Choose eSentire or Expel
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)
- Threat hunting included in base pricing (it's an add-on with Expel)
Choose Expel if
- Mid-market and enterprise organizations with existing security tools wanting vendor-agnostic MDR
- Security teams that value transparency and want to see every SOC action in real time
- Multi-cloud environments needing broad integration coverage including Oracle Cloud
- You want direct Slack integration with your SOC
What’s actually different
Buyer brief
Updated 2026-04-09
Fit. eSentire bundles more into the base service. Threat hunting, incident response and a dedicated analyst are all included. Expel charges separately for threat hunting, doesn't include IR and gates Slack/Teams SOC communication behind the Premium tier. That cost gap narrows once you price Expel's add-ons against eSentire's starting range of $10-25/endpoint/month.
Response. Both are vendor-agnostic. eSentire supports 300+ integrations with BYOL for four EDR platforms. Expel connects to 160+ tools via API with no proprietary agent required. Expel's exit path is simpler since disconnecting APIs leaves your tools working independently, while eSentire's detection logic and threat intelligence are proprietary.
Cost and scope. eSentire publishes a contractual 15-minute Mean Time to Contain. Expel publishes 14-minute MTTR for critical incidents with auto-remediation enabled. Both numbers are vendor-published and not independently validated. Neither has participated in MITRE managed services evaluations. Expel's Workbench gives full visibility into every SOC action with REST API access. eSentire's Atlas portal provides investigation timelines but less self-service query depth. If your team wants to investigate alongside the MDR provider, Expel's transparency model is the stronger fit.
FAQ
What is the main difference between eSentire and Expel?
eSentire is a Pure-play MDR that is technology-agnostic (works with your existing tools). Expel is a Pure-play MDR that is technology-agnostic (works with your existing tools).
How do eSentire and Expel differ in response capabilities?
eSentire supports 6 autonomous actions (endpoint isolation, process termination, network containment, account disable, file quarantine, custom playbooks) and approval is configurable. Expel supports 6 autonomous actions (endpoint isolation, process termination, network containment, account disable, file quarantine, custom playbooks) and approval is configurable. Incident response is included with eSentire and not included with Expel.
How does eSentire pricing compare to Expel?
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.. Expel pricing: Starting at $11,640/year. Custom quotes based on environment size and coverage areas.. 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.. 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.