Field Effect vs Northwave
Field Effect is a Platform vendor that requires its own security platform. Northwave is a Services firm that works with your existing tools. Field Effect targets SMB and Mid-market organizations; Northwave serves Mid-market and Enterprise. Field Effect includes 4 attack surfaces in base pricing (Endpoint, Cloud, SaaS, Identity), compared to 2 for Northwave (Endpoint, Network).
Buyer brief
Field Effect is a Platform vendor that requires its own security platform. Northwave is a Services firm that works with your existing tools. Field Effect targets SMB and Mid-market organizations; Northwave serves Mid-market and Enterprise. Field Effect includes 4 attack surfaces in base pricing (Endpoint, Cloud, SaaS, Identity), compared to 2 for Northwave (Endpoint, Network).
Field Effect 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 and MSPs wanting affordable MDR with published per-user pricing | Benelux, DACH and Nordic buyers that want European MDR with a Utrecht SOC |
| Price | MDR Core: $99/user/mo, <=25 users | Custom quote |
| Response authority | 5/6 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 and MSPs wanting affordable MDR with published per-user pricing
- Price
- MDR Core: $99/user/mo, <=25 users
- Response authority
- 5/6 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 | Field EffectPLATFORM | NorthwaveTECH-AGNOSTIC |
|---|---|---|
| ›› Fit | ||
| Target size | SMB, Mid-market | Mid-market, Enterprise |
| Sentiment | Positive | Mixed |
| ›› Your stack | ||
| Approach | Requires their platform | Works with your tools |
| EDR integrations | Field Effect Agent (proprietary, required)Carbon Black (enrichment)Palo Alto Cortex XDR (enrichment)Cisco Meraki (enrichment)Zscaler (enrichment)Thinkst Canary (enrichment) | Customer endpoint telemetry |
| SIEM integrations | Syslog ingestion supported | Customer log sources |
| Coverage | EPEndpoint: CoveredCloudCloud: CoveredIDIdentity: CoveredSaaSSaaS: CoveredNetNetwork: Optional add-onOTOT/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 accountsQuarantine | Custom playbooks |
| IR included | Separate | Separate |
| ›› Cost | ||
| Price range | MDR Core: $99/user/month (25 users or fewer). MDR Complete: custom pricing. | Not published |
| Minimum seats | None | None |
| Breach warranty | – | – |
| ›› More details | ||
| Requires own agent | Yes | No |
| Endpoints | ✓ Included | ✓ Included |
| Cloud workloads | ✓ Included | ~ Limited |
| Identity | ✓ Included | ~ Limited |
| SaaS apps | ✓ Included | Not offered |
| Network | + Optional | ✓ Included |
| OT/ICS | Not offered | + Optional |
| Threat hunting | ✓ Included | ✓ Included |
| Response SLA | Not disclosed | Not disclosed |
| 24/7 coverage | ✓ | ✓ |
| Pricing model | Per-user, per-month | Custom quote. Northwave does not publish MDR package pricing. |
| Hidden cost warnings | MDR Core excludes network monitoring, DNS firewall, and dark web monitoring. $99/user adds up quickly (50 users = $4,950/month). Requires proprietary Field Effect agent, cannot use existing EDR | 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 | Annual | Custom |
| Channels | EmailPortalPhone | PortalEmailPhone |
| Data access | Dashboards | Dashboards |
| Dedicated analyst | ✓ | – |
| SOC regions | North America | Europe |
| Onboarding | Hours to days for most customers | 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 | HealthcareFinancial ServicesGovernmentDefense ContractorsMSP/MSSP Channel | Financial ServicesHealthcareManufacturingLogisticsTechnologyPublic SectorCritical Infrastructure |
| MTTD | 11 minutes overall MTTD, first detection in 2 minutes (MITRE Engenuity ATT&CK Managed Services Round 2, 2024) | Not published |
| MTTR | Not published | Not published |
| Community view | PeerSpot 9.2/10 (Jan 2026). SoftwareReviews 9.5/10 composite (423 verified reviews, +98 Net Emotional Footprint, Data Quadrant Leader four consecutive years 2022-2025). G2 Highest ROI in MDR, Winter 2026. Praised for easy setup, noise reduction, and MSP value. Main criticisms: limited third-party integrations and no raw log visibility. | 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 | SOC 2 Type IIISO 27001PIPEDA | NIS2ISO 27001GDPRTISAX |
| Certifications | SOC 2 Type IIISO 27001Microsoft Virus Initiative (MVI) | – |
| Founded | 2016 | 2006 |
| Data retention | 90 days included, extended options available as upgrade | Not published as a standard MDR retention period. |
| API available | ✓ | – |
| Website | Visit → | Visit → |
›› FAQ
What is the main difference between Field Effect and Northwave?
Field Effect 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). Field Effect covers 4 attack surfaces in base pricing vs. 2 for Northwave.
How do Field Effect and Northwave differ in response capabilities?
Field Effect supports 5 autonomous actions (account disable, endpoint isolation, file quarantine, network containment, process termination) and approval is configurable. Northwave supports 1 autonomous actions (custom playbooks) and approval is configurable.
How does Field Effect pricing compare to Northwave?
Field Effect pricing: MDR Core: $99/user/month (25 users or fewer). MDR Complete: custom pricing.. Northwave pricing: Not published. Watch for with Field Effect: MDR Core excludes network monitoring, DNS firewall, and dark web monitoring; $99/user adds up quickly (50 users = $4,950/month). 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 Field Effect or Northwave?
Choose Field Effect if: sMBs and MSPs wanting affordable MDR with published per-user pricing. Choose Northwave if: benelux, DACH and Nordic buyers that want European MDR with a Utrecht SOC. Field Effect is not ideal for organizations with existing CrowdStrike/SentinelOne/Defender deployments (requires proprietary agent). 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.