Binary Defense vs Northwave
Binary Defense is a Pure-play MDR that works with your existing tools. Northwave is a Services firm that works with your existing tools. Binary Defense targets Mid-market and Enterprise organizations; Northwave serves Mid-market and Enterprise. Binary Defense includes 4 attack surfaces in base pricing (Endpoint, Cloud, Identity, Network), compared to 2 for Northwave (Endpoint, Network).
Buyer brief
Binary Defense is a Pure-play MDR that works with your existing tools. Northwave is a Services firm that works with your existing tools. Binary Defense targets Mid-market and Enterprise organizations; Northwave serves Mid-market and Enterprise. Binary Defense includes 4 attack surfaces in base pricing (Endpoint, Cloud, Identity, Network), compared to 2 for Northwave (Endpoint, Network).
Binary Defense (Pure-play MDR) and Northwave (Services firm) serve different buyer profiles. Your decision depends on whether you prioritize Binary Defense's binary defense's core differentiator is proactive threat hunting with an attacker's mindset, cons... 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 | Mid-market and enterprise organizations with existing EDR/SIEM investments they want to keep | Benelux, DACH and Nordic buyers that want European MDR with a Utrecht SOC |
| Price | Custom quote | Custom quote |
| Response authority | 4/6 actions · Configurable | 1/6 actions · Configurable |
| Stack | Works with existing stack | Works with existing stack |
| Data access | Full query access | Dashboards |
| Warranty | None listed | None listed |
- Best fit
- Mid-market and enterprise organizations with existing EDR/SIEM investments they want to keep
- Price
- Custom quote
- Response authority
- 4/6 actions · Configurable
- Stack
- Works with existing stack
- Data access
- Full query access
- 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 | Binary DefenseTECH-AGNOSTIC | NorthwaveTECH-AGNOSTIC |
|---|---|---|
| ›› Fit | ||
| Target size | Mid-market, Enterprise | Mid-market, Enterprise |
| Sentiment | Mixed | Mixed |
| ›› Your stack | ||
| Approach | Works with your tools | Works with your tools |
| EDR integrations | Microsoft Defender for EndpointCrowdStrike FalconSentinelOneCarbon Black | Customer endpoint telemetry |
| SIEM integrations | Microsoft SentinelSplunkExabeamPalo Alto Cortex XSIAMGoogle Chronicle | Customer log sources |
| Coverage | EPEndpoint: CoveredCloudCloud: CoveredIDIdentity: CoveredSaaSSaaS: Optional add-onNetNetwork: 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 | IsolateContainDisable accountsCustom playbooks | Custom playbooks |
| IR included | Separate | Separate |
| ›› Cost | ||
| Price range | Not published. Custom quotes only. | 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 | + Optional | Not offered |
| Network | ✓ Included | ✓ Included |
| OT/ICS | Not offered | + Optional |
| Threat hunting | ✓ Included | ✓ Included |
| Response SLA | ≤30 minutes | Not disclosed |
| 24/7 coverage | ✓ | ✓ |
| Pricing model | Custom pricing. MDR and MDR Plus tiers. Co-managed and fully managed options available. | Custom quote. Northwave does not publish MDR package pricing. |
| Hidden cost warnings | MDR Plus features (deception, malware disruption) are add-ons beyond base MDR. IR is not included in base MDR, available as separate retainer. Requires direct connection to client network, VPN may impact delivery. Pricing not publicly disclosed, requires sales engagement | 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 | Partial | Partial |
| Contract terms | Monthly, Annual, Multi-year | Custom |
| Channels | SlackEmailPortalPhone | PortalEmailPhone |
| Data access | Full query access | Dashboards |
| Dedicated analyst | ✓ | – |
| SOC regions | North America | Europe |
| Onboarding | 2-8 weeks depending on environment complexity. Requires direct connection to client network. | 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 | ManufacturingHealthcareFinancial ServicesTechnologyRetail | Financial ServicesHealthcareManufacturingLogisticsTechnologyPublic SectorCritical Infrastructure |
| MTTD | Not published | Not published |
| MTTR | Not published | Not published |
| Community view | Gartner Peer Insights rates 4.6/5 (30 reviews) and PeerSpot 9.2/10. Forrester Strong Performer in Q1 2025 (was Leader in 2021) with highest possible scores for endpoint detection, threat hunting, and community. Praise for technical depth, but Glassdoor employee rating is 2.5/5, and some customers report declining service quality. | 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 Type II | NIS2ISO 27001GDPRTISAX |
| Certifications | SOC 2 Type II (security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, privacy) | – |
| Founded | 2014 | 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 Binary Defense and Northwave?
Binary Defense is a Pure-play MDR that is technology-agnostic (works with your existing tools). Northwave is a Services firm that is technology-agnostic (works with your existing tools). SLA commitments differ: Binary Defense offers ≤30 minutes, Northwave offers Not disclosed. Binary Defense covers 4 attack surfaces in base pricing vs. 2 for Northwave.
How do Binary Defense and Northwave differ in response capabilities?
Binary Defense supports 4 autonomous actions (account disable, custom playbooks, endpoint isolation, network containment) and approval is configurable. Northwave supports 1 autonomous actions (custom playbooks) and approval is configurable.
How does Binary Defense pricing compare to Northwave?
Binary Defense pricing: Not published. Custom quotes only.. Northwave pricing: Not published. Watch for with Binary Defense: MDR Plus features (deception, malware disruption) are add-ons beyond base MDR; IR is not included in base MDR, available as separate retainer. 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 Binary Defense or Northwave?
Choose Binary Defense if: mid-market and enterprise organizations with existing EDR/SIEM investments they want to keep. Choose Northwave if: benelux, DACH and Nordic buyers that want European MDR with a Utrecht SOC. Binary Defense is not ideal for organizations needing global SOC coverage (SOC is US-based only, analysts work remotely). 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.