Defendable vs ESET
Defendable is a Services firm that works with your existing tools. ESET is a Platform vendor that requires its own security platform. Defendable targets Mid-market and Enterprise organizations; ESET serves SMB, Mid-market, and Enterprise. Defendable includes 1 attack surfaces in base pricing (Endpoint), compared to 3 for ESET (Endpoint, Cloud, SaaS).
Buyer brief
Defendable is a Services firm that works with your existing tools. ESET is a Platform vendor that requires its own security platform. Defendable targets Mid-market and Enterprise organizations; ESET serves SMB, Mid-market, and Enterprise. Defendable includes 1 attack surfaces in base pricing (Endpoint), compared to 3 for ESET (Endpoint, Cloud, SaaS).
ESET is the choice if you want a single-vendor stack with deep integration. Defendable is better if you have existing tools and want flexibility.
At a glance
| FIELD |  |  |
|---|---|---|
| Best fit | Norwegian and Nordic buyers that want MDR operated from Oslo and Gjovik | SMBs with 25-500 devices that want managed detection without meeting 200+ endpoint minimums |
| Price | Custom quote | Custom quote |
| Response authority | 1/6 actions · Configurable | 6/6 actions · Configurable |
| Stack | Works with existing stack | Requires own platform |
| Data access | Dashboards | Dashboards |
| Warranty | None listed | None listed |
- Best fit
- Norwegian and Nordic buyers that want MDR operated from Oslo and Gjovik
- Price
- Custom quote
- Response authority
- 1/6 actions · Configurable
- Stack
- Works with existing stack
- Data access
- Dashboards
- Warranty
- None listed
- Best fit
- SMBs with 25-500 devices that want managed detection without meeting 200+ endpoint minimums
- Price
- Custom quote
- Response authority
- 6/6 actions · Configurable
- Stack
- Requires own platform
- Data access
- Dashboards
- Warranty
- None listed
Detailed comparison
| FIELD | DefendableTECH-AGNOSTIC | ESETPLATFORM |
|---|---|---|
| Fit | ||
| Target size | Mid-market, Enterprise | SMB, Mid-market, Enterprise |
| Sentiment | Mixed | Positive |
| Your stack | ||
| Approach | Works with your tools | Requires their platform |
| EDR integrations | Microsoft Defender | ESET |
| SIEM integrations | Microsoft Sentinel | ElasticSplunk Microsoft Sentinel |
| Coverage | EPEndpoint: CoveredCloudCloud: LimitedIDIdentity: LimitedSaaSSaaS: LimitedNetNetwork: LimitedOTOT/IoT: Not covered | EPEndpoint: CoveredCloudCloud: CoveredIDIdentity: LimitedSaaSSaaS: CoveredNetNetwork: LimitedOTOT/IoT: Not covered |
| Response | ||
| Response type | Active Remediation | Active Remediation |
| Approval policy | Configurable | Configurable |
| Response actions | Custom playbooks | IsolateKill processContainDisable accountsQuarantineCustom playbooks |
| IR included | Separate | ✓ Included |
| Cost | ||
| Price range | Not published | Not published, custom-quoted based on environment and device count with volume discounts |
| Minimum seats | None | 25 |
| Breach warranty | – | – |
| More details | ||
| Requires own agent | No | Yes |
| Endpoints | ✓ Included | ✓ Included |
| Cloud workloads | ~ Limited | ✓ Included |
| Identity | ~ Limited | ~ Limited |
| SaaS apps | ~ Limited | ✓ Included |
| Network | ~ Limited | ~ Limited |
| OT/ICS | Not offered | Not offered |
| Threat hunting | ✓ Included | ✓ Included |
| Response SLA | Not disclosed | Not disclosed |
| 24/7 coverage | ✓ | ✓ |
| Pricing model | Custom quote. Defendable does not publish MDR package pricing. | Per-device pricing, custom-quoted. Requires ESET PROTECT Enterprise or Elite as the base. MSP partners can get daily billing or monthly invoicing. |
| Hidden cost warnings | Public pages do not publish MDR pricing, contract minimums or service-credit language.. Response authority should be defined in writing because named autonomous endpoint and identity actions are not published.. Log storage can sit in the customer's Microsoft Log Analytics tenant or Defendable's platform, so retention and storage costs should be modeled early.. Incident-response retainer SLA is separate language and should not be assumed to be the MDR SLA.. Threat hunting is public, but hunt cadence and staffing are not published. | Requires ESET PROTECT Enterprise or Elite subscription as the base, which is a separate cost from MDR itself. MDR Ultimate pricing is significantly higher than standard MDR, but the exact gap is not published. Custom-quoted pricing with no published benchmarks means you have no leverage for comparison shopping. If you're not already an ESET customer, factor in the cost and time to migrate your entire endpoint stack |
| Data portability | Partial | Limited |
| Contract terms | Custom, Incident Response Retainer | Annual, Multi-year |
| Channels | PortalEmailPhone | EmailPortalPhone |
| Data access | Dashboards | Dashboards |
| Dedicated analyst | – | ✓ |
| SOC regions | Europe | North AmericaEuropeAsia-Pacific |
| Onboarding | Defendable publishes an MDR onboarding flow covering identification, planning, platform establishment and execution. It does not publish a standard onboarding duration. | Fast deployment via ESET PROTECT platform if you're already an ESET customer. Net-new deployments require platform setup first. |
| Industry focus | Not published | SMB (all industries)EducationHealthcareFinancial ServicesGovernmentRetail |
| MTTD | Not published | 20 minutes (vendor-published) |
| MTTR | Not published | Approximately 5 minutes (vendor-published time to resolve) |
| Community view | Defendable has limited MDR-specific public review volume in major English-language review communities. The public buyer case rests on Norwegian SOC delivery, a direct MDR page, Microsoft Sentinel support, proactive threat hunting, a customer portal and incident-response depth. Buyers should validate pricing, response authority, retention cost and contractual SLA terms directly. | KuppingerCole named ESET Product and Market Leader for MDR (December 2024). Praised for the low 25-device entry point and fast vendor-published detection times. Criticized for console UI complexity and full platform lock-in. Limited MDR-specific community discussion compared to larger competitors. |
| Compliance | ISO 27001Norwegian National Security Authority Quality Scheme for Incident Response | ISO 27001 |
| Certifications | ISO 27001:2023Norwegian National Security Authority Quality Scheme for Incident ResponseEco-lighthouse certified | ISO 27001 |
| Founded | 2020 | 1992 |
| Data retention | Defendable says customers can store additional log data in their own Microsoft Log Analytics tenant or in Defendable's log management platform. It does not publish standard MDR retention periods. | Not published |
| API available | – | ✓ |
| Website | Visit → | Visit → |
FAQ
What is the main difference between Defendable and ESET?
Defendable is a Services firm that is technology-agnostic (works with your existing tools). ESET is a Platform vendor that is platform-native (requires their own security stack). Defendable covers 1 attack surfaces in base pricing vs. 3 for ESET.
How do Defendable and ESET differ in response capabilities?
Defendable supports 1 autonomous actions (custom playbooks) and approval is configurable. ESET 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 Defendable and included with ESET.
How does Defendable pricing compare to ESET?
Defendable pricing: Not published. ESET pricing: Not published, custom-quoted based on environment and device count with volume discounts (25-seat minimum). Watch for with Defendable: Public pages do not publish MDR pricing, contract minimums or service-credit language.; Response authority should be defined in writing because named autonomous endpoint and identity actions are not published.. Watch for with ESET: Requires ESET PROTECT Enterprise or Elite subscription as the base, which is a separate cost from MDR itself; MDR Ultimate pricing is significantly higher than standard MDR, but the exact gap is not published.
Should I choose Defendable or ESET?
Choose Defendable if: norwegian and Nordic buyers that want MDR operated from Oslo and Gjovik. Choose ESET if: sMBs with 25-500 devices that want managed detection without meeting 200+ endpoint minimums. Defendable is not ideal for buyers that need public MDR pricing or contractual SLA terms before sales. ESET is not ideal for organizations with non-ESET EDR that want to keep their existing platform and layer MDR on top.
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.