Critical Start vs Sophos
Critical Start is a Pure-play MDR that works with your existing tools. Sophos is a Platform vendor that requires its own security platform. Critical Start targets Mid-market and Enterprise organizations; Sophos serves SMB, Mid-market, and Enterprise.
Buyer brief
Critical Start is a Pure-play MDR that works with your existing tools. Sophos is a Platform vendor that requires its own security platform. Critical Start targets Mid-market and Enterprise organizations; Sophos serves SMB, Mid-market, and Enterprise.
Sophos is the choice if you want a single-vendor stack with deep integration. Critical Start is better if you have existing tools and want flexibility.
At a glance
| FIELD |  |  |
|---|---|---|
| Best fit | Mid-market to large enterprises wanting technology-agnostic MDR that works with their existing security stack | 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
- Mid-market to large enterprises wanting technology-agnostic MDR that works with their existing security stack
- 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 | Critical StartTECH-AGNOSTIC | SophosPLATFORM |
|---|---|---|
| Fit | ||
| Target size | Mid-market, Enterprise | SMB, Mid-market, Enterprise |
| Sentiment | Positive | Very Positive |
| Your stack | ||
| Approach | Works with your tools | Requires their platform |
| EDR integrations | Palo Alto Cortex CrowdStrike, SentinelOne, Microsoft Defender | Sophos EndpointCarbon Black CrowdStrike, Microsoft Defender, SentinelOne |
| SIEM integrations | Microsoft SentinelSplunkSumo Logic | Sophos Central SIEM integration via API |
| Coverage | EPEndpoint: CoveredCloudCloud: CoveredIDIdentity: CoveredSaaSSaaS: CoveredNetNetwork: CoveredOTOT/IoT: Optional add-on | 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 | + Optional | ~ Limited |
| Threat hunting | ✓ Included | ✓ Included |
| Response SLA | ≤1 hour | ≤1 hour |
| 24/7 coverage | ✓ | ✓ |
| Pricing model | Custom enterprise pricing (annual subscription, tiered by coverage depth) | 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 public pricing at all, requires sales call for any ballpark. OT/ICS monitoring and vulnerability management are separate purchases on top of base MDR. Full IR/DFIR requires separate CIRT engagement, not included in MDR contract. Annual contract commitment typically required with no published minimum seat count | 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 | Partial | Partial |
| Contract terms | Annual, Multi-year | Annual, Multi-year |
| Channels | EmailPortalPhone | EmailPortalPhone |
| Data access | Dashboards | Dashboards |
| Dedicated analyst | ✓ | ✓ |
| SOC regions | North America | North AmericaEuropeAsia-Pacific |
| Onboarding | 5-10 business days to first detection value (vendor-stated). 4-6 weeks for full enterprise onboarding. Vendor claims 2.66-day median TTFV for Microsoft Sentinel specifically. | Weeks, varies by environment size and integration scope |
| Industry focus | Financial ServicesHealthcareManufacturingTechnologyGovernmentProfessional ServicesRetailTransportation | ManufacturingHealthcareFinancial ServicesRetailTechnology |
| MTTD | Not published | Not published |
| MTTR | 60 minutes or less median time to resolution for ALL alerts regardless of priority | 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 | Gartner Peer Insights 4.8/5 (53 reviews). PeerSpot 9.4/10, skewing large enterprise. Glassdoor 4.3/5 (140 reviews, some concerns about RIFs and turnover). IDC MarketScape Major Player (Emerging MDR, 2024). Praised for TBR noise reduction and SOC analyst accessibility. Criticized for onboarding communication gaps, missing Slack integration and opaque pricing. | 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 Type IIISO 27001 | SOC 2 Type IIISO 27001:2022ISO 27017:2015ISO 27018:2019PCI DSS v4.0GDPRHIPAAHITRUST CSF |
| Certifications | SOC 2 Type IIISO 27001MISA (Microsoft Intelligent Security Association)Microsoft Solutions Partner for Security | SOC 2 Type IIISO 27001:2022ISO 27017:2015ISO 27018:2019PCI DSS v4.0 |
| Founded | 2012 | 1985 |
| Data retention | CORR platform provides API access and data export (CSV/XLSX). Specific retention periods not publicly documented. | 90 days standard, 1-year extended available as add-on |
| API available | ✓ | ✓ |
| Website | Visit → | Visit → |
FAQ
What is the main difference between Critical Start and Sophos?
Critical Start is a Pure-play MDR that is technology-agnostic (works with your existing tools). Sophos is a Platform vendor that is platform-native (requires their own security stack).
How do Critical Start and Sophos differ in response capabilities?
Critical Start 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 Critical Start and included with Sophos.
How does Critical Start pricing compare to Sophos?
Critical Start pricing: Custom-quoted pricing. Sophos pricing: Custom quote required. Tiered pricing bands based on organization size. Starting price not publicly disclosed.. 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. 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 Critical Start or Sophos?
Choose Critical Start if: mid-market to large enterprises wanting technology-agnostic MDR that works with their existing security stack. Choose Sophos if: existing Sophos endpoint or firewall customers adding managed services on their existing platform. Critical Start is not ideal for sMBs or budget-conscious organizations, enterprise-focused pricing not published. 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.