Zscaler Vs CrowdStrike: Which Cybersecurity Stock is a Better Investment?

Explore which high-growth cybersecurity stock is a better investment, Zscaler or CrowdStrike?

In the past, most cybersecurity companies installed on-site appliances to run their services. However, those appliances were expensive, took up a lot of space, and didn't scale well with a growing business. Those shortcomings paved the way for a new breed of cloud-native cybersecurity services that didn't require any on-site appliances. Two of the most well-known players in this disruptive niche are Zscaler and CrowdStrike. Let's explore which high-growth cybersecurity stock is a better investment.

Zscaler is a cloud-native cybersecurity company and one of the leading players in the zero-trust space. A zero-trust framework asserts that no user nor application should be trusted by default. The company has about 5,600 customers worldwide with an emphasis on larger organizations. In February, Zscaler reported a 63% year-over-year (YOY) rise in its second-quarter (Q2) 2022 revenue to US$255.6 million. This marks the highest growth rate in three years. The top-line growth was "driven by continued demand" for the company's Zero Trust security platform. Its current cybersecurity stock price is US$204.76.

Leading cybersecurity provider CrowdStrike Holdings has grown rapidly over the years thanks to the wide acceptance of its cloud-native Falcon platform. Through organic growth and strategic acquisitions, the company's subscription customer base expanded to 16,325 in FY 2022 (ended January 31, 2022), a 65% YOY improvement. Earlier in March, CrowdStrike reported stellar Q4 FY 2022 results, with revenue growing 63% to US$431 million and annual recurring revenue up 65% to US$1.73 billion. Its current cybersecurity stock price is US$201.06.

Zscaler and CrowdStrike have some cloud security capabilities in common, but otherwise, they exist to solve different problems. Integrating CrowdStrike with Zscaler is complimentary, as this allows Zscaler to control access while CrowdStrike detects and responds to threats across an organization's IT estate.

Zscaler and CrowdStrike are leaders in their respective focus areas. They both have a respectable portfolio of big-name marquis customers, they both are well-covered for security and compliance, and they both offer a significant number of integrations with complementary technologies to enable them to be successful in most markets.