Northwave vs ThreatSpike
Northwave is a Services firm that works with your existing tools. ThreatSpike is a Platform vendor that requires its own security platform. Northwave targets Mid-market and Enterprise organizations; ThreatSpike serves SMB, Mid-market, and Enterprise. Northwave includes 2 attack surfaces in base pricing (Endpoint, Network), compared to 5 for ThreatSpike (Endpoint, Cloud, SaaS, Identity, Network).
Buyer brief
Northwave is a Services firm that works with your existing tools. ThreatSpike is a Platform vendor that requires its own security platform. Northwave targets Mid-market and Enterprise organizations; ThreatSpike serves SMB, Mid-market, and Enterprise. Northwave includes 2 attack surfaces in base pricing (Endpoint, Network), compared to 5 for ThreatSpike (Endpoint, Cloud, SaaS, Identity, Network).
ThreatSpike 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 | Benelux, DACH and Nordic buyers that want European MDR with a Utrecht SOC | Lean IT or security teams that want the provider to own both IT operations context and security response |
| Price | Custom quote | Managed IT + security bundle: $135/user/mo |
| Response authority | 1/6 actions · Configurable | 2/6 actions · No approval |
| Stack | Works with existing stack | Requires own platform |
| 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
- Lean IT or security teams that want the provider to own both IT operations context and security response
- Price
- Managed IT + security bundle: $135/user/mo
- Response authority
- 2/6 actions · No approval
- Stack
- Requires own platform
- Data access
- Dashboards
- Warranty
- None listed
›› Detailed comparison
| FIELD | NorthwaveTECH-AGNOSTIC | ThreatSpikePLATFORM |
|---|---|---|
| ›› Fit | ||
| Target size | Mid-market, Enterprise | SMB, Mid-market, Enterprise |
| Sentiment | Mixed | Positive |
| ›› Your stack | ||
| Approach | Works with your tools | Requires their platform |
| EDR integrations | Customer endpoint telemetry | ThreatSpike proprietary EDR |
| SIEM integrations | Customer log sources | Third-party feeds supported, specific SIEM integrations not published |
| Coverage | EPEndpoint: CoveredCloudCloud: LimitedIDIdentity: LimitedSaaSSaaS: Not coveredNetNetwork: CoveredOTOT/IoT: Optional add-on | EPEndpoint: CoveredCloudCloud: CoveredIDIdentity: CoveredSaaSSaaS: CoveredNetNetwork: CoveredOTOT/IoT: Not covered |
| ›› Response | ||
| Response type | Active Remediation | Active Remediation |
| Approval policy | Configurable | Fully Autonomous |
| Response actions | Custom playbooks | IsolateContain |
| IR included | Separate | ✓ Included |
| ›› Cost | ||
| Price range | Not published | Published fixed $135/user/month for broader managed IT + security subscription, not MDR-only. |
| Minimum seats | None | None |
| Breach warranty | – | – |
| ›› More details | ||
| Requires own agent | No | Yes |
| Endpoints | ✓ Included | ✓ Included |
| Cloud workloads | ~ Limited | ✓ Included |
| Identity | ~ Limited | ✓ Included |
| SaaS apps | Not offered | ✓ Included |
| Network | ✓ Included | ✓ Included |
| OT/ICS | + Optional | Not offered |
| Threat hunting | ✓ Included | ✓ Included |
| Response SLA | Not disclosed | Not disclosed |
| 24/7 coverage | ✓ | ✓ |
| Pricing model | Custom quote. Northwave does not publish MDR package pricing. | Published fixed per-user monthly subscription bundling fully managed IT, defensive security and offensive security. |
| 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. | ThreatSpike is not a narrow MDR-only SKU. Buyers that only want monitoring on top of an existing IT team may be buying a broader managed IT replacement model.. The platform is proprietary and built in-house. Validate exit process, data export and whether existing EDR/SIEM investments can remain primary.. $135/user/month can be attractive if it replaces IT, MDR and pen testing vendors, but expensive if treated as MDR-only.. No public contractual SLA or service-credit language was found despite the 2 to 5 minute response claim. |
| Data portability | Partial | Limited |
| Contract terms | Custom | Custom |
| Channels | PortalEmailPhone | EmailPortalPhone |
| Data access | Dashboards | Dashboards |
| Dedicated analyst | – | – |
| SOC regions | Europe | |
| 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 as a standard MDR onboarding timeline. |
| Industry focus | Financial ServicesHealthcareManufacturingLogisticsTechnologyPublic SectorCritical Infrastructure | HospitalityFinancial ServicesManufacturingProfessional ServicesRetail |
| MTTD | Not published | Not published |
| MTTR | Not published | 2 to 5 minute automated incident response/resolve time (vendor-reported) |
| 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. | G2 shows 4.9/5 across 32 reviews, with most reviews categorized under Managed Security Services and a mix of SMB, mid-market and enterprise reviewers. Review themes support the consolidation, support and pricing story, but independent analyst coverage appears thinner than larger MDR providers and public review volume is still modest. |
| Compliance | NIS2ISO 27001GDPRTISAX | ISO 27001Cyber Essentials PlusPCI DSS |
| Certifications | – | ISO 27001Cyber Essentials PlusCREST-certified penetration testing providerPCI DSS compliant |
| Founded | 2006 | 2011 |
| 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 ThreatSpike?
Northwave is a Services firm that is technology-agnostic (works with your existing tools). ThreatSpike is a Platform vendor that is platform-native (requires their own security stack). Northwave covers 2 attack surfaces in base pricing vs. 5 for ThreatSpike.
How do Northwave and ThreatSpike differ in response capabilities?
Northwave supports 1 autonomous actions (custom playbooks) and approval is configurable. ThreatSpike supports 2 autonomous actions (endpoint isolation, network containment) and acts without approval. Incident response is not included with Northwave and included with ThreatSpike.
How does Northwave pricing compare to ThreatSpike?
Northwave pricing: Not published. ThreatSpike pricing: Published fixed $135/user/month for broader managed IT + security subscription, not MDR-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 ThreatSpike: ThreatSpike is not a narrow MDR-only SKU. Buyers that only want monitoring on top of an existing IT team may be buying a broader managed IT replacement model.; The platform is proprietary and built in-house. Validate exit process, data export and whether existing EDR/SIEM investments can remain primary..
Should I choose Northwave or ThreatSpike?
Choose Northwave if: benelux, DACH and Nordic buyers that want European MDR with a Utrecht SOC. Choose ThreatSpike if: sMB and mid-market organizations that want to replace fragmented MSP, MDR and penetration-testing vendors with one fixed-price provider. Northwave is not ideal for buyers that need public MDR pricing or response SLAs before engaging sales. ThreatSpike is not ideal for organizations seeking a narrow MDR overlay on top of an existing mature SOC and tool stack.
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.