Report:

The Forrester Wave™: Extended Detection And Response Platforms, Q2 2026

Top Vendor Products for Extended Detection And Response Platforms in 2026

• CrowdStrike
• Microsoft

Extended Detection And Response Platforms Vendor Product Comparisons 2026

• CrowdStrike - Leaders
  

  Pros:

  • Strong native detection surface coverage, especially on the endpoint
  • Incident management, investigation, and response capabilities extend to additional detection surfaces like identity
  • Very strong threat intelligence producing high-fidelity detections, contextualized investigations, and prioritized alerts
  • Falcon Fusion enables orchestration and automation without third-party SOAR or additional purchase
  • AI agents are a clear differentiator with strong testing and validation approach
  • Solid data and AI foundation with prioritization of innovation
  • Large, engaged community, particularly through discussion forums

  Cons:

  • One of the most expensive offerings in the market
  • Heavily incentivizes large, multiyear bundled deals


• Microsoft - Leaders
  

  Pros:

  • Extreme granularity in unified role-based access control for admins
  • Differentiates with cloud and identity protection driven by native Azure and Microsoft 365 signal coverage
  • Powerful SIEM-replacement and threat-hunting capabilities through Microsoft Sentinel's data ingestion and KQL query language
  • Integration of the Microsoft Security stack is the biggest strength
  • Built unique features like automatic attack disruption
  • Compelling vision to build a frontier approach to security bringing people and AI together
  • Strong value for cost of E5 license

  Cons:

  • Analyst experience suffers as the stack gets merged, with UX hiccups during merger
  • Third-party security controls remain a lower priority
  • Integration between Microsoft products, bundling options, and complexity of add-ons force lock-in
  • Entitlements are complex
  • Constantly making enhancements results in frequent UX changes


• Elastic - Strong Performers
  

  Pros:

  • Strong SIEM-replacement features with wide range of telemetry ingestion at scale
  • Effective for teams that want to heavily customize data ingestion, detections, and case management
  • Open data formats and core engines provide transparency and control
  • Strong training content and flexible data management
  • Heavily customizable platform
  • Commitment to innovation with focus on AI features like Automatic Migration and Attack Discovery
  • Fleet management is especially simple
  • Growing list of integrations with analytics covering many use cases out of the box

  Cons:

  • Endpoint protection is on par compared to others
  • Prebuilt analytics for cloud need more tuning and expertise to reach consistent outcomes
  • Flexibility requires significant resources from customers
  • Overall roadmap is not as aggressive as others
  • Partner ecosystem largely focused on data over security


• Palo Alto Networks - Strong Performers
  

  Pros:

  • Consistently strong analytics and incident management capabilities
  • Threat-hunting capabilities stand out thanks to XQL query language
  • Endpoint protection is on par with peers and strongest with add-ons
  • AI capabilities concentrated in analytics and customizable, user-driven agent creation
  • Unit 42 is a major differentiator
  • Strong ability to connect with customers and understand customer pain points
  • Vision to secure the next-generation attack surface (AI) through the endpoint

  Cons:

  • Interface is comprehensive but dense, making it difficult for analysts to reach conclusions quickly
  • More expensive than others and typically prefers multiyear contracts
  • Pricing strategy is challenging for smaller customers
  • Large community focused on next-generation firewall offering over XDR
  • AI agents are less integrated into investigative workflows compared to competitors
  • Added costs when using the tool


• SentinelOne - Strong Performers
  

  Pros:

  • Platform is strongest at the endpoint with prevention, rollback, and automated response
  • Fleet management is consistently simple, effective, and automated
  • Clean investigative workflows on par with others
  • Behavioral detection capabilities are especially effective and trustworthy
  • Effective for automating response on the endpoint, saving significant time
  • Light endpoint agent footprint
  • Strong ecosystem, especially partner base with straightforward MSSP and cloud partner productization
  • Predictable integrations and straightforward commercial alignment

  Cons:

  • Roadmap seems reactive to the market with incremental XDR expansion
  • AI messaging does not differentiate operational workflows
  • Limited in analytics and investigative features across detection surfaces
  • SIEM-replacement and threat-hunting capabilities lack depth compared to competitors
  • Trails competitors in AI features, especially AI agent capabilities
  • Could be more aggressive with prevention capabilities


• Bitdefender - Contenders
  

  Pros:

  • Endpoint prevention is a key strength with behavioral engines consistently performing well in mixed-OS environments
  • Analyst experience built for streamlined operations
  • Machine learning capabilities are strong out of the box
  • À la carte licensing makes pricing model flexible and cost-effective
  • Quality of offering for the price point is very strong
  • Unique PHASR (Proactive Hardening and Attack Surface Reduction) feature
  • Vision to identify exposure and guide actions before exploitation
  • Strong roadmap prioritization of AI investment

  Cons:

  • Endpoint visibility is on par with investigation workflows oriented toward containment and rollback over deep analysis context
  • Administrative controls have limited role granularity compared with others
  • Enterprises have little ability to tune models, influence training, or create custom models
  • Partner ecosystem is comparatively small and focused on the midmarket
  • Community is smaller than others, though growing through recent investment


• TrendAI - Contenders
  

  Pros:

  • Strong, responsive customer support with hands-on assistance
  • Core detection coverage is broadly on par
  • Robust partner ecosystem, particularly focus on managed service providers
  • Customers praise the quality of customer support and how well the vendor listens to requests
  • Risk scoring has been developed well over the past few years
  • Vendor is constantly iterating
  • Vision to prioritize proactive security for AI innovation

  Cons:

  • Investigation and incident management are high-level and lack operationalization of telemetry, threat intelligence, and data
  • SIEM replacement capabilities lack depth of competitors, particularly in query language
  • Administrative controls support specific roles but are less customizable than others
  • Gaps exist for strong detection, deep telemetry, context-rich investigation, and scalable response
  • Roadmap lacks cohesion, covering variety of broad areas without addressing pressing platform issues
  • Vision understates broader structural changes AI will bring to security function
  • Community focuses more on support and product announcements than deep practitioner engagement
  • Many service partners focus on enabling midmarket over enterprises
  • Moderate tuning is required

Reference

• Forrester, The Forrester Wave™: Extended Detection And Response Platforms, Q2 2026, 23-Jun-2026, ID d648fb68

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