CrowdStrike Falcon Spotlight vs Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management

CrowdStrike Falcon Spotlight and Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management are both cloud vulnerability management solutions. CrowdStrike Falcon Spotlight eDR-integrated scanless vulnerability assessment built on the CrowdStrike Falcon platform, while Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management microsoft's built-in vulnerability management integrated with Defender for Endpoint. The best choice depends on your organization's size, technical requirements, and budget.

Choose CrowdStrike Falcon Spotlight if no additional agent or scanning infrastructure required is your priority and crowdStrike Falcon customers wanting vulnerability visibility without deploying additional scanning infrastructure. Choose Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management if included with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint P2 at no additional cost matters most and microsoft-centric organizations wanting vulnerability management bundled with their existing Defender for Endpoint deployment.

Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management starts at Included with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint P2 / Standalone add-on $3/user/month (per-user (monthly subscription, bundled with microsoft 365 e5)). CrowdStrike Falcon Spotlight starts at Add-on to CrowdStrike Falcon platform / Custom pricing (per-endpoint (annual subscription, bundled with falcon)). As always, the sticker price only tells part of the story. Factor in add-ons, implementation costs, and what's actually included at each tier.

It depends on how deeply CrowdStrike Falcon Spotlight is embedded in your stack. Most teams run both in parallel for a few weeks before cutting over. Check whether Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management supports importing your existing configs or policies. That's usually the biggest time sink.