CrowdStrike vs Expel
Buyer brief
Updated 2026-03-08
CrowdStrike owns the full stack: their agent, their SIEM, their analysts, their playbooks. In exchange for that commitment you get a SOC that acts without permission and a $2M breach warranty. Expel connects to whatever you already run through 160+ API integrations without replacing anything.
Expel's Workbench shows a full audit trail of every analyst action and supports Slack/Teams SOC communication (Premium tier). CrowdStrike's portal shows analyst actions too, but communication is portal, email and phone.
Expel doesn't include incident response, breach warranty or threat hunting in the base service. CrowdStrike includes all three. That narrows the gap on Expel's lower entry price (starting at $11,640/year vs CrowdStrike's $15-25/endpoint/month with a 200 minimum) once you factor in Expel's add-ons. Expel makes more sense when you already own good tools and want visibility into how they're being managed. CrowdStrike makes more sense when you want someone to own the outcome end to end.
At a glance
| FIELD |  |  |
|---|---|---|
| Best fit | Enterprise organizations (200+ endpoints) wanting MITRE-validated detection speed with autonomous remediation | Mid-market and enterprise organizations with existing security tools wanting vendor-agnostic MDR |
| Price | Est $15-25/endpoint/mo, 200+ endpoints | TrustRadius: from $11,640/yr |
| Response authority | 6/6 actions · No approval | 6/6 actions · Configurable |
| Stack | Requires own platform | Works with existing stack |
| Data access | Full query access | Full query access |
| Warranty | $2,000,000 | None listed |
- Best fit
- Enterprise organizations (200+ endpoints) wanting MITRE-validated detection speed with autonomous remediation
- Price
- Est $15-25/endpoint/mo, 200+ endpoints
- Response authority
- 6/6 actions · No approval
- Stack
- Requires own platform
- Data access
- Full query access
- Warranty
- $2,000,000
- Best fit
- Mid-market and enterprise organizations with existing security tools wanting vendor-agnostic MDR
- Price
- TrustRadius: from $11,640/yr
- Response authority
- 6/6 actions · Configurable
- Stack
- Works with existing stack
- Data access
- Full query access
- Warranty
- None listed
Detailed comparison
| FIELD | CrowdStrikePLATFORM | ExpelTECH-AGNOSTIC |
|---|---|---|
| Fit | ||
| Target size | Mid-market, Enterprise | Mid-market, Enterprise |
| Sentiment | Positive | Very Positive |
| Your stack | ||
| Approach | Requires their platform | Works with your tools |
| EDR integrations | CrowdStrike Falcon | CrowdStrikeMicrosoft DefenderSentinelOneCarbon BlackPalo Alto CortexElasticCybereason |
| SIEM integrations | Falcon Next-Gen SIEM | SplunkMicrosoft SentinelPalo Alto Cortex XSIAMGoogle ChronicleExabeamSecuronixSumo LogicIBM QRadar |
| Coverage | EPEndpoint: CoveredCloudCloud: CoveredIDIdentity: Optional add-onSaaSSaaS: CoveredNetNetwork: CoveredOTOT/IoT: Not covered | EPEndpoint: CoveredCloudCloud: CoveredIDIdentity: CoveredSaaSSaaS: CoveredNetNetwork: CoveredOTOT/IoT: Not covered |
| Response | ||
| Response type | Active Remediation | Active Remediation |
| Approval policy | Fully Autonomous | Configurable |
| Response actions | IsolateKill processContainDisable accountsQuarantineCustom playbooks | IsolateKill processContainDisable accountsQuarantineCustom playbooks |
| IR included | ✓ Included | Separate |
| Cost | ||
| Price range | Estimated $15-25/endpoint/month (estimates vary by deployment size) | Starting at $11,640/year. Custom quotes based on environment size and coverage areas. |
| Minimum seats | 200 | None |
| Breach warranty | $2,000,000 | – |
| More details | ||
| Requires own agent | Yes | No |
| Endpoints | ✓ Included | ✓ Included |
| Cloud workloads | ✓ Included | ✓ Included |
| Identity | + Optional | ✓ Included |
| SaaS apps | ✓ Included | ✓ Included |
| Network | ✓ Included | ✓ Included |
| OT/ICS | Not offered | Not offered |
| Threat hunting | ✓ Included | Extra cost |
| Response SLA | Not disclosed | Not disclosed |
| 24/7 coverage | ✓ | ✓ |
| Pricing model | Per-endpoint pricing, tiered by endpoint count and coverage scope | Custom pricing by coverage type: cloud infrastructure (by resources), on-prem (by endpoints), SaaS (by user accounts), phishing (by email count). Three tiers: Starter, Select, Premium. |
| Hidden cost warnings | Minimum 200-500 endpoints required, eliminates most SMBs. Requires CrowdStrike Falcon platform, cannot use with competing EDR. Identity and cloud workload coverage are separate add-ons. July 2024 global outage raised reliability concerns | Threat hunting is NOT included in base MDR, it is a separate add-on. Incident response is NOT included and must be obtained separately. Premium tier required for direct Slack/Teams SOC communication. Pricing scales significantly based on number of integrations and coverage areas |
| Data portability | Partial | Full |
| Contract terms | Annual, Multi-year | Annual, Multi-year |
| Channels | EmailPortalPhone | SlackTeamsEmailPortal |
| Data access | Full query access | Full query access |
| Dedicated analyst | ✓ | – |
| SOC regions | North AmericaEuropeAsia-Pacific | North America |
| Onboarding | minutes to deploy | Hours to days via API integrations. 7-minute initial tool connection demonstrated. |
| Industry focus | Financial ServicesHealthcareGovernmentRetailTechnology | Financial ServicesHealthcareTechnologyEducationEnergy |
| MTTD | 4 minutes | Not separately published |
| MTTR | Less than 30 minutes (internal benchmark) | 14 minutes for critical/high incidents with auto-remediation. 22 minutes average alert-to-fix for critical alerts. |
| Community view | Forrester Wave MDR Leader (Q1 2025), IDC MarketScape Leader (2024), Gartner Peer Insights 96% willingness to recommend (117 reviews). MITRE-validated fastest MTTD. Premium pricing and platform lock-in are accepted trade-offs for top-tier detection and response. July 2024 global outage dented trust temporarily. | Forrester Wave MDR Leader Q1 2025 (5/5 in 15 of 21 criteria). Gartner Peer Insights 4.6/5 (142 reviews). G2 4.8/5. PeerSpot 9.0/10. Widely praised for transparency, integration breadth, and speed. Primary criticism: threat hunting and incident response are add-ons, not included. |
| Compliance | SOC 2 Type IIISO 27001:2022FedRAMP HighHIPAAPCI DSSCSA STAR Level 1 & 2 | SOC 2 Type IIISO 27001:2013ISO 27701:2019GDPR |
| Certifications | SOC 2 Type IIISO 27001:2022FedRAMP HighCSA STARNSA NSCAP CIRA | SOC 2 Type II (annual audit May 1 to April 30)ISO 27001:2013ISO 27701:2019 (processor) |
| Founded | 2011 | 2016 |
| Data retention | Not published. Standard Falcon data retention varies by module. | Per-contract basis with automated secure disposal per retention policy |
| API available | ✓ | ✓ |
| Website | Visit → | Visit → |
FAQ
What is the main difference between CrowdStrike and Expel?
CrowdStrike is a Platform vendor that is platform-native (requires their own security stack). Expel is a Pure-play MDR that is technology-agnostic (works with your existing tools). CrowdStrike covers 4 attack surfaces in base pricing vs. 5 for Expel.
How do CrowdStrike and Expel differ in response capabilities?
CrowdStrike supports 6 autonomous actions (account disable, custom playbooks, endpoint isolation, file quarantine, network containment, process termination) and acts without approval. Expel supports 6 autonomous actions (account disable, custom playbooks, endpoint isolation, file quarantine, network containment, process termination) and approval is configurable. Incident response is included with CrowdStrike and not included with Expel.
How does CrowdStrike pricing compare to Expel?
CrowdStrike pricing: Estimated $15-25/endpoint/month (estimates vary by deployment size) (200-seat minimum). Expel pricing: Starting at $11,640/year. Custom quotes based on environment size and coverage areas.. Watch for with CrowdStrike: Minimum 200-500 endpoints required, eliminates most SMBs; Requires CrowdStrike Falcon platform, cannot use with competing EDR. Watch for with Expel: Threat hunting is NOT included in base MDR, it is a separate add-on; Incident response is NOT included and must be obtained separately.
Should I choose CrowdStrike or Expel?
Choose CrowdStrike if: enterprise organizations (200+ endpoints) wanting MITRE-validated detection speed with autonomous remediation. Choose Expel if: mid-market and enterprise organizations with existing security tools wanting vendor-agnostic MDR. CrowdStrike is not ideal for sMBs with fewer than 200 endpoints (minimum requirement) or budget-conscious buyers. Expel is not ideal for organizations wanting platform-native MDR from a single vendor (Expel requires existing security tools).
Daylight Security
AI-native MDR for buyers comparing active remediation across endpoint, cloud, identity, and SaaS. Daylight works with existing EDR/SIEM stacks and uses ChatOps-native collaboration, so it can be a useful third reference point in this comparison.