DefenseStorm vs Sapphire
DefenseStorm is a Platform vendor that works with your existing tools. Sapphire is a Services firm that works with your existing tools. DefenseStorm targets SMB and Mid-market organizations; Sapphire serves SMB, Mid-market, and Enterprise. DefenseStorm includes 2 attack surfaces in base pricing (Endpoint, Network), compared to 4 for Sapphire (Endpoint, Cloud, SaaS, Network).
Buyer brief
DefenseStorm is a Platform vendor that works with your existing tools. Sapphire is a Services firm that works with your existing tools. DefenseStorm targets SMB and Mid-market organizations; Sapphire serves SMB, Mid-market, and Enterprise. DefenseStorm includes 2 attack surfaces in base pricing (Endpoint, Network), compared to 4 for Sapphire (Endpoint, Cloud, SaaS, Network).
DefenseStorm (Platform vendor) and Sapphire (Services firm) serve different buyer profiles. Your decision depends on whether you prioritize DefenseStorm's defensestorm is a strong vertical mdr candidate for u.s or Sapphire's sapphire mdr is strongest for uk buyers that value local ownership, a crest-accredited uk soc and....
At a glance
| FIELD |  |  |
|---|---|---|
| Best fit | U.S. community banks, regional banks and credit unions that need MDR plus examiner-ready evidence | UK organisations that want MDR from a UK-owned provider with a UK-based CREST-accredited SOC |
| Price | Custom quote | Custom quote |
| Response authority | 0/6 actions · Approval required | 1/6 actions · Configurable |
| Stack | Works with existing stack | Works with existing stack |
| Data access | Dashboards | Dashboards |
| Warranty | None listed | None listed |
- Best fit
- U.S. community banks, regional banks and credit unions that need MDR plus examiner-ready evidence
- Price
- Custom quote
- Response authority
- 0/6 actions · Approval required
- Stack
- Works with existing stack
- Data access
- Dashboards
- Warranty
- None listed
- Best fit
- UK organisations that want MDR from a UK-owned provider with a UK-based CREST-accredited SOC
- Price
- Custom quote
- Response authority
- 1/6 actions · Configurable
- Stack
- Works with existing stack
- Data access
- Dashboards
- Warranty
- None listed
›› Detailed comparison
| FIELD | DefenseStormTECH-AGNOSTIC | SapphireTECH-AGNOSTIC |
|---|---|---|
| ›› Fit | ||
| Target size | SMB, Mid-market | SMB, Mid-market, Enterprise |
| Sentiment | Positive | Mixed |
| ›› Your stack | ||
| Approach | Works with your tools | Works with your tools |
| EDR integrations | Microsoft DefenderCrowdStrikeCarbon BlackOther EDR options supported through customer-specific integration | EDR toolsMicrosoft technologies |
| SIEM integrations | GRID ActiveCustomer security logs and event sources | ExabeamSIEM tools |
| Coverage | EPEndpoint: CoveredCloudCloud: LimitedIDIdentity: LimitedSaaSSaaS: LimitedNetNetwork: CoveredOTOT/IoT: Not covered | EPEndpoint: CoveredCloudCloud: CoveredIDIdentity: LimitedSaaSSaaS: CoveredNetNetwork: CoveredOTOT/IoT: Optional add-on |
| ›› Response | ||
| Response type | Guided Response | Active Remediation |
| Approval policy | Approval Required | Configurable |
| Response actions | Alert and notify only | Custom playbooks |
| IR included | Separate | ✓ Included |
| ›› Cost | ||
| Price range | Custom pricing. No public per-user or per-endpoint price found. | Not published |
| Minimum seats | None | None |
| Breach warranty | – | – |
| ›› More details | ||
| Requires own agent | No | No |
| Endpoints | ✓ Included | ✓ Included |
| Cloud workloads | ~ Limited | ✓ Included |
| Identity | ~ Limited | ~ Limited |
| SaaS apps | ~ Limited | ✓ Included |
| Network | ✓ Included | ✓ Included |
| OT/ICS | Not offered | + Optional |
| Threat hunting | Extra cost | ✓ Included |
| Response SLA | Not disclosed | Not disclosed |
| 24/7 coverage | ✓ | ✓ |
| Pricing model | Predictable employee-count-based pricing with unlimited data ingestion, according to current vendor homepage copy. | Custom quote. Sapphire does not publish MDR package pricing. |
| Hidden cost warnings | DefenseStorm is built exclusively for U.S. banks and credit unions, so it is a poor fit outside that vertical.. Response is collaborative/guided: the customer makes final decisions on actions in the environment.. No public contractual SLA table or service-credit terms were found despite published performance metrics.. Pricing varies by institution size, coverage tier and product mix, but no public price bands or minimums are disclosed. | Public pages do not publish response SLAs or exact response-authority rules.. MDR, MXDR and OT SOC scope can differ materially, so buyers should define monitored surfaces in the order form.. The page publishes vendor-reported comparative metrics without independent methodology.. IR hours are included as standard, but buyers should confirm number of hours, coverage triggers and overage rates. |
| Data portability | Partial | Partial |
| Contract terms | Custom | Custom |
| Channels | EmailPortalPhone | PortalEmailPhone |
| Data access | Dashboards | Dashboards |
| Dedicated analyst | – | – |
| SOC regions | Europe | |
| Onboarding | G2 lists average time to implement as 1 month. Vendor site does not publish a standard MDR onboarding SLA. | Sapphire references onboarding and implementation that can be shorter than expected, but no standard public MDR onboarding timeline was found. |
| Industry focus | Financial ServicesBankingCredit Unions | Public SectorDefenceFinancial ServicesProfessional ServicesIndustrialsManufacturingOperational TechnologyHealthcare |
| MTTD | <15 minutes mean time to detect across the customer base (vendor-reported) | Not published |
| MTTR | <24 hours mean time to respond (vendor-reported) | Not published |
| Community view | G2 shows 4.8/5 across 29 reviews, with reviewers concentrated in banking and financial services and G2 category filters including MDR and EDR. Review themes are positive around customer support, team quality, onboarding and ease of use. Negative themes include querying/log complexity, asset discovery and navigation/reporting friction. Public Reddit signal was not meaningful in this pass. | Sapphire has limited MDR-specific community review volume. The public buyer case is strongest for UK ownership, UK-based SOC delivery, CREST SOC accreditation and IT/OT services depth. Buyers should validate response authority, price, metrics and the exact split between MDR, MXDR, OT SOC and incident-response work. |
| Compliance | FFIECGLBANCUANIST CSFCRI Profile | ISO 27001NISTHIPAADORACyber Essentials PlusCRESTGDPRPCI DSS |
| Certifications | – | CREST SOCCREST Penetration TestingCyber Essentials PlusISO 27001 |
| Founded | 2014 | 1996 |
| Data retention | Not published as a standard MDR retention period. DefenseStorm publishes GRID Active self-service restore/data retention content, but public retention terms were not found. | Not published as a standard MDR retention period. |
| API available | – | – |
| Website | Visit → | Visit → |
›› FAQ
What is the main difference between DefenseStorm and Sapphire?
DefenseStorm is a Platform vendor that is technology-agnostic (works with your existing tools). Sapphire is a Services firm that is technology-agnostic (works with your existing tools). DefenseStorm covers 2 attack surfaces in base pricing vs. 4 for Sapphire.
How do DefenseStorm and Sapphire differ in response capabilities?
DefenseStorm supports 0 autonomous actions (none) and requires approval before acting. Sapphire supports 1 autonomous actions (custom playbooks) and approval is configurable. Incident response is not included with DefenseStorm and included with Sapphire.
How does DefenseStorm pricing compare to Sapphire?
DefenseStorm pricing: Custom pricing. No public per-user or per-endpoint price found.. Sapphire pricing: Not published. Watch for with DefenseStorm: DefenseStorm is built exclusively for U.S. banks and credit unions, so it is a poor fit outside that vertical.; Response is collaborative/guided: the customer makes final decisions on actions in the environment.. Watch for with Sapphire: Public pages do not publish response SLAs or exact response-authority rules.; MDR, MXDR and OT SOC scope can differ materially, so buyers should define monitored surfaces in the order form..
Should I choose DefenseStorm or Sapphire?
Choose DefenseStorm if: u.S. community banks, regional banks and credit unions that need MDR plus examiner-ready evidence. Choose Sapphire if: uK organisations that want MDR from a UK-owned provider with a UK-based CREST-accredited SOC. DefenseStorm is not ideal for organizations outside U.S. banks and credit unions. Sapphire is not ideal for buyers that need public MDR pricing or contractual response SLAs before sales engagement.
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.