Choose Arctic Wolf or Critical Start
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, Critical Start does not)
Choose Critical Start if
- Mid-market to large enterprises wanting technology-agnostic MDR that works with their existing security stack
- Organizations suffering from alert fatigue wanting TBR's deterministic auto-resolution to reduce noise
- Companies needing OT/ICS monitoring alongside IT MDR through Claroty, Dragos and Nozomi integrations
- You need Cloud and SaaS coverage included in base pricing
What’s actually different
Buyer brief
Fit. Arctic Wolf and Critical Start are both Pure-play MDRs that work with your existing tools. Arctic Wolf targets Mid-market and Enterprise organizations, while Critical Start serves Mid-market and Enterprise. Arctic Wolf includes 3 attack surfaces in base pricing (Endpoint, Identity, Network), compared to 5 for Critical Start (Endpoint, Cloud, SaaS, Identity, Network).
FAQ
What is the main difference between Arctic Wolf and Critical Start?
Arctic Wolf is a Pure-play MDR that is technology-agnostic (works with your existing tools). Critical Start is a Pure-play MDR that is technology-agnostic (works with your existing tools). Arctic Wolf covers 3 attack surfaces in base pricing vs. 5 for Critical Start.
How do Arctic Wolf and Critical Start differ in response capabilities?
Arctic Wolf supports 3 autonomous actions (endpoint isolation, network containment, account disable) and approval is configurable. Critical Start supports 6 autonomous actions (endpoint isolation, process termination, network containment, account disable, file quarantine, custom playbooks) and approval is configurable.
How does Arctic Wolf pricing compare to Critical Start?
Arctic Wolf pricing: Third-party buyer data reports Arctic Wolf MDR observed pricing around $12-18/endpoint/month for 100-500 endpoint buyers and $8-14/endpoint/month for 1,000+ endpoint buyers. AWS Marketplace also lists MDR Basic starting at $44,000/year for up to 100 users.. Critical Start pricing: Custom-quoted pricing. 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 Critical Start: No public pricing at all, requires sales call for any ballpark; OT/ICS monitoring and vulnerability management are separate purchases on top of base MDR.