Northwave vs Obrela
Northwave and Obrela are both Services firms that work with your existing tools. Northwave targets Mid-market and Enterprise organizations, while Obrela serves Mid-market and Enterprise. Northwave includes 2 attack surfaces in base pricing (Endpoint, Network), compared to 4 for Obrela (Endpoint, SaaS, Identity, Network).
Buyer brief
Northwave and Obrela are both Services firms that work with your existing tools. Northwave targets Mid-market and Enterprise organizations, while Obrela serves Mid-market and Enterprise. Northwave includes 2 attack surfaces in base pricing (Endpoint, Network), compared to 4 for Obrela (Endpoint, SaaS, Identity, Network).
Obrela offers broader coverage (4 surfaces vs. 2). Northwave may suit teams that need depth over breadth.
At a glance
| FIELD |  |  |
|---|---|---|
| Best fit | Benelux, DACH and Nordic buyers that want European MDR with a Utrecht SOC | European or MENA organizations wanting local SOC presence and data residency |
| Price | Custom quote | Custom quote |
| Response authority | 1/6 actions · Configurable | 6/6 actions · Configurable |
| Stack | Works with existing stack | Works with existing stack |
| Data access | Dashboards | Dashboards |
| Warranty | None listed | 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
- Best fit
- European or MENA organizations wanting local SOC presence and data residency
- Price
- Custom quote
- Response authority
- 6/6 actions · Configurable
- Stack
- Works with existing stack
- Data access
- Dashboards
- Warranty
- None listed
›› Detailed comparison
| FIELD | NorthwaveTECH-AGNOSTIC | ObrelaTECH-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 | Customer endpoint telemetry | Microsoft Defender |
| SIEM integrations | Customer log sources | Microsoft Sentinel |
| Coverage | EPEndpoint: CoveredCloudCloud: LimitedIDIdentity: LimitedSaaSSaaS: Not coveredNetNetwork: CoveredOTOT/IoT: Optional add-on | EPEndpoint: CoveredCloudCloud: LimitedIDIdentity: CoveredSaaSSaaS: CoveredNetNetwork: CoveredOTOT/IoT: Optional add-on |
| ›› Response | ||
| Response type | Active Remediation | Active Remediation |
| Approval policy | Configurable | Configurable |
| Response actions | Custom playbooks | IsolateKill processContainDisable accountsQuarantineCustom playbooks |
| IR included | Separate | ✓ Included |
| ›› Cost | ||
| Price range | Not published | Not published. Custom quotes only. |
| Minimum seats | None | None |
| Breach warranty | – | – |
| ›› More details | ||
| Requires own agent | No | No |
| Endpoints | ✓ Included | ✓ Included |
| Cloud workloads | ~ Limited | ~ Limited |
| Identity | ~ Limited | ✓ Included |
| SaaS apps | Not offered | ✓ Included |
| Network | ✓ Included | ✓ Included |
| OT/ICS | + Optional | + Optional |
| Threat hunting | ✓ Included | Extra cost |
| Response SLA | Not disclosed | ≤15 minutes |
| 24/7 coverage | ✓ | ✓ |
| Pricing model | Custom quote. Northwave does not publish MDR package pricing. | Custom pricing. Four tiers: MDR Core Lite, Core Plus, CoreX Max, and CoreX Elite, with increasing detection content and hunting capabilities. Specialized modules (OT, Vessels, Brand) priced separately. |
| Hidden cost warnings | 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. | Threat hunting is an add-on at every tier, not included in base MDR. Four-tier model (Core Lite through CoreX Elite) with feature boundaries not publicly documented. OT, Vessels, and Brand modules each carry separate pricing on top of base MDR. Core and CoreX tiers are built around Microsoft Defender XDR and Sentinel, which may require Microsoft licensing you do not already own. Cloud workload monitoring currently supports only Microsoft Azure. AWS and GCP support is listed as 'future' on their website |
| Data portability | Partial | Limited |
| Contract terms | Custom | Not published |
| Channels | PortalEmailPhone | EmailPortalPhone |
| Data access | Dashboards | Dashboards |
| Dedicated analyst | – | ✓ |
| SOC regions | Europe | EuropeMEA |
| Onboarding | 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. | Not published |
| Industry focus | Financial ServicesHealthcareManufacturingLogisticsTechnologyPublic SectorCritical Infrastructure | Financial ServicesHealthcareMaritimeEnergyManufacturingTelecommunications |
| MTTD | Not published | Not published |
| MTTR | Not published | Under 15 minutes (vendor-published). Obrela's website claims 11.2-minute average for critical incidents, but this is self-reported, not independently validated. |
| Community view | 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. | Named in the Gartner Market Guide for MDR four times (2021, 2023, 2024, 2025) and included in Forrester Wave MDR Services Europe Q3 2025. Virtually no customer reviews on G2, PeerSpot, or Reddit. Glassdoor 3.7/5 (52 reviews, 63% recommend). Strong analyst recognition but almost no independent customer validation. |
| Compliance | NIS2ISO 27001GDPRTISAX | ISO 27001:2013ISO 9001:2015ISO 22301:2019CRESTNCSC CIR Level 2Cyber EssentialsDESC (Dubai) |
| Certifications | – | ISO 27001:2013ISO 9001:2015ISO 22301:2019CREST CertifiedNCSC CIR Level 2 Assured Service ProviderCyber EssentialsDESC Accreditation (Dubai)Microsoft MISA MemberTeleTrusT IT Security Made in EU |
| Founded | 2006 | 2010 |
| Data retention | Not published as a standard MDR retention period. | Not published |
| API available | – | ✓ |
| Website | Visit → | Visit → |
›› FAQ
What is the main difference between Northwave and Obrela?
Northwave is a Services firm that is technology-agnostic (works with your existing tools). Obrela is a Services firm that is technology-agnostic (works with your existing tools). SLA commitments differ: Northwave offers Not disclosed, Obrela offers ≤15 minutes. Northwave covers 2 attack surfaces in base pricing vs. 4 for Obrela.
How do Northwave and Obrela differ in response capabilities?
Northwave supports 1 autonomous actions (custom playbooks) and approval is configurable. Obrela supports 6 autonomous actions (account disable, custom playbooks, endpoint isolation, file quarantine, network containment, process termination) and approval is configurable. Incident response is not included with Northwave and included with Obrela.
How does Northwave pricing compare to Obrela?
Northwave pricing: Not published. Obrela pricing: Not published. Custom quotes only.. 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.. Watch for with Obrela: Threat hunting is an add-on at every tier, not included in base MDR; Four-tier model (Core Lite through CoreX Elite) with feature boundaries not publicly documented.
Should I choose Northwave or Obrela?
Choose Northwave if: benelux, DACH and Nordic buyers that want European MDR with a Utrecht SOC. Choose Obrela if: european or MENA organizations wanting local SOC presence and data residency. Northwave is not ideal for buyers that need public MDR pricing or response SLAs before engaging sales. Obrela is not ideal for north American or APAC organizations needing local SOC presence.
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.