Arctic Wolf vs Armor: MDR comparison 2026
Arctic Wolf is a Pure-play MDR that works with your existing tools. Armor is a Platform vendor that requires its own security platform. Arctic Wolf targets Mid-market and Enterprise organizations; Armor serves Mid-market and Enterprise.
Key differences at a glance
Full comparison
Which should you choose?
Choose Arctic Wolf if:
- •Mid-market organizations without a dedicated SOC that want a named security team, not just a monitoring service
- •IT teams managing multiple security tools that want a single pane of glass without replacing their existing stack
- •Organizations that value the industry's largest breach warranty ($3M) and compliance-aligned security reviews
- •Breach warranty matters to you (Arctic Wolf offers one, Armor does not)
Choose Armor if:
- •Healthcare or financial services teams already running Microsoft Sentinel who need compliance consulting baked in
- •Multi-cloud shops on AWS, Azure, or GCP that want a single MDR provider across all three
- •Organizations that value IR and forensics included in base pricing rather than as a retainer add-on
Bottom line: Armor is the choice if you want a single-vendor stack with deep integration. Arctic Wolf is better if you have existing tools and want flexibility.
Frequently asked questions
What is the main difference between Arctic Wolf and Armor?
Arctic Wolf is a Pure-play MDR that is technology-agnostic (works with your existing tools). Armor is a Platform vendor that is platform-native (requires their own security stack). SLA commitments differ: Arctic Wolf offers ≤1 hour, Armor offers Not disclosed.
How do Arctic Wolf and Armor differ in response capabilities?
Arctic Wolf supports 3 autonomous actions (endpoint isolation, network containment, account disable) and approval is configurable. Armor supports 4 autonomous actions (endpoint isolation, network containment, file quarantine, custom playbooks) and approval is configurable. Incident response is not included with Arctic Wolf and included with Armor.
How does Arctic Wolf pricing compare to Armor?
Arctic Wolf pricing: MDR Basic starts at $44,000/year for up to 100 users (AWS Marketplace). Median buyer-reported deal is $96,340/year based on 17 purchases (Vendr). Range: $29,176 to $319,984/year depending on scope.. Armor pricing: Starting at ~$4,317/month for XDR+SOC (per SourceForge listing). Watch for with Arctic Wolf: Remediation is guided, not performed on your behalf. May need a separate IR retainer for hands-on incident response.; Normalized data and threat feeds are not directly accessible. You get dashboards and reports, not raw data.. Watch for with Armor: Armor Anywhere agent is built on Trend Micro. Running it alongside CrowdStrike or SentinelOne may cause conflicts, forcing a swap.; Compliance consulting (HIPAA readiness, HITRUST prep) is billed as professional services on top of the MDR subscription..
Should I choose Arctic Wolf or Armor?
Choose Arctic Wolf if: mid-market organizations without a dedicated SOC that want a named security team, not just a monitoring service. Choose Armor if: healthcare or financial services teams already running Microsoft Sentinel who need compliance consulting baked in. Arctic Wolf is not ideal for security teams that want direct access to raw telemetry, custom detection engineering, or SIEM query capabilities. Armor is not ideal for teams running macOS or mobile-heavy environments with no agent support for either.