first choice; a model naming several gives each of them that label. The full answer text for every row is in the record.
By buyer segment
The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment and they are never added together. The figures above are the mid-market standing, which is the one the category orders by.
Small business
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint leads by two points.
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint4%#4 of 9CrowdStrike Falcon Insight2%#5 of 9Mid-marketThe figures above
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint leads by seven points.
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint30%#1 of 9CrowdStrike Falcon Insight22%#2 of 9Enterprise
The order flips: CrowdStrike Falcon Insight leads at enterprise.
CrowdStrike Falcon Insight52%#1 of 8Microsoft Defender for Endpoint29%#2 of 8What the models said about Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Five of six in this category shown.
“Commonly cited limitations are platform scope and detection depth... it may not perform as well in non-Windows environments.” Muse Glimmer 30B · negative prompt · soft negative
“These enterprise-grade platforms are highly powerful, but they generate massive volumes of alerts and complex telemetry.” Gemini 3.5 Flash · negative prompt · soft negative
“in hybrid environments, integration conflicts with other security tools can sometimes cause hidden performance spikes” Qwen 3.7 Flash · negative prompt · soft negative
“if you're already a Microsoft-centric organization on M365 E5, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is the smartest financial move.” DeepSeek V4 Flash · paraphrase prompt · first choice
“Best choice if you are already heavily invested in the Microsoft ecosystem (Office 365, Intune, Azure). High value, low friction.” Qwen 3.7 Flash · scale prompt · first choice
What the models said about CrowdStrike Falcon Insight
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of eight in this category shown.
“Premium options like CrowdStrike Falcon (~$100+/endpoint/year) ... are more expensive and enterprise-focused—skip unless scaling up.” Grok 4.1 Fast · budget prompt · soft negative
“Evaluate CrowdStrike carefully — while detection is excellent, the 2024 outage revealed critical supply chain risks” Kimi K2 · negative prompt · soft negative
“Note: Usually the most expensive option on the list, and tends to favor larger enterprises, but highly capable.” Gemini 3.5 Flash · scale prompt · soft negative
“CrowdStrike Falcon remains the EDR/XDR market leader heading into 2026, anchored by a lightweight single agent, cloud-native architecture, and the OverWatch threat-hunting team” Claude Haiku 4.5 · comparative prompt · first choice
“I'd recommend CrowdStrike Falcon if you want the strongest overall balance of detection, response, and operational simplicity at mid-market scale.” Perplexity Sonar · paraphrase prompt · first choice
“Consistently a Leader in Gartner (highest Ability to Execute and furthest for Completeness of Vision for the 5th year); ~18-22% market share.” Grok 4.1 Fast · comparative prompt · first choice
Also compared
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs SentinelOne SingularityMicrosoft Defender for Endpoint vs Microsoft Defender for CloudMicrosoft Defender for Endpoint vs Huntress Managed EDRMicrosoft Defender for Endpoint vs Sophos Intercept XMicrosoft Defender for Endpoint vs Bitdefender GravityZone EDRCrowdStrike Falcon Insight vs SentinelOne SingularityCrowdStrike Falcon Insight vs Microsoft Defender for CloudCrowdStrike Falcon Insight vs Huntress Managed EDRCrowdStrike Falcon Insight vs Sophos Intercept XCrowdStrike Falcon Insight vs Bitdefender GravityZone EDRAll twenty-one head-to-head pages and the full EDR standing
Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category, each against each. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.