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Endpoint detection and response · November 2026 Edition
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs CrowdStrike Falcon Insight
Eight of fourteen models named Microsoft Defender for Endpoint first on the direct prompt; two named CrowdStrike Falcon Insight. Both were named by all fourteen models and both carry 58 labels, so the shares below are directly comparable.
Named in seven categories this edition.
Named in one category this edition.
First-choice share38%9%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate12%22%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#1#4A position in a field of 10; printed, not drawn.
Labels5858Equal, 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 Microsoft Defender for Cloud · Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs SentinelOne Singularity · 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
Direct821 against CrowdStrike Falcon Insight
Paraphrase733 against CrowdStrike Falcon Insight
Comparative311
Budget-constrained501 against CrowdStrike Falcon Insight
Scale-constrained101 against CrowdStrike Falcon Insight
Negative017 against Microsoft Defender for Endpoint · 7 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 November 2026 Edition, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint and CrowdStrike Falcon Insight were named in the same answer 119 times, of the 324 answers naming Microsoft Defender for Endpoint and the 169 naming CrowdStrike Falcon Insight. In those answers CrowdStrike Falcon Insight took the first choice forty-three times and Microsoft Defender for Endpoint thirty-two.
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 4.20 | | | | | | |
| 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.Grok 4.20CrowdStrike Falcon Insight, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, SentinelOne Singularity alternatives: Bitdefender GravityZone EDR, Sophos Intercept X
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint first, CrowdStrike Falcon Insight an alternative
7 of 14 modelsCrowdStrike Falcon Insight was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.GPT-5.4 miniMicrosoft Defender for Endpoint alternatives: CrowdStrike Falcon Insight, SentinelOne Singularity, Sophos Intercept X
Mistral SmallBitdefender GravityZone EDR, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint alternatives: CrowdStrike Falcon Insight, Seceon aiXDR-PMax, Sophos Intercept X
Llama 4 MaverickMicrosoft Defender for Endpoint alternatives: CrowdStrike Falcon Insight, Seceon aiXDR-PMax, Sophos Intercept X
Qwen 3.7 FlashMicrosoft Defender for Endpoint alternatives: SentinelOne Singularity, Sophos Intercept X
Kimi K2Microsoft Defender for Endpoint alternatives: CrowdStrike Falcon Insight, Huntress Managed EDR, SentinelOne Singularity
GLM 4.7 FlashXMicrosoft Defender for Endpoint, Sophos Intercept X alternatives: Bitdefender GravityZone EDR, CrowdStrike Falcon Insight, SentinelOne Singularity
MiniMax M2.5Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Seceon aiXDR-PMax alternatives: CrowdStrike Falcon Insight, SentinelOne Singularity, Sophos Intercept X
CrowdStrike Falcon Insight first, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint an alternative
1 of 14 modelsMicrosoft Defender for Endpoint was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.Muse Glimmer 30BCrowdStrike Falcon Insight alternatives: Bitdefender GravityZone EDR, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Seceon aiXDR-PMax, SentinelOne Singularity
Neither was the first choice, one was named
4 of 14 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.Gemini 3.5 FlashCrowdStrike, SentinelOne Singularity alternatives: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Sophos Intercept X
Perplexity SonarHuntress Managed EDR alternatives: Bitdefender GravityZone EDR, CrowdStrike Falcon Insight, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, SentinelOne Singularity, Sophos MDR
DeepSeek V4 FlashHuntress Managed EDR alternatives: CrowdStrike Falcon Insight, ESET PROTECT, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, SentinelOne Singularity
GPT-6 LunaCrowdStrike Falcon with Falcon Complete MDR alternatives: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, SentinelOne Singularity
Neither was named
1 of 14 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.Claude Haiku 4.5no first choice
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 four points.
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint4%#4 of 8CrowdStrike Falcon Insight0%#8 of 8Mid-marketThe figures above
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint leads by twenty-nine points.
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint38%#1 of 10CrowdStrike Falcon Insight9%#4 of 10Enterprise
The order flips: CrowdStrike Falcon Insight leads at enterprise.
CrowdStrike Falcon Insight47%#1 of 10Microsoft Defender for Endpoint40%#2 of 10What 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. Six of six in this category shown.
“many companies depend on a single provider like CrowdStrike, Microsoft Defender or SentinelOne, and that "banking on, or consolidating services with a single provider can create downstream risk"” Muse Glimmer 30B · negative prompt · soft negative
“Unmanaged Microsoft Defender for Endpoint or basic SentinelOne deployments: Strong tools can still fail if nobody monitors and responds to alerts.” Perplexity Sonar · negative prompt · soft negative
“it's frequently called out in red team circles for bypasses using common LOLBins... Avoid as a standalone if your org has heavy custom tooling” Grok 4.20 · negative prompt · soft negative
“If you're a Microsoft shop, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint may already be partially bundled with E5 or Business Premium licenses. At $3–$5/user/month it's often the most cost-effective starting point.” DeepSeek V4 Flash · scale prompt · first choice
“For most mid-market B2B companies with limited security teams, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint or Seceon aiXDR-PMax would be the strongest starting points.” MiniMax M2.5 · direct prompt · first choice
“Microsoft Defender for Endpoint and Bitdefender GravityZone EDR are top choices due to their balance of cost, effectiveness, and ease of use” Mistral Small · direct 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.
“While still market-leading, the July 2024 channel-file incident took down 8.5 million Windows machines and demonstrated a systemic risk” Claude Haiku 4.5 · negative prompt · soft negative
“If you do not have a dedicated SOC team, avoid standalone enterprise EDR tools (like bare CrowdStrike or Microsoft Defender XDR)” Gemini 3.5 Flash · negative prompt · soft negative
“It is expensive. For a mid-market budget, this is often the most expensive line item in the security stack.” Qwen 3.7 Flash · direct prompt · soft negative
“For large, complex environments or those wanting the strongest threat intelligence and hunting workflow, CrowdStrike remains a top choice.” GLM 4.7 FlashX · comparative prompt · first choice
“the top contenders in 2024–2025 are CrowdStrike Falcon, SentinelOne Singularity, and Microsoft Defender for Endpoint” Grok 4.20 · direct prompt · first choice
“Strengths: Industry-leading AI-powered threat detection, comprehensive telemetry, strong threat hunting capabilities” MiniMax M2.5 · comparative prompt · first choice
Also compared
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs Microsoft Defender for CloudMicrosoft Defender for Endpoint vs SentinelOne SingularityMicrosoft Defender for Endpoint vs Huntress Managed EDRMicrosoft Defender for Endpoint vs Sophos Intercept XMicrosoft Defender for Endpoint vs Bitdefender GravityZone EDRMicrosoft Defender for Cloud vs CrowdStrike Falcon InsightSentinelOne Singularity vs CrowdStrike Falcon InsightCrowdStrike 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.