Alternatives to CrowdStrike for Small and Mid-Sized Businesses
CrowdStrike makes some of the best endpoint security software there is, and its Falcon platform protects a large share of the world’s biggest companies. It is also the product small businesses most often ask us for an alternative to, for reasons that have little to do with quality: enterprise pricing and minimums, a console built for a security team, managed response sold separately at enterprise rates, and, since July 2024, a vivid memory of what a bad update can do. This article covers the alternatives that fit a business of 5 to 300 people, what each is best at, what happened in 2024 and what it should change in your thinking, and how switching works.
What happened in July 2024, and what it means
On July 19, 2024 a faulty content update from CrowdStrike caused roughly 8.5 million Windows computers to crash on startup and stay crashed until someone fixed each one by hand. Airlines, hospitals, banks and broadcasters were affected worldwide. It was not an attack; it was a quality-control failure in an update that reached every machine at once. CrowdStrike has since introduced staged rollouts and customer controls over update timing. The honest lesson is not that CrowdStrike is unsafe. It is that every endpoint agent runs with deep privileges on every computer you own, any vendor can ship a bad update, and your provider should be able to stage updates and recover machines quickly. Ask that question of whichever product you choose.
The alternatives, compared
| Product | What it is | Best for | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| SentinelOne Singularity | Behaviour-based endpoint protection and response with rollback on Windows; console run by a partner | Businesses that want the strongest device-level protection through a managed provider | Our standard choice; see how to buy SentinelOne |
| Microsoft Defender for Business | EDR included in Microsoft 365 Business Premium, integrated with Intune and Entra ID | Businesses already on Business Premium that want one vendor | Needs configuring and watching; excellent value when it is |
| Huntress | Managed detection and response built for small business, with its own EDR agent and Microsoft 365 identity monitoring | Any business without a security team; pairs with SentinelOne or Defender | The human layer; we run it behind SentinelOne |
| Sophos Intercept X | Endpoint protection with an optional managed detection service from the same vendor | Businesses that want a single vendor for endpoint, firewall and MDR | Strong all-round; console is more involved |
| Bitdefender GravityZone | Endpoint protection with good detection rates and modest system impact | Cost-conscious businesses with a provider to manage it | Managed detection available as an add-on |
| ESET PROTECT | Lightweight endpoint protection with a long track record | Older or lower-powered machines; simple environments | Less depth in response and rollback |
| CrowdStrike Falcon Go | CrowdStrike’s small-business package, capped by device count | Businesses that specifically want CrowdStrike and will manage it themselves | No managed response at that tier |
How we think about the choice
For a business without its own security staff, the endpoint agent is the smaller half of the decision. All of the products above stop the obvious malware; the differences show in how they handle an attack in progress and, above all, in who is watching. An alert at 3 a.m. that nobody reads is the same as no alert. That is why our recommendation for almost every client is SentinelOne Complete on every computer and server with Huntress providing 24/7 managed response and Microsoft 365 identity monitoring behind it, per device, as part of managed cybersecurity services. For clients standardised on Microsoft 365 Business Premium who prefer a single vendor, Defender for Business with Huntress behind it is a sound second choice; our guide to what Business Premium includes covers the licence. Our endpoint security guide and the comparison of firewalls, antivirus and EDR explain the layers around the agent.
Questions to ask any vendor, including CrowdStrike
- Can updates be staged, so a bad one hits a few machines before all of them?
- Who watches the alerts at night, and what do they do about them?
- Does it cover Windows, macOS, Linux and servers with one agent?
- Can it isolate a machine and roll back changes, and has that been tested?
- What are the minimum seat counts and contract terms?
- Does it give the reporting a cyber-insurance application asks for? The readiness check lists those questions.
How switching works
Switching endpoint products is a week’s work for a business of 50 devices and does not interrupt anyone. The new agent is deployed through management tools or Intune, the old one is removed in the same step, policies run in detect-only mode for a few days while exclusions for line-of-business software are added, and then enforcement is switched on. Servers are done after hours. From then on the agents update themselves, the response team watches, and a monthly report shows what was blocked. Our article on how to buy SentinelOne walks through the tiers and the deployment in more detail. If you have a CrowdStrike renewal in front of you, or a quote from anyone else, send it to us; we will tell you honestly whether we can do better.
Free tools from OAC Technology
- Cyber insurance readiness check: fourteen questions insurers ask, scored in a minute
- Managed services pricing calculator: a monthly figure for managed IT, in about a minute
- Phishing quiz: ten realistic emails, one at a time, with the tells explained
Common questions
Is CrowdStrike a bad product?
No. Falcon is among the best endpoint platforms made, and large organisations are well served by it. The case for an alternative in a small business is fit: price and minimums, the effort of running the console, and the need for a managed response team, which CrowdStrike sells separately at enterprise prices.
What happened in July 2024?
On July 19, 2024 a faulty content update from CrowdStrike caused about 8.5 million Windows computers to crash on startup, grounding flights and closing hospitals and banks until each machine was fixed by hand. It was a quality-control failure rather than an attack, and CrowdStrike has since changed how it releases updates. Any security vendor could suffer something similar; the lesson is about staged rollouts and recovery plans, not about one company.
Is Microsoft Defender enough?
Defender for Business, included in Microsoft 365 Business Premium, is a real endpoint detection and response product and a reasonable choice when it is configured and watched. The built-in Defender Antivirus on its own is not. Either way, a managed response service behind it is what makes the difference for a business without a security team.
Which alternative is cheapest?
Defender for Business, if you already pay for Business Premium, because it is included. Among standalone products the per-device prices are closer than the marketing suggests; the managed response service behind the product is the larger cost and the one that matters.
Can we run two endpoint products at once?
No. Two agents fight over the same files and slow the computer, and one usually disables the other. Choose one endpoint product and add a managed detection service on top; that is a different layer, not a second agent.
How long does switching take?
About a week for a business of 50 devices: the new agent is deployed and the old one removed in one step, policies run in detect mode for a few days while exclusions are set, then enforcement is turned on. Nobody has to stop working.
Talk to us
If you are weighing CrowdStrike against the alternatives, or have a renewal quote you would like beaten, tell us how many computers and servers you have and we will send a price the same day. Call 952-548-5558 or contact us; the first conversation is free and there is no long-term contract.
