CrowdStrike vs Northwave
CrowdStrike is a Platform vendor that requires its own security platform. Northwave is a Services firm that works with your existing tools. CrowdStrike targets Mid-market and Enterprise organizations; Northwave serves Mid-market and Enterprise. CrowdStrike includes 4 attack surfaces in base pricing (Endpoint, Cloud, SaaS, Network), compared to 2 for Northwave (Endpoint, Network).
Buyer brief
CrowdStrike is a Platform vendor that requires its own security platform. Northwave is a Services firm that works with your existing tools. CrowdStrike targets Mid-market and Enterprise organizations; Northwave serves Mid-market and Enterprise. CrowdStrike includes 4 attack surfaces in base pricing (Endpoint, Cloud, SaaS, Network), compared to 2 for Northwave (Endpoint, Network).
CrowdStrike is the choice if you want a single-vendor stack with deep integration. Northwave is better if you have existing tools and want flexibility.
At a glance
| FIELD |  |  |
|---|---|---|
| Best fit | Enterprise organizations (200+ endpoints) wanting MITRE-validated detection speed with autonomous remediation | Benelux, DACH and Nordic buyers that want European MDR with a Utrecht SOC |
| Price | Est $15-25/endpoint/mo, 200+ endpoints | Custom quote |
| Response authority | 6/6 actions · No approval | 1/6 actions · Configurable |
| Stack | Requires own platform | Works with existing stack |
| Data access | Full query access | Dashboards |
| Warranty | $2,000,000 | None listed |
- Best fit
- Enterprise organizations (200+ endpoints) wanting MITRE-validated detection speed with autonomous remediation
- Price
- Est $15-25/endpoint/mo, 200+ endpoints
- Response authority
- 6/6 actions · No approval
- Stack
- Requires own platform
- Data access
- Full query access
- Warranty
- $2,000,000
- 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 | CrowdStrikePLATFORM | NorthwaveTECH-AGNOSTIC |
|---|---|---|
| ›› Fit | ||
| Target size | Mid-market, Enterprise | Mid-market, Enterprise |
| Sentiment | Positive | Mixed |
| ›› Your stack | ||
| Approach | Requires their platform | Works with your tools |
| EDR integrations | CrowdStrike Falcon | Customer endpoint telemetry |
| SIEM integrations | Falcon Next-Gen SIEM | Customer log sources |
| Coverage | EPEndpoint: CoveredCloudCloud: CoveredIDIdentity: Optional add-onSaaSSaaS: CoveredNetNetwork: CoveredOTOT/IoT: Not covered | EPEndpoint: CoveredCloudCloud: LimitedIDIdentity: LimitedSaaSSaaS: Not coveredNetNetwork: CoveredOTOT/IoT: Optional add-on |
| ›› Response | ||
| Response type | Active Remediation | Active Remediation |
| Approval policy | Fully Autonomous | Configurable |
| Response actions | IsolateKill processContainDisable accountsQuarantineCustom playbooks | Custom playbooks |
| IR included | ✓ Included | Separate |
| ›› Cost | ||
| Price range | Estimated $15-25/endpoint/month (estimates vary by deployment size) | Not published |
| Minimum seats | 200 | None |
| Breach warranty | $2,000,000 | – |
| ›› More details | ||
| Requires own agent | Yes | No |
| Endpoints | ✓ Included | ✓ Included |
| Cloud workloads | ✓ Included | ~ Limited |
| Identity | + Optional | ~ Limited |
| SaaS apps | ✓ Included | Not offered |
| Network | ✓ Included | ✓ Included |
| OT/ICS | Not offered | + Optional |
| Threat hunting | ✓ Included | ✓ Included |
| Response SLA | Not disclosed | Not disclosed |
| 24/7 coverage | ✓ | ✓ |
| Pricing model | Per-endpoint pricing, tiered by endpoint count and coverage scope | Custom quote. Northwave does not publish MDR package pricing. |
| Hidden cost warnings | Minimum 200-500 endpoints required, eliminates most SMBs. Requires CrowdStrike Falcon platform, cannot use with competing EDR. Identity and cloud workload coverage are separate add-ons. July 2024 global outage raised reliability concerns | 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 | Annual, Multi-year | Custom |
| Channels | EmailPortalPhone | PortalEmailPhone |
| Data access | Full query access | Dashboards |
| Dedicated analyst | ✓ | – |
| SOC regions | North AmericaEuropeAsia-Pacific | Europe |
| Onboarding | minutes to deploy | 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 | Financial ServicesHealthcareGovernmentRetailTechnology | Financial ServicesHealthcareManufacturingLogisticsTechnologyPublic SectorCritical Infrastructure |
| MTTD | 4 minutes | Not published |
| MTTR | Less than 30 minutes (internal benchmark) | Not published |
| Community view | Forrester Wave MDR Leader (Q1 2025), IDC MarketScape Leader (2024), Gartner Peer Insights 96% willingness to recommend (117 reviews). MITRE-validated fastest MTTD. Premium pricing and platform lock-in are accepted trade-offs for top-tier detection and response. July 2024 global outage dented trust temporarily. | 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 IIISO 27001:2022FedRAMP HighHIPAAPCI DSSCSA STAR Level 1 & 2 | NIS2ISO 27001GDPRTISAX |
| Certifications | SOC 2 Type IIISO 27001:2022FedRAMP HighCSA STARNSA NSCAP CIRA | – |
| Founded | 2011 | 2006 |
| Data retention | Not published. Standard Falcon data retention varies by module. | Not published as a standard MDR retention period. |
| API available | ✓ | – |
| Website | Visit → | Visit → |
›› FAQ
What is the main difference between CrowdStrike and Northwave?
CrowdStrike is a Platform vendor that is platform-native (requires their own security stack). Northwave is a Services firm that is technology-agnostic (works with your existing tools). CrowdStrike covers 4 attack surfaces in base pricing vs. 2 for Northwave.
How do CrowdStrike and Northwave differ in response capabilities?
CrowdStrike supports 6 autonomous actions (account disable, custom playbooks, endpoint isolation, file quarantine, network containment, process termination) and acts without approval. Northwave supports 1 autonomous actions (custom playbooks) and approval is configurable. Incident response is included with CrowdStrike and not included with Northwave.
How does CrowdStrike pricing compare to Northwave?
CrowdStrike pricing: Estimated $15-25/endpoint/month (estimates vary by deployment size) (200-seat minimum). Northwave pricing: Not published. Watch for with CrowdStrike: Minimum 200-500 endpoints required, eliminates most SMBs; Requires CrowdStrike Falcon platform, cannot use with competing EDR. 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 CrowdStrike or Northwave?
Choose CrowdStrike if: enterprise organizations (200+ endpoints) wanting MITRE-validated detection speed with autonomous remediation. Choose Northwave if: benelux, DACH and Nordic buyers that want European MDR with a Utrecht SOC. CrowdStrike is not ideal for sMBs with fewer than 200 endpoints (minimum requirement) or budget-conscious buyers. 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.