AirMDR vs Sophos
AirMDR is a AI-native MDR that works with your existing tools. Sophos is a Platform vendor that requires its own security platform. AirMDR targets SMB and Mid-market organizations; Sophos serves SMB, Mid-market, and Enterprise.
Buyer brief
AirMDR is a AI-native MDR that works with your existing tools. Sophos is a Platform vendor that requires its own security platform. AirMDR targets SMB and Mid-market organizations; Sophos serves SMB, Mid-market, and Enterprise.
Sophos is the choice if you want a single-vendor stack with deep integration. AirMDR is better if you have existing tools and want flexibility.
At a glance
| FIELD |  |  |
|---|---|---|
| Best fit | SMBs and mid-market companies (100-1000 employees) priced out of traditional MDR | Existing Sophos endpoint or firewall customers adding managed services on their existing platform |
| Price | Not published | Custom quote |
| Response authority | 6/6 actions · Configurable | 6/6 actions · Configurable |
| Stack | Works with existing stack | Requires own platform |
| Data access | Dashboards | Dashboards |
| Warranty | None listed | $1,000,000 |
- 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
- Existing Sophos endpoint or firewall customers adding managed services on their existing platform
- Price
- Custom quote
- Response authority
- 6/6 actions · Configurable
- Stack
- Requires own platform
- Data access
- Dashboards
- Warranty
- $1,000,000
Detailed comparison
| FIELD | AirMDRTECH-AGNOSTIC | SophosPLATFORM |
|---|---|---|
| Fit | ||
| Target size | SMB, Mid-market | SMB, Mid-market, Enterprise |
| Sentiment | Mixed | Very Positive |
| Your stack | ||
| Approach | Works with your tools | Requires their platform |
| EDR integrations | Sophos CrowdStrike, SentinelOne, Microsoft Defender | Sophos EndpointCarbon Black CrowdStrike, Microsoft Defender, SentinelOne |
| SIEM integrations | SplunkElasticMicrosoft SentinelGoogle ChronicleSumo LogicIBM QRadar | Sophos Central SIEM integration via API |
| Coverage | EPEndpoint: CoveredCloudCloud: CoveredIDIdentity: CoveredSaaSSaaS: CoveredNetNetwork: CoveredOTOT/IoT: Not covered | EPEndpoint: CoveredCloudCloud: CoveredIDIdentity: CoveredSaaSSaaS: CoveredNetNetwork: CoveredOTOT/IoT: Limited |
| Response | ||
| Response type | Active Remediation | Active Remediation |
| Approval policy | Configurable | Configurable |
| Response actions | IsolateKill processContainDisable accountsQuarantineCustom playbooks | IsolateKill processContainDisable accountsQuarantineCustom playbooks |
| IR included | Separate | ✓ Included |
| Cost | ||
| Price range | Not published | Custom quote required. Tiered pricing bands based on organization size. Starting price not publicly disclosed. |
| Minimum seats | None | None |
| Breach warranty | – | $1,000,000 |
| More details | ||
| Requires own agent | No | Yes |
| Endpoints | ✓ Included | ✓ Included |
| Cloud workloads | ✓ Included | ✓ Included |
| Identity | ✓ Included | ✓ Included |
| SaaS apps | ✓ Included | ✓ Included |
| Network | ✓ Included | ✓ Included |
| OT/ICS | Not offered | ~ Limited |
| Threat hunting | Extra cost | ✓ Included |
| Response SLA | Not disclosed | ≤1 hour |
| 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. | Per-user and per-server pricing. Two tiers: MDR Essentials (monitoring and basic response) and MDR Complete (full IR and breach warranty). |
| 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. | MDR Essentials does NOT include full incident response or breach warranty, requires MDR Complete upgrade. Linux server protection requires separate Sophos Workload Protection subscription. Post-Secureworks acquisition (Feb 2025): unclear if Sophos MDR and Taegis MDR will merge or remain separate products. Breach warranty limited to ONE claim total across all subscriptions, not per-incident |
| Data portability | Limited | Partial |
| Contract terms | Annual | Annual, Multi-year |
| Channels | SlackTeamsEmailPortal | EmailPortalPhone |
| Data access | Dashboards | Dashboards |
| Dedicated analyst | – | ✓ |
| SOC regions | North America | North AmericaEuropeAsia-Pacific |
| Onboarding | 2-4 weeks (initial setup in 2 hours, full deployment within 4 weeks) | Weeks, varies by environment size and integration scope |
| Industry focus | TechnologyBusiness ServicesFinancial Services | ManufacturingHealthcareFinancial ServicesRetailTechnology |
| MTTD | Not published | Not published |
| MTTR | Under 5 minutes for 90-95% of investigations (figures vary across vendor pages) | Sophos reports a 38-minute average case closure time. The MDR service description defines a 60-minute response-time SLA for 90% of High Severity Cases, with eligibility timing and service-credit limits. |
| 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. | G2: #1 overall MDR for 14 consecutive report cycles, 1,543 reviews, 95% satisfaction. Gartner Peer Insights: 2026 Customers' Choice for Endpoint Protection (4.9/5). MITRE ATT&CK 2025: 100% detection coverage. Praised for integration breadth and MDR Complete's all-in pricing. Recurring complaints about technical support responsiveness and endpoint agent resource usage. |
| Compliance | SOC 2 | SOC 2 Type IIISO 27001:2022ISO 27017:2015ISO 27018:2019PCI DSS v4.0GDPRHIPAAHITRUST CSF |
| Certifications | SOC 2 | SOC 2 Type IIISO 27001:2022ISO 27017:2015ISO 27018:2019PCI DSS v4.0 |
| Founded | 2023 | 1985 |
| Data retention | Not published | 90 days standard, 1-year extended available as add-on |
| API available | ✓ | ✓ |
| Website | Visit → | Visit → |
FAQ
What is the main difference between AirMDR and Sophos?
AirMDR is an AI-native MDR that is technology-agnostic (works with your existing tools). Sophos is a Platform vendor that is platform-native (requires their own security stack). SLA commitments differ: AirMDR offers Not disclosed, Sophos offers ≤1 hour.
How do AirMDR and Sophos 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. Sophos supports 6 autonomous actions (account disable, custom playbooks, endpoint isolation, file quarantine, network containment, process termination) and approval is configurable. Incident response is not included with AirMDR and included with Sophos.
How does AirMDR pricing compare to Sophos?
AirMDR pricing: Custom-quoted pricing. Sophos pricing: Custom quote required. Tiered pricing bands based on organization size. Starting price not publicly disclosed.. 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 Sophos: MDR Essentials does NOT include full incident response or breach warranty, requires MDR Complete upgrade; Linux server protection requires separate Sophos Workload Protection subscription.
Should I choose AirMDR or Sophos?
Choose AirMDR if: sMBs and mid-market companies (100-1000 employees) priced out of traditional MDR. Choose Sophos if: existing Sophos endpoint or firewall customers adding managed services on their existing platform. AirMDR is not ideal for enterprises requiring a proven vendor track record and extensive customer references. Sophos is not ideal for organizations needing raw telemetry query access (Sophos Central provides dashboards only).
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.