Mandiant vs Northwave
Mandiant and Northwave are both Services firms that work with your existing tools. Mandiant targets Mid-market and Enterprise organizations, while Northwave serves Mid-market and Enterprise. Mandiant includes 5 attack surfaces in base pricing (Endpoint, Cloud, SaaS, Identity, Network), compared to 2 for Northwave (Endpoint, Network).
Buyer brief
Mandiant and Northwave are both Services firms that work with your existing tools. Mandiant targets Mid-market and Enterprise organizations, while Northwave serves Mid-market and Enterprise. Mandiant includes 5 attack surfaces in base pricing (Endpoint, Cloud, SaaS, Identity, Network), compared to 2 for Northwave (Endpoint, Network).
Mandiant offers broader coverage (5 surfaces vs. 2). Northwave may suit teams that need depth over breadth.
At a glance
| FIELD |  |  |
|---|---|---|
| Best fit | Enterprise organizations wanting threat intelligence integrated directly into MDR from 500+ frontline analysts | Benelux, DACH and Nordic buyers that want European MDR with a Utrecht SOC |
| Price | Mandiant software benchmark: ~$83K/yr; not Managed Defense | Custom quote |
| Response authority | 3/6 actions · Configurable | 1/6 actions · Configurable |
| Stack | Works with existing stack | Works with existing stack |
| Data access | Dashboards | Dashboards |
| Warranty | None listed | None listed |
- Best fit
- Enterprise organizations wanting threat intelligence integrated directly into MDR from 500+ frontline analysts
- Price
- Mandiant software benchmark: ~$83K/yr; not Managed Defense
- Response authority
- 3/6 actions · Configurable
- Stack
- Works with existing stack
- 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 | MandiantTECH-AGNOSTIC | NorthwaveTECH-AGNOSTIC |
|---|---|---|
| ›› Fit | ||
| Target size | Mid-market, Enterprise | Mid-market, Enterprise |
| Sentiment | Positive | Mixed |
| ›› Your stack | ||
| Approach | Works with your tools | Works with your tools |
| EDR integrations | CrowdStrike FalconMicrosoft Defender for EndpointSentinelOne Singularity | Customer endpoint telemetry |
| SIEM integrations | Google Security Operations (native integration) | 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 | IsolateContainCustom playbooks | Custom playbooks |
| IR included | Separate | Separate |
| ›› Cost | ||
| Price range | 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. | Not published |
| Minimum seats | None | None |
| Breach warranty | – | – |
| ›› 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 enterprise subscription pricing. Factors: users, data volume, features, contract terms. | Custom quote. Northwave does not publish MDR package pricing. |
| Hidden cost warnings | ~$83K+/year estimated, premium enterprise pricing. IR retainer is separate and must be purchased independently for full incident response. Managed Defense for Google SecOps currently GA in US only, international customers face limitations | 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 | Custom enterprise agreements | Custom |
| Channels | PortalPhone | PortalEmailPhone |
| Data access | Dashboards | Dashboards |
| Dedicated analyst | ✓ | – |
| SOC regions | North AmericaEuropeAsia-Pacific | Europe |
| Onboarding | 4-8 weeks typical for enterprise deployments | 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 ServicesHealthcareGovernment (Federal)DefenseCritical Infrastructure | Financial ServicesHealthcareManufacturingLogisticsTechnologyPublic SectorCritical Infrastructure |
| MTTD | Not formally published. Claims alerts triaged by expert within minutes. | Not published |
| MTTR | Not formally published. Claims response in minutes, not hours. Participated in 2020 MITRE ATT&CK evaluation (APT29) with one of the highest enriched alert counts in the MSSP detection category. | Not published |
| Community view | Mandiant brand is synonymous with threat intelligence and incident response. TrustRadius 6.9/10 (11 reviews). PeerSpot 8.4/10 (Mandiant Advantage, not MDR-specific). Limited public reviews for Managed Defense specifically. Primary criticism: premium pricing, dashboard complexity, and IR being a separate retainer despite Mandiant's IR reputation. | 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 27001ISO 27017ISO 27018FedRAMP HighPCI DSSGDPR | NIS2ISO 27001GDPRTISAX |
| Certifications | SOC 2 Type II (via Google Cloud)ISO 27001 (via Google Cloud)FedRAMP High P-ATO (Google Cloud infrastructure, 150+ services). Mandiant Advantage Automated Defense is FedRAMP Ready at High Impact Level (2022).ISO 27017 (via Google Cloud)ISO 27018 (via Google Cloud) | – |
| Founded | 2004 | 2006 |
| Data retention | Per-contract basis. Google Cloud data residency options available. | Not published as a standard MDR retention period. |
| API available | ✓ | – |
| Website | Visit → | Visit → |
›› FAQ
What is the main difference between Mandiant and Northwave?
Mandiant 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). Mandiant covers 5 attack surfaces in base pricing vs. 2 for Northwave.
How do Mandiant and Northwave differ in response capabilities?
Mandiant supports 3 autonomous actions (custom playbooks, endpoint isolation, network containment) and approval is configurable. Northwave supports 1 autonomous actions (custom playbooks) and approval is configurable.
How does Mandiant pricing compare to Northwave?
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.. Northwave pricing: Not published. Watch for with Mandiant: ~$83K+/year estimated, premium enterprise pricing; IR retainer is separate and must be purchased independently for full incident response. 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 Mandiant or Northwave?
Choose Mandiant if: enterprise organizations wanting threat intelligence integrated directly into MDR from 500+ frontline analysts. Choose Northwave if: benelux, DACH and Nordic buyers that want European MDR with a Utrecht SOC. Mandiant is not ideal for sMBs or budget-constrained organizations (~$83K+/year estimated pricing). 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.