Kroll vs Northwave
Kroll and Northwave are both Services firms that work with your existing tools. Kroll targets SMB, Mid-market, and Enterprise organizations, while Northwave serves Mid-market and Enterprise. Kroll includes 5 attack surfaces in base pricing (Endpoint, Cloud, SaaS, Identity, Network), compared to 2 for Northwave (Endpoint, Network).
Buyer brief
Kroll and Northwave are both Services firms that work with your existing tools. Kroll targets SMB, Mid-market, and Enterprise organizations, while Northwave serves Mid-market and Enterprise. Kroll includes 5 attack surfaces in base pricing (Endpoint, Cloud, SaaS, Identity, Network), compared to 2 for Northwave (Endpoint, Network).
Kroll offers broader coverage (5 surfaces vs. 2). Northwave may suit teams that need depth over breadth.
At a glance
| FIELD |  |  |
|---|---|---|
| Best fit | Organizations wanting IR expertise built into MDR with 3,000+ annual cases feeding detection | Benelux, DACH and Nordic buyers that want European MDR with a Utrecht SOC |
| Price | Unverified MDR field estimate: $30K-$200K+/yr | Custom quote |
| Response authority | 6/6 actions · Configurable | 1/6 actions · Configurable |
| Stack | Works with existing stack | Works with existing stack |
| Data access | Dashboards | Dashboards |
| Warranty | $1,000,000 | None listed |
- Best fit
- Organizations wanting IR expertise built into MDR with 3,000+ annual cases feeding detection
- Price
- Unverified MDR field estimate: $30K-$200K+/yr
- Response authority
- 6/6 actions · Configurable
- Stack
- Works with existing stack
- Data access
- Dashboards
- Warranty
- $1,000,000
- 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 | KrollTECH-AGNOSTIC | NorthwaveTECH-AGNOSTIC |
|---|---|---|
| ›› Fit | ||
| Target size | SMB, Mid-market, Enterprise | Mid-market, Enterprise |
| Sentiment | Positive | Mixed |
| ›› Your stack | ||
| Approach | Works with your tools | Works with your tools |
| EDR integrations | CrowdStrike FalconMicrosoft DefenderSentinelOne | Customer endpoint telemetry |
| SIEM integrations | Microsoft Sentinel | Customer log sources |
| Coverage | EPEndpoint: CoveredCloudCloud: CoveredIDIdentity: CoveredSaaSSaaS: CoveredNetNetwork: CoveredOTOT/IoT: Optional add-on | 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 publicly disclosed. Unverified field estimates suggest $30K-$200K+/year depending on scope. | Not published |
| Minimum seats | None | None |
| Breach warranty | $1,000,000 | – |
| ›› More details | ||
| Requires own agent | No | No |
| Endpoints | ✓ Included | ✓ Included |
| Cloud workloads | ✓ Included | ~ Limited |
| Identity | ✓ Included | ~ Limited |
| SaaS apps | ✓ Included | Not offered |
| Network | ✓ Included | ✓ Included |
| OT/ICS | + Optional | + Optional |
| Threat hunting | ✓ Included | ✓ Included |
| Response SLA | Not disclosed | Not disclosed |
| 24/7 coverage | ✓ | ✓ |
| Pricing model | Custom quote-based pricing, not publicly disclosed | Custom quote. Northwave does not publish MDR package pricing. |
| Hidden cost warnings | CrowdStrike Falcon Complete migration (Dec 2025) increases platform dependency, customers wanting vendor-agnostic EDR lose that flexibility. Named TAM support (vs. Shared TAM) likely incurs additional cost, cost delta not disclosed. No published minimum seat requirements or pricing, likely enterprise-focused | 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, Multi-year | Custom |
| Channels | EmailPortalPhone | PortalEmailPhone |
| Data access | Dashboards | Dashboards |
| Dedicated analyst | ✓ | – |
| SOC regions | North AmericaEuropeAsia-Pacific | Europe |
| Onboarding | Varies by environment complexity | 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 | Financial ServicesHealthcareGovernmentRetailTechnologyEducation | Financial ServicesHealthcareManufacturingLogisticsTechnologyPublic SectorCritical Infrastructure |
| MTTD | Not published | Not published |
| MTTR | Not published | Not published |
| Community view | Trusted for deep IR pedigree and Complete Response methodology. Gartner Peer Insights 4.6/5 (26 reviews). KuppingerCole MDR Leader 2023. Lower market visibility than pure-play MDR brands (~0.4% PeerSpot mindshare). December 2025 CrowdStrike migration generates mixed reactions around vendor lock-in. | 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 27001PCI DSS | NIS2ISO 27001GDPRTISAX |
| Certifications | SOC 2 Type IIISO 27001CREST | – |
| Founded | 1972 | 2006 |
| Data retention | Not publicly disclosed. | Not published as a standard MDR retention period. |
| API available | ✓ | – |
| Website | Visit → | Visit → |
›› FAQ
What is the main difference between Kroll and Northwave?
Kroll is a Services firm that is technology-agnostic (works with your existing tools). Northwave is a Services firm that is technology-agnostic (works with your existing tools). Kroll covers 5 attack surfaces in base pricing vs. 2 for Northwave.
How do Kroll and Northwave differ in response capabilities?
Kroll 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 Kroll and not included with Northwave.
How does Kroll pricing compare to Northwave?
Kroll pricing: Not publicly disclosed. Unverified field estimates suggest $30K-$200K+/year depending on scope.. Northwave pricing: Not published. Watch for with Kroll: CrowdStrike Falcon Complete migration (Dec 2025) increases platform dependency, customers wanting vendor-agnostic EDR lose that flexibility; Named TAM support (vs. Shared TAM) likely incurs additional cost, cost delta not disclosed. 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 Kroll or Northwave?
Choose Kroll if: organizations wanting IR expertise built into MDR with 3,000+ annual cases feeding detection. Choose Northwave if: benelux, DACH and Nordic buyers that want European MDR with a Utrecht SOC. Kroll is not ideal for organizations that need vendor-agnostic EDR choice (CrowdStrike migration reduces flexibility). 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.