Choose Expel or Mandiant
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
Choose Mandiant if
- Enterprise organizations wanting threat intelligence integrated directly into MDR from 500+ frontline analysts
- Multi-vendor EDR environments (CrowdStrike, Microsoft Defender, SentinelOne all supported without agent swap)
- Google Cloud Platform customers wanting native SecOps integration
- Threat hunting included in base pricing (it's an add-on with Expel)
What’s actually different
Buyer brief
Updated 2026-03-09
Fit. Expel was founded by former Mandiant/FireEye executives, so the two companies have a shared history but sell very different things. Expel gives you a transparent operations platform (Workbench) with full audit trails, configurable auto-remediation and 160+ integrations. Mandiant gives you the threat intelligence operation behind M-Trends, with 500+ analysts across 30+ countries feeding frontline IR knowledge into detection.
Response. Mandiant's response capability is narrower than you might expect given the brand. MDR covers host isolation and network containment, but not process kills, file quarantine or account disables. Expel covers all six through API integrations and publishes a 14-minute MTTR on critical incidents, while Mandiant publishes no MDR-specific metrics at all.
Cost and scope. Both charge separately for incident response, which surprises buyers who assume Mandiant's IR reputation means it's bundled. Mandiant's retainer has a 2-hour response SLA with pre-negotiated rates, while Expel doesn't offer IR and recommends partners instead. Neither provides a breach warranty.
FAQ
What is the main difference between Expel and Mandiant?
Expel is a Pure-play MDR that is technology-agnostic (works with your existing tools). Mandiant is a Services firm that is technology-agnostic (works with your existing tools).
How do Expel and Mandiant differ in response capabilities?
Expel supports 6 autonomous actions (endpoint isolation, process termination, network containment, account disable, file quarantine, custom playbooks) and approval is configurable. Mandiant supports 3 autonomous actions (endpoint isolation, network containment, custom playbooks) and approval is configurable.
How does Expel pricing compare to Mandiant?
Expel pricing: Starting at $11,640/year. Custom quotes based on environment size and coverage areas.. Mandiant pricing: Third-party buyer data reports an average Mandiant software cost around $83,000/year. Treat this as a Mandiant buyer benchmark, not a clean Managed Defense MDR quote.. 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. Watch for with Mandiant: ~$83K+/year estimated, premium enterprise pricing; IR retainer is separate and must be purchased independently for full incident response.