Defendable vs Northwave
Defendable and Northwave are both Services firms that work with your existing tools. Defendable targets Mid-market and Enterprise organizations, while Northwave serves Mid-market and Enterprise. Defendable includes 1 attack surfaces in base pricing (Endpoint), compared to 2 for Northwave (Endpoint, Network).
Buyer brief
Defendable and Northwave are both Services firms that work with your existing tools. Defendable targets Mid-market and Enterprise organizations, while Northwave serves Mid-market and Enterprise. Defendable includes 1 attack surfaces in base pricing (Endpoint), compared to 2 for Northwave (Endpoint, Network).
Northwave offers broader coverage (2 surfaces vs. 1). Defendable may suit teams that need depth over breadth.
At a glance
| FIELD |  |  |
|---|---|---|
| Best fit | Norwegian and Nordic buyers that want MDR operated from Oslo and Gjovik | Benelux, DACH and Nordic buyers that want European MDR with a Utrecht SOC |
| Price | Custom quote | Custom quote |
| Response authority | 1/6 actions · Configurable | 1/6 actions · Configurable |
| Stack | Works with existing stack | Works with existing stack |
| 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
- 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 | DefendableTECH-AGNOSTIC | NorthwaveTECH-AGNOSTIC |
|---|---|---|
| Fit | ||
| Target size | Mid-market, Enterprise | Mid-market, Enterprise |
| Sentiment | Mixed | Mixed |
| Your stack | ||
| Approach | Works with your tools | Works with your tools |
| EDR integrations | Microsoft Defender | Customer endpoint telemetry |
| SIEM integrations | Microsoft Sentinel | Customer log sources |
| Coverage | EPEndpoint: CoveredCloudCloud: LimitedIDIdentity: LimitedSaaSSaaS: LimitedNetNetwork: LimitedOTOT/IoT: Not covered | EPEndpoint: CoveredCloudCloud: LimitedIDIdentity: LimitedSaaSSaaS: Not coveredNetNetwork: CoveredOTOT/IoT: Optional add-on |
| Response | ||
| Response type | Active Remediation | Active Remediation |
| Approval policy | Configurable | Configurable |
| Response actions | Custom playbooks | Custom playbooks |
| IR included | Separate | Separate |
| Cost | ||
| Price range | Not published | Not published |
| Minimum seats | None | None |
| Breach warranty | – | – |
| More details | ||
| Requires own agent | No | No |
| Endpoints | ✓ Included | ✓ Included |
| Cloud workloads | ~ Limited | ~ Limited |
| Identity | ~ Limited | ~ Limited |
| SaaS apps | ~ Limited | Not offered |
| Network | ~ Limited | ✓ Included |
| OT/ICS | Not offered | + Optional |
| Threat hunting | ✓ Included | ✓ Included |
| Response SLA | Not disclosed | Not disclosed |
| 24/7 coverage | ✓ | ✓ |
| Pricing model | Custom quote. Defendable does not publish MDR package pricing. | Custom quote. Northwave does not publish MDR package pricing. |
| 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. | 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 | Custom, Incident Response Retainer | Custom |
| Channels | PortalEmailPhone | PortalEmailPhone |
| Data access | Dashboards | Dashboards |
| Dedicated analyst | – | – |
| SOC regions | Europe | Europe |
| Onboarding | Defendable publishes an MDR onboarding flow covering identification, planning, platform establishment and execution. It does not publish a standard onboarding duration. | 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 | Not published | Financial ServicesHealthcareManufacturingLogisticsTechnologyPublic SectorCritical Infrastructure |
| MTTD | Not published | Not published |
| MTTR | Not published | Not published |
| 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. | 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 | ISO 27001Norwegian National Security Authority Quality Scheme for Incident Response | NIS2ISO 27001GDPRTISAX |
| Certifications | ISO 27001:2023Norwegian National Security Authority Quality Scheme for Incident ResponseEco-lighthouse certified | – |
| Founded | 2020 | 2006 |
| 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 as a standard MDR retention period. |
| API available | – | – |
| Website | Visit → | Visit → |
FAQ
What is the main difference between Defendable and Northwave?
Defendable is a Services firm that is technology-agnostic (works with your existing tools). Northwave is a Services firm that is technology-agnostic (works with your existing tools). Defendable covers 1 attack surfaces in base pricing vs. 2 for Northwave.
How do Defendable and Northwave differ in response capabilities?
Defendable supports 1 autonomous actions (custom playbooks) and approval is configurable. Northwave supports 1 autonomous actions (custom playbooks) and approval is configurable.
How does Defendable pricing compare to Northwave?
Defendable pricing: Not published. Northwave pricing: Not published. 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 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 Defendable or Northwave?
Choose Defendable if: norwegian and Nordic buyers that want MDR operated from Oslo and Gjovik. Choose Northwave if: benelux, DACH and Nordic buyers that want European MDR with a Utrecht SOC. Defendable is not ideal for buyers that need public MDR pricing or contractual SLA terms before sales. 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.