Defendable vs Expel
Defendable is a Services firm that works with your existing tools. Expel is a Pure-play MDR that works with your existing tools. Defendable targets Mid-market and Enterprise organizations; Expel serves Mid-market and Enterprise. Defendable includes 1 attack surfaces in base pricing (Endpoint), compared to 5 for Expel (Endpoint, Cloud, SaaS, Identity, Network).
Buyer brief
Defendable is a Services firm that works with your existing tools. Expel is a Pure-play MDR that works with your existing tools. Defendable targets Mid-market and Enterprise organizations; Expel serves Mid-market and Enterprise. Defendable includes 1 attack surfaces in base pricing (Endpoint), compared to 5 for Expel (Endpoint, Cloud, SaaS, Identity, Network).
Defendable (Services firm) and Expel (Pure-play MDR) serve different buyer profiles. Your decision depends on whether you prioritize Defendable's defendable mdr fits nordic buyers that want norwegian soc monitoring, microsoft sentinel-friendly... or Expel's api-first, vendor-agnostic mdr with 160+ integrations and full transparency into every soc action....
At a glance
| FIELD |  |  |
|---|---|---|
| Best fit | Norwegian and Nordic buyers that want MDR operated from Oslo and Gjovik | Mid-market and enterprise organizations with existing security tools wanting vendor-agnostic MDR |
| Price | Custom quote | TrustRadius: from $11,640/yr |
| Response authority | 1/6 actions · Configurable | 6/6 actions · Configurable |
| Stack | Works with existing stack | Works with existing stack |
| Data access | Dashboards | Full query access |
| 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
- Mid-market and enterprise organizations with existing security tools wanting vendor-agnostic MDR
- Price
- TrustRadius: from $11,640/yr
- Response authority
- 6/6 actions · Configurable
- Stack
- Works with existing stack
- Data access
- Full query access
- Warranty
- None listed
Detailed comparison
| FIELD | DefendableTECH-AGNOSTIC | ExpelTECH-AGNOSTIC |
|---|---|---|
| Fit | ||
| Target size | Mid-market, Enterprise | Mid-market, Enterprise |
| Sentiment | Mixed | Very Positive |
| Your stack | ||
| Approach | Works with your tools | Works with your tools |
| EDR integrations | Microsoft Defender | CrowdStrikeSentinelOneCarbon BlackPalo Alto CortexElasticCybereason Microsoft Defender |
| SIEM integrations | Microsoft Sentinel | SplunkPalo Alto Cortex XSIAMGoogle ChronicleExabeamSecuronixSumo LogicIBM QRadar Microsoft Sentinel |
| Coverage | EPEndpoint: CoveredCloudCloud: LimitedIDIdentity: LimitedSaaSSaaS: LimitedNetNetwork: LimitedOTOT/IoT: Not covered | EPEndpoint: CoveredCloudCloud: CoveredIDIdentity: CoveredSaaSSaaS: CoveredNetNetwork: CoveredOTOT/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 | Separate |
| Cost | ||
| Price range | Not published | Starting at $11,640/year. Custom quotes based on environment size and coverage areas. |
| Minimum seats | None | None |
| Breach warranty | – | – |
| More details | ||
| Requires own agent | No | No |
| Endpoints | ✓ Included | ✓ Included |
| Cloud workloads | ~ Limited | ✓ Included |
| Identity | ~ Limited | ✓ Included |
| SaaS apps | ~ Limited | ✓ Included |
| Network | ~ Limited | ✓ Included |
| OT/ICS | Not offered | Not offered |
| Threat hunting | ✓ Included | Extra cost |
| Response SLA | Not disclosed | Not disclosed |
| 24/7 coverage | ✓ | ✓ |
| Pricing model | Custom quote. Defendable does not publish MDR package pricing. | Custom pricing by coverage type: cloud infrastructure (by resources), on-prem (by endpoints), SaaS (by user accounts), phishing (by email count). Three tiers: Starter, Select, Premium. |
| 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. | Threat hunting is NOT included in base MDR, it is a separate add-on. Incident response is NOT included and must be obtained separately. Premium tier required for direct Slack/Teams SOC communication. Pricing scales significantly based on number of integrations and coverage areas |
| Data portability | Partial | Full |
| Contract terms | Custom, Incident Response Retainer | Annual, Multi-year |
| Channels | PortalEmailPhone | SlackTeamsEmailPortal |
| Data access | Dashboards | Full query access |
| Dedicated analyst | – | – |
| SOC regions | Europe | North America |
| Onboarding | Defendable publishes an MDR onboarding flow covering identification, planning, platform establishment and execution. It does not publish a standard onboarding duration. | Hours to days via API integrations. 7-minute initial tool connection demonstrated. |
| Industry focus | Not published | Financial ServicesHealthcareTechnologyEducationEnergy |
| MTTD | Not published | Not separately published |
| MTTR | Not published | 14 minutes for critical/high incidents with auto-remediation. 22 minutes average alert-to-fix for critical alerts. |
| 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. | Forrester Wave MDR Leader Q1 2025 (5/5 in 15 of 21 criteria). Gartner Peer Insights 4.6/5 (142 reviews). G2 4.8/5. PeerSpot 9.0/10. Widely praised for transparency, integration breadth, and speed. Primary criticism: threat hunting and incident response are add-ons, not included. |
| Compliance | ISO 27001Norwegian National Security Authority Quality Scheme for Incident Response | SOC 2 Type IIISO 27001:2013ISO 27701:2019GDPR |
| Certifications | ISO 27001:2023Norwegian National Security Authority Quality Scheme for Incident ResponseEco-lighthouse certified | SOC 2 Type II (annual audit May 1 to April 30)ISO 27001:2013ISO 27701:2019 (processor) |
| Founded | 2020 | 2016 |
| 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. | Per-contract basis with automated secure disposal per retention policy |
| API available | – | ✓ |
| Website | Visit → | Visit → |
FAQ
What is the main difference between Defendable and Expel?
Defendable is a Services firm that is technology-agnostic (works with your existing tools). Expel is a Pure-play MDR that is technology-agnostic (works with your existing tools). Defendable covers 1 attack surfaces in base pricing vs. 5 for Expel.
How do Defendable and Expel differ in response capabilities?
Defendable supports 1 autonomous actions (custom playbooks) and approval is configurable. Expel supports 6 autonomous actions (account disable, custom playbooks, endpoint isolation, file quarantine, network containment, process termination) and approval is configurable.
How does Defendable pricing compare to Expel?
Defendable pricing: Not published. Expel pricing: Starting at $11,640/year. Custom quotes based on environment size and coverage areas.. 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 Expel: Threat hunting is NOT included in base MDR, it is a separate add-on; Incident response is NOT included and must be obtained separately.
Should I choose Defendable or Expel?
Choose Defendable if: norwegian and Nordic buyers that want MDR operated from Oslo and Gjovik. Choose Expel if: mid-market and enterprise organizations with existing security tools wanting vendor-agnostic MDR. Defendable is not ideal for buyers that need public MDR pricing or contractual SLA terms before sales. Expel is not ideal for organizations wanting platform-native MDR from a single vendor (Expel requires existing security tools).
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.