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Cybersecurity · head to head

CrowdStrike Falcon vs Garden

CrowdStrike Falcon logo

CrowdStrike Falcon

Cybersecurity

Stop breaches with AI-native cybersecurity

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite
Garden logo

Garden

Developer Tools

Kubernetes development and testing automation with shared caching, now owned by Incredibuild

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: CrowdStrike Falcon falcon Go device limit: capped at 100 devices maximum, forcing mid-market/enterprise customers to upgrade despite lower cost; Garden incredibuild acquired Garden in November 2024 and the pricing page now redirects to documentation, so there is no public commercial offer and no published roadmap for a team betting a platform on it.
  • They diverge on capability: CrowdStrike Falcon covers Next-gen antivirus, Garden covers Action graph.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 2 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which CrowdStrike Falcon and Garden actually diverge.

Attributes where CrowdStrike Falcon and Garden differ
AttributeCrowdStrike FalconGarden
Pricing modelsubscriptionOpen source, no licence fee
PlatformsWindows, macOS, LinuxLinux, macOS, Windows, Kubernetes
CategoryCybersecurityDeveloper Tools
Founded2011Unknown

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in CrowdStrike Falcon

  • Next-gen antivirus
  • Endpoint detection and response
  • Threat intelligence
  • IT hygiene
  • USB device control
  • Firewall management
  • Threat graph
  • Real-time response

Only in Garden

  • Action graph
  • Shared result caching
  • Remote Kubernetes environments
  • In-cluster builds
  • Same config everywhere
  • Hot reload sync
  • Helm and Kustomize support
  • Templating

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

CrowdStrike Falcon

  • Endpoint detection and response for enterprise cybersecuritynot Garden
  • Malware prevention and threat huntingnot Garden
  • Managed detection and response (MDR) servicesnot Garden

Garden

  • A platform team whose integration test suite takes longer than the coffee break and needs caching to cut the loopnot CrowdStrike Falcon
  • An organisation with thirty or more services on Kubernetes where docker-compose no longer approximates productionnot CrowdStrike Falcon
  • Giving every developer an ephemeral namespace instead of queuing for one shared staging environmentnot CrowdStrike Falcon
  • Running the identical build and test definition locally and in CI so failures reproduce on a laptopnot CrowdStrike Falcon

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

CrowdStrike Falcon

  • Falcon Go device limit: capped at 100 devices maximum, forcing mid-market/enterprise customers to upgrade despite lower cost
  • EDR locked behind Enterprise tier: endpoint detection and response available only at $19.99/device/month tier; not available in Pro
  • Managed service pricing opaque: Falcon Complete Next-Gen MDR requires contacting sales; no pricing range for 24/7 MDR services published
  • Annual discount modest: 17-24% savings on annual vs. monthly create minimal incentive to prepay

Garden

  • Incredibuild acquired Garden in November 2024 and the pricing page now redirects to documentation, so there is no public commercial offer and no published roadmap for a team betting a platform on it.
  • It is tightly bound to Kubernetes, so teams running on ECS, Nomad, plain VMs or serverless get little from it and would need a different tool entirely.
  • The YAML action graph is a real configuration surface: a large monorepo needs someone to own and maintain Garden config as a first-class artefact, which is a standing platform-engineering cost.
  • Shared remote environments mean every developer needs cluster access and a cost allocation model, so cloud spend rises and namespace sprawl becomes a thing you have to police.
  • Caching correctness depends on declaring dependencies accurately; an under-declared action will serve a stale cached pass and hide a genuine test failure, which is a hard class of bug to notice.

Pricing, plan by plan

CrowdStrike Falcon

Free
  • Falcon Go$undefined/mo
  • Falcon Pro$undefined/mo
  • Falcon Enterprise$undefined/mo
  • Falcon Complete Next-Gen MDR$undefined/mo

Garden

Free
  • Garden open sourceFree
    • Apache 2.0 licensed CLI
    • Full action graph and caching
    • Self-managed clusters
  • Commercial tier$undefined/year
    • Hosted caching and team features
    • Support and onboarding
    • Pricing no longer published since the Incredibuild acquisition

Which should you pick?

Choose CrowdStrike Falcon if

  • You need next-gen antivirus.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Windows, macOS, Linux.
  • You also want endpoint detection and response.
CrowdStrike Falcon review

Choose Garden if

  • You need action graph.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Windows, Kubernetes.
  • You also want shared result caching.
Garden review

Questions people ask

Is CrowdStrike Falcon or Garden better?
Neither clearly leads. CrowdStrike Falcon starts at Free and Garden at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, CrowdStrike Falcon or Garden?
CrowdStrike Falcon starts at Free and Garden at Free.
Does CrowdStrike Falcon or Garden run on more platforms?
CrowdStrike Falcon runs on Windows, macOS, Linux. Garden runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, Kubernetes.
Can I use CrowdStrike Falcon for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is CrowdStrike Falcon best used for?
CrowdStrike Falcon is most often used for endpoint detection and response for enterprise cybersecurity, malware prevention and threat hunting, managed detection and response (mdr) services. Of those, endpoint detection and response for enterprise cybersecurity and malware prevention and threat hunting are not what Garden is typically brought in for.
What can CrowdStrike Falcon do that Garden cannot?
CrowdStrike Falcon covers Next-gen antivirus, Endpoint detection and response, Threat intelligence, IT hygiene. Garden covers Action graph, Shared result caching, Remote Kubernetes environments, In-cluster builds.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

CrowdStrike Falcon: How much does CrowdStrike Falcon cost per device?

Falcon Go costs $7.99/device/month ($59.99/year), Falcon Pro costs $14.99/device/month ($99.99/year), and Falcon Enterprise costs $19.99/device/month ($184.99/year).

Source
Garden: Is Garden still maintained?

The open source project remains on GitHub under Incredibuild ownership, but the commercial pricing page redirects to the docs and there is no public paid offer.

CrowdStrike Falcon: What is the device limit for Falcon Go?

Falcon Go is limited to a maximum of 100 devices. Organizations with more than 100 devices must upgrade to Pro or Enterprise tiers.

Source
Garden: Do I need Kubernetes?

Effectively yes. Garden is built around Kubernetes environments and offers little to teams on other runtimes.

CrowdStrike Falcon: What is the difference between Falcon Pro and Enterprise?

Falcon Pro ($14.99/device/month) includes firewall management and advanced device control. Falcon Enterprise ($19.99/device/month) adds endpoint detection and response (EDR), threat hunting services, and expert threat intelligence.

Source
Garden: Does it replace my CI system?

No. It runs inside GitHub Actions, GitLab CI or similar and speeds up what those pipelines execute.

CrowdStrike Falcon: How much does the managed detection and response service cost?

Falcon Complete Next-Gen MDR pricing is custom. It provides 24/7 expert-led detection and response with AI acceleration and continuous investigations by expert threat teams. Contact CrowdStrike sales for a quote.

Source
Garden: What is the actual saving?

It comes from skipping builds and tests whose inputs have not changed, so the benefit scales with how many services you have and how often only a few change.

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