ESET vs Northwave
ESET is a Platform vendor that requires its own security platform. Northwave is a Services firm that works with your existing tools. ESET targets SMB, Mid-market, and Enterprise organizations; Northwave serves Mid-market and Enterprise. ESET includes 3 attack surfaces in base pricing (Endpoint, Cloud, SaaS), compared to 2 for Northwave (Endpoint, Network).
Buyer brief
ESET is a Platform vendor that requires its own security platform. Northwave is a Services firm that works with your existing tools. ESET targets SMB, Mid-market, and Enterprise organizations; Northwave serves Mid-market and Enterprise. ESET includes 3 attack surfaces in base pricing (Endpoint, Cloud, SaaS), compared to 2 for Northwave (Endpoint, Network).
ESET is the choice if you want a single-vendor stack with deep integration. Northwave is better if you have existing tools and want flexibility.
At a glance
| FIELD |  |  |
|---|---|---|
| Best fit | SMBs with 25-500 devices that want managed detection without meeting 200+ endpoint minimums | Benelux, DACH and Nordic buyers that want European MDR with a Utrecht SOC |
| Price | Custom quote | Custom quote |
| Response authority | 6/6 actions · Configurable | 1/6 actions · Configurable |
| Stack | Requires own platform | Works with existing stack |
| Data access | Dashboards | Dashboards |
| Warranty | None listed | 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
- 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 | ESETPLATFORM | NorthwaveTECH-AGNOSTIC |
|---|---|---|
| ›› Fit | ||
| Target size | SMB, Mid-market, Enterprise | Mid-market, Enterprise |
| Sentiment | Positive | Mixed |
| ›› Your stack | ||
| Approach | Requires their platform | Works with your tools |
| EDR integrations | ESET | Customer endpoint telemetry |
| SIEM integrations | Microsoft SentinelElasticSplunk | Customer log sources |
| Coverage | EPEndpoint: CoveredCloudCloud: CoveredIDIdentity: LimitedSaaSSaaS: CoveredNetNetwork: 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 | IsolateKill processContainDisable accountsQuarantineCustom playbooks | Custom playbooks |
| IR included | ✓ Included | Separate |
| ›› Cost | ||
| Price range | Not published, custom-quoted based on environment and device count with volume discounts | Not published |
| Minimum seats | 25 | None |
| Breach warranty | – | – |
| ›› More details | ||
| Requires own agent | Yes | No |
| Endpoints | ✓ Included | ✓ Included |
| Cloud workloads | ✓ Included | ~ Limited |
| Identity | ~ Limited | ~ Limited |
| SaaS apps | ✓ Included | 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 | Per-device pricing, custom-quoted. Requires ESET PROTECT Enterprise or Elite as the base. MSP partners can get daily billing or monthly invoicing. | Custom quote. Northwave does not publish MDR package pricing. |
| Hidden cost warnings | 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 | 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 | Limited | Partial |
| Contract terms | Annual, Multi-year | Custom |
| Channels | EmailPortalPhone | PortalEmailPhone |
| Data access | Dashboards | Dashboards |
| Dedicated analyst | ✓ | – |
| SOC regions | North AmericaEuropeAsia-Pacific | Europe |
| Onboarding | Fast deployment via ESET PROTECT platform if you're already an ESET customer. Net-new deployments require platform setup first. | 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 | SMB (all industries)EducationHealthcareFinancial ServicesGovernmentRetail | Financial ServicesHealthcareManufacturingLogisticsTechnologyPublic SectorCritical Infrastructure |
| MTTD | 20 minutes (vendor-published) | Not published |
| MTTR | Approximately 5 minutes (vendor-published time to resolve) | Not published |
| Community view | 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. | 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 27001 | NIS2ISO 27001GDPRTISAX |
| Certifications | ISO 27001 | – |
| Founded | 1992 | 2006 |
| Data retention | Not published | Not published as a standard MDR retention period. |
| API available | ✓ | – |
| Website | Visit → | Visit → |
›› FAQ
What is the main difference between ESET and Northwave?
ESET is a Platform vendor that is platform-native (requires their own security stack). Northwave is a Services firm that is technology-agnostic (works with your existing tools). ESET covers 3 attack surfaces in base pricing vs. 2 for Northwave.
How do ESET and Northwave differ in response capabilities?
ESET supports 6 autonomous actions (account disable, custom playbooks, endpoint isolation, file quarantine, network containment, process termination) and approval is configurable. Northwave supports 1 autonomous actions (custom playbooks) and approval is configurable. Incident response is included with ESET and not included with Northwave.
How does ESET pricing compare to Northwave?
ESET pricing: Not published, custom-quoted based on environment and device count with volume discounts (25-seat minimum). Northwave pricing: 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. 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 ESET or Northwave?
Choose ESET if: sMBs with 25-500 devices that want managed detection without meeting 200+ endpoint minimums. Choose Northwave if: benelux, DACH and Nordic buyers that want European MDR with a Utrecht SOC. ESET is not ideal for organizations with non-ESET EDR that want to keep their existing platform and layer MDR on top. 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.