AirMDR vs Northwave
AirMDR is a AI-native MDR that works with your existing tools. Northwave is a Services firm that works with your existing tools. AirMDR targets SMB and Mid-market organizations; Northwave serves Mid-market and Enterprise. AirMDR includes 5 attack surfaces in base pricing (Endpoint, Cloud, SaaS, Identity, Network), compared to 2 for Northwave (Endpoint, Network).
Buyer brief
AirMDR is a AI-native MDR that works with your existing tools. Northwave is a Services firm that works with your existing tools. AirMDR targets SMB and Mid-market organizations; Northwave serves Mid-market and Enterprise. AirMDR includes 5 attack surfaces in base pricing (Endpoint, Cloud, SaaS, Identity, Network), compared to 2 for Northwave (Endpoint, Network).
AirMDR (AI-native MDR) and Northwave (Services firm) serve different buyer profiles. Your decision depends on whether you prioritize AirMDR's ai-native architecture with 240+ integrations (vendor-claimed) and aggressive trial terms or Northwave's northwave mdr fits european buyers that want a soc service connected to incident response, red te....
At a glance
| FIELD |  |  |
|---|---|---|
| Best fit | SMBs and mid-market companies (100-1000 employees) priced out of traditional MDR | Benelux, DACH and Nordic buyers that want European MDR with a Utrecht SOC |
| Price | Not published | Custom quote |
| Response authority | 6/6 actions · Configurable | 1/6 actions · Configurable |
| Stack | Works with existing stack | Works with existing stack |
| Data access | Dashboards | Dashboards |
| Warranty | None listed | None listed |
- Best fit
- SMBs and mid-market companies (100-1000 employees) priced out of traditional MDR
- Price
- Not published
- Response authority
- 6/6 actions · Configurable
- Stack
- Works with existing stack
- Data access
- Dashboards
- Warranty
- None listed
- Best fit
- Benelux, DACH and Nordic buyers that want European MDR with a Utrecht SOC
- Price
- Custom quote
- Response authority
- 1/6 actions · Configurable
- Stack
- Works with existing stack
- Data access
- Dashboards
- Warranty
- None listed
›› Detailed comparison
| FIELD | AirMDRTECH-AGNOSTIC | NorthwaveTECH-AGNOSTIC |
|---|---|---|
| ›› Fit | ||
| Target size | SMB, Mid-market | Mid-market, Enterprise |
| Sentiment | Mixed | Mixed |
| ›› Your stack | ||
| Approach | Works with your tools | Works with your tools |
| EDR integrations | CrowdStrikeSentinelOneMicrosoft DefenderSophos | Customer endpoint telemetry |
| SIEM integrations | SplunkElasticMicrosoft SentinelGoogle ChronicleSumo LogicIBM QRadar | Customer log sources |
| Coverage | EPEndpoint: CoveredCloudCloud: CoveredIDIdentity: CoveredSaaSSaaS: CoveredNetNetwork: CoveredOTOT/IoT: Not covered | EPEndpoint: CoveredCloudCloud: LimitedIDIdentity: LimitedSaaSSaaS: Not coveredNetNetwork: CoveredOTOT/IoT: Optional add-on |
| ›› Response | ||
| Response type | Active Remediation | Active Remediation |
| Approval policy | Configurable | Configurable |
| Response actions | IsolateKill processContainDisable accountsQuarantineCustom playbooks | Custom playbooks |
| IR included | Separate | Separate |
| ›› Cost | ||
| Price range | Not published | Not published |
| Minimum seats | None | None |
| Breach warranty | – | – |
| ›› More details | ||
| Requires own agent | No | No |
| Endpoints | ✓ Included | ✓ Included |
| Cloud workloads | ✓ Included | ~ Limited |
| Identity | ✓ Included | ~ Limited |
| SaaS apps | ✓ Included | Not offered |
| Network | ✓ Included | ✓ Included |
| OT/ICS | Not offered | + Optional |
| Threat hunting | Extra cost | ✓ Included |
| Response SLA | Not disclosed | Not disclosed |
| 24/7 coverage | ✓ | ✓ |
| Pricing model | Annual contract. AirMDR claims 2-3X lower costs than traditional MDR, but specific per-endpoint pricing is not published. No onboarding fees. | Custom quote. Northwave does not publish MDR package pricing. |
| Hidden cost warnings | No published pricing. Requires sales contact despite targeting SMBs who typically prefer self-serve.. Annual contract required. No month-to-month option mentioned.. Pricing model unclear. May vary by integration count or alert volume, so get a written breakdown before signing.. Seed-stage company (founded 2023, $15.5M raised). Ask about financial runway and service continuity planning. | Public pages do not publish response SLAs or named default response actions.. Rapid Response is a separate related service, so buyers should confirm what incident-response support is included in base MDR.. Cloud, SaaS and identity coverage are not named as clearly as endpoint, log and network telemetry.. Detection tuning depends on onboarding log sources and threat-based use cases, which may affect deployment effort. |
| Data portability | Limited | Partial |
| Contract terms | Annual | Custom |
| Channels | SlackTeamsEmailPortal | PortalEmailPhone |
| Data access | Dashboards | Dashboards |
| Dedicated analyst | – | – |
| SOC regions | North America | Europe |
| Onboarding | 2-4 weeks (initial setup in 2 hours, full deployment within 4 weeks) | Northwave says implementation starts with a plan covering service elements, phases, planning and threat-based use cases, then onboarding log sources and processes. No standard public onboarding duration was found. |
| Industry focus | TechnologyBusiness ServicesFinancial Services | Financial ServicesHealthcareManufacturingLogisticsTechnologyPublic SectorCritical Infrastructure |
| MTTD | Not published | Not published |
| MTTR | Under 5 minutes for 90-95% of investigations (figures vary across vendor pages) | Not published |
| Community view | Very limited community reviews as of March 2026. PeerSpot shows 0.2% mindshare with no collected reviews. No Reddit discussions or G2 reviews found. Omdia published an 'On the Radar' analyst brief covering AirMDR's AI-native approach. Raised $15.5M seed in July 2025 (Race Capital, Foundation Capital, Storm Ventures) and earned Black Hat USA 2025 Startup Spotlight honorable mention. Strong AI automation claims but almost no third-party validation yet. | Northwave has limited MDR-specific public review volume. The public buyer case rests on European delivery, Utrecht SOC operations and the connection between MDR, CERT, red team and threat research. Buyers should validate response authority, cloud and identity coverage, pricing and escalation rules before signing. |
| Compliance | SOC 2 | NIS2ISO 27001GDPRTISAX |
| Certifications | SOC 2 | – |
| Founded | 2023 | 2006 |
| Data retention | Not published | Not published as a standard MDR retention period. |
| API available | ✓ | – |
| Website | Visit → | Visit → |
›› FAQ
What is the main difference between AirMDR and Northwave?
AirMDR is an AI-native MDR that is technology-agnostic (works with your existing tools). Northwave is a Services firm that is technology-agnostic (works with your existing tools). AirMDR covers 5 attack surfaces in base pricing vs. 2 for Northwave.
How do AirMDR and Northwave differ in response capabilities?
AirMDR supports 6 autonomous actions (account disable, custom playbooks, endpoint isolation, file quarantine, network containment, process termination) and approval is configurable. Northwave supports 1 autonomous actions (custom playbooks) and approval is configurable.
How does AirMDR pricing compare to Northwave?
AirMDR pricing: Custom-quoted pricing. Northwave pricing: Not published. Watch for with AirMDR: No published pricing. Requires sales contact despite targeting SMBs who typically prefer self-serve.; Annual contract required. No month-to-month option mentioned.. Watch for with Northwave: Public pages do not publish response SLAs or named default response actions.; Rapid Response is a separate related service, so buyers should confirm what incident-response support is included in base MDR..
Should I choose AirMDR or Northwave?
Choose AirMDR if: sMBs and mid-market companies (100-1000 employees) priced out of traditional MDR. Choose Northwave if: benelux, DACH and Nordic buyers that want European MDR with a Utrecht SOC. AirMDR is not ideal for enterprises requiring a proven vendor track record and extensive customer references. Northwave is not ideal for buyers that need public MDR pricing or response SLAs before engaging sales.
Daylight Security
AI-native MDR for buyers comparing active remediation across endpoint, cloud, identity, and SaaS. Daylight works with existing EDR/SIEM stacks and uses ChatOps-native collaboration, so it can be a useful third reference point in this comparison.