Choose Darktrace or eSentire
Choose Darktrace if
- Critical infrastructure and industrial environments needing OT/ICS security with protocol-agnostic detection
- Security teams comfortable with autonomous response technology and willing to invest tuning time for optimal detection
- You want direct Slack integration with your SOC
Choose eSentire if
- Organizations wanting a provider that publicly reports 15-minute containment with true active remediation
- Mid-market and enterprise with complex multi-vendor security stacks needing 300+ integrations
- Companies wanting unlimited incident response included in MDR (verify scope with vendor)
- You need Endpoint and Cloud and SaaS and Identity coverage included in base pricing
What’s actually different
Buyer brief
Updated 2026-04-09
Fit. eSentire leads with a contractual 15-minute Mean Time to Contain and 99.3% first-host isolation rate. Darktrace leads with Self-Learning AI that builds behavioral baselines per device and Antigena autonomous response that contains threats in seconds through network-level actions. The pitch is speed-with-SLA versus AI-driven anomaly detection.
Response. The response capability gap is wide. eSentire covers all six core response actions (endpoint isolation, process termination, network containment, account disable, file quarantine and custom playbooks) with included incident response. Darktrace covers endpoint isolation and network containment through Antigena but does not support process termination, account disable or file quarantine through the MDR service. IR is not included with either Darktrace tier.
Cost and scope. eSentire is vendor-agnostic with 300+ integrations and BYOL support for four EDR platforms. Darktrace requires its own platform, and full coverage across network, endpoint, cloud, email and OT requires purchasing separate modules that increase total cost. Darktrace's pricing is in the upper market segment but not published. eSentire runs $10-25/endpoint/month across three tiers. Darktrace's MDR launched in June 2024 with limited independent validation. eSentire holds a Forrester Wave Leader position (Europe Q3 2025) and a G2 rating of 4.6/5 across 272 reviews.
FAQ
What is the main difference between Darktrace and eSentire?
Darktrace is a Platform vendor that is platform-native (requires their own security stack). eSentire is a Pure-play MDR that is technology-agnostic (works with your existing tools). Darktrace covers 1 attack surfaces in base pricing vs. 5 for eSentire.
How do Darktrace and eSentire differ in response capabilities?
Darktrace supports 3 autonomous actions (endpoint isolation, network containment, custom playbooks) and approval is configurable. eSentire supports 6 autonomous actions (endpoint isolation, process termination, network containment, account disable, file quarantine, custom playbooks) and approval is configurable. Incident response is not included with Darktrace and included with eSentire.
How does Darktrace pricing compare to eSentire?
Darktrace pricing: Not published. Reviewers report pricing in the upper market segment.. eSentire pricing: Third-party buyer data reports eSentire MDR endpoint-focused pricing around $60-100/endpoint/year for 50-200 endpoints, $40-80/endpoint/year for 200-1,000 endpoints, and $30-60/endpoint/year for 1,000+ endpoints. Older community reports cite $10-25/endpoint/month depending on tier.. Watch for with Darktrace: Full coverage (endpoint, cloud, email, OT) requires multiple separate modules that increase total cost significantly; High false positive rates require internal analyst time for tuning despite the MDR service. Watch for with eSentire: Tier differences are significant. Essentials may lack key response and advisory capabilities available in Advanced/Complete.; BYOL pricing differs from bundled Atlas Agent pricing. Custom pricing for 5,000+ endpoints..