NCC Group vs Northwave
NCC Group and Northwave are both Services firms that work with your existing tools. NCC Group targets Mid-market and Enterprise organizations, while Northwave serves Mid-market and Enterprise. NCC Group includes 4 attack surfaces in base pricing (Endpoint, Cloud, SaaS, Network), compared to 2 for Northwave (Endpoint, Network).
Buyer brief
NCC Group and Northwave are both Services firms that work with your existing tools. NCC Group targets Mid-market and Enterprise organizations, while Northwave serves Mid-market and Enterprise. NCC Group includes 4 attack surfaces in base pricing (Endpoint, Cloud, SaaS, Network), compared to 2 for Northwave (Endpoint, Network).
NCC Group offers broader coverage (4 surfaces vs. 2). Northwave may suit teams that need depth over breadth.
At a glance
| FIELD |  |  |
|---|---|---|
| Best fit | European enterprise and government organizations running Microsoft Sentinel or Splunk as their SIEM | Benelux, DACH and Nordic buyers that want European MDR with a Utrecht SOC |
| Price | Custom quote | Custom quote |
| Response authority | 5/6 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
- European enterprise and government organizations running Microsoft Sentinel or Splunk as their SIEM
- Price
- Custom quote
- Response authority
- 5/6 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 | NCC GroupTECH-AGNOSTIC | NorthwaveTECH-AGNOSTIC |
|---|---|---|
| ›› Fit | ||
| Target size | Mid-market, Enterprise | Mid-market, Enterprise |
| Sentiment | Mixed | Mixed |
| ›› Your stack | ||
| Approach | Works with your tools | Works with your tools |
| EDR integrations | Microsoft DefenderCrowdStrike | Customer endpoint telemetry |
| SIEM integrations | Microsoft SentinelSplunk | Customer log sources |
| Coverage | EPEndpoint: CoveredCloudCloud: CoveredIDIdentity: LimitedSaaSSaaS: CoveredNetNetwork: CoveredOTOT/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 processContainQuarantineCustom playbooks | Custom playbooks |
| IR included | ✓ Included | Separate |
| ›› Cost | ||
| Price range | Not published. Custom quotes only. | Not published |
| Minimum seats | None | None |
| Breach warranty | – | – |
| ›› More details | ||
| Requires own agent | No | No |
| Endpoints | ✓ Included | ✓ Included |
| Cloud workloads | ✓ Included | ~ Limited |
| Identity | ~ Limited | ~ Limited |
| SaaS apps | ✓ Included | Not offered |
| Network | ✓ Included | ✓ Included |
| OT/ICS | Not offered | + Optional |
| Threat hunting | ✓ Included | ✓ Included |
| Response SLA | Not disclosed | Not disclosed |
| 24/7 coverage | ✓ | ✓ |
| Pricing model | Not published. Custom quotes. Evidence of large-scale enterprise pricing: EUR 25M+ contract for Netherlands university consortium (23+ universities, 5-year term). | Custom quote. Northwave does not publish MDR package pricing. |
| Hidden cost warnings | MXDR for Microsoft and MXDR for Splunk are separate offerings. Customers using both Sentinel and Splunk may face separate engagements.. Only Microsoft Defender and CrowdStrike EDR integrations are confirmed. Other EDR platforms may not be supported.. Post-breach advisory limited to 2 hours included. Full IR engagement is a separate NCC Group consulting purchase.. SIEM licensing (Microsoft Sentinel or Splunk) is the customer's cost, not included in MXDR pricing | 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 | Europe | Europe |
| Onboarding | Weeks, not months (vendor claim). Uses infrastructure-as-code deployment. Exact timeline not published. | 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 | GovernmentHigher EducationFinancial ServicesManufacturingEnergyTelecommunications | Financial ServicesHealthcareManufacturingLogisticsTechnologyPublic SectorCritical Infrastructure |
| MTTD | Not published | Not published |
| MTTR | 25 minutes average time to close (vendor-published). 95% of threats resolved within 2 hours. | Not published |
| Community view | Strong analyst recognition: Forrester Wave MDR Europe Q3 2025 Strong Performer, IDC MarketScape European MDR 2024 Leader. Virtually no practitioner reviews on G2 (not MDR-specific), PeerSpot (0 reviews, ranked 43rd in MDR), or Reddit. Analyst praise for threat hunting and consultative approach, but buyers cannot reference peer experiences. | 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 27001:2022ISO 9001:2015PCI QSAPCI ASV | NIS2ISO 27001GDPRTISAX |
| Certifications | ISO 27001:2022ISO 9001:2015PCI Qualified Security Assessor (QSA)PCI Approved Scan Vendor (ASV)FedRAMP 3PAO (Third-Party Assessment Organization) | – |
| Founded | 1999 | 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 NCC Group and Northwave?
NCC Group 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). NCC Group covers 4 attack surfaces in base pricing vs. 2 for Northwave.
How do NCC Group and Northwave differ in response capabilities?
NCC Group supports 5 autonomous actions (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 NCC Group and not included with Northwave.
How does NCC Group pricing compare to Northwave?
NCC Group pricing: Not published. Custom quotes only.. Northwave pricing: Not published. Watch for with NCC Group: MXDR for Microsoft and MXDR for Splunk are separate offerings. Customers using both Sentinel and Splunk may face separate engagements.; Only Microsoft Defender and CrowdStrike EDR integrations are confirmed. Other EDR platforms may not be supported.. 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 NCC Group or Northwave?
Choose NCC Group if: european enterprise and government organizations running Microsoft Sentinel or Splunk as their SIEM. Choose Northwave if: benelux, DACH and Nordic buyers that want European MDR with a Utrecht SOC. NCC Group is not ideal for organizations running a SIEM other than Microsoft Sentinel or Splunk (only two supported). 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.