Northwave vs UnderDefense
Northwave is a Services firm that works with your existing tools. UnderDefense is a Pure-play MDR that works with your existing tools. Northwave targets Mid-market and Enterprise organizations; UnderDefense serves Mid-market and Enterprise. Northwave includes 2 attack surfaces in base pricing (Endpoint, Network), compared to 5 for UnderDefense (Endpoint, Cloud, SaaS, Identity, Network).
Buyer brief
Northwave is a Services firm that works with your existing tools. UnderDefense is a Pure-play MDR that works with your existing tools. Northwave targets Mid-market and Enterprise organizations; UnderDefense serves Mid-market and Enterprise. Northwave includes 2 attack surfaces in base pricing (Endpoint, Network), compared to 5 for UnderDefense (Endpoint, Cloud, SaaS, Identity, Network).
Northwave (Services firm) and UnderDefense (Pure-play MDR) serve different buyer profiles. Your decision depends on whether you prioritize Northwave's northwave mdr fits european buyers that want a soc service connected to incident response, red te... or UnderDefense's works on top of your existing stack and keeps data in your infrastructure.
At a glance
| FIELD |  |  |
|---|---|---|
| Best fit | Benelux, DACH and Nordic buyers that want European MDR with a Utrecht SOC | Mid-market teams with existing EDR/SIEM that want MDR layered on top without ripping and replacing |
| Price | Custom quote | From $11/device/mo; annual MDR contract |
| Response authority | 1/6 actions · Configurable | 6/6 actions · Configurable |
| Stack | Works with existing stack | Works with existing stack |
| Data access | Dashboards | Full query access |
| Warranty | None listed | $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
- Best fit
- Mid-market teams with existing EDR/SIEM that want MDR layered on top without ripping and replacing
- Price
- From $11/device/mo; annual MDR contract
- Response authority
- 6/6 actions · Configurable
- Stack
- Works with existing stack
- Data access
- Full query access
- Warranty
- $1,000,000
›› Detailed comparison
| FIELD | NorthwaveTECH-AGNOSTIC | UnderDefenseTECH-AGNOSTIC |
|---|---|---|
| ›› Fit | ||
| Target size | Mid-market, Enterprise | Mid-market, Enterprise |
| Sentiment | Mixed | Positive |
| ›› Your stack | ||
| Approach | Works with your tools | Works with your tools |
| EDR integrations | Customer endpoint telemetry | CrowdStrikeSentinelOneMicrosoft Defender |
| SIEM integrations | Customer log sources | SplunkMicrosoft SentinelElastic |
| Coverage | EPEndpoint: CoveredCloudCloud: LimitedIDIdentity: LimitedSaaSSaaS: Not coveredNetNetwork: CoveredOTOT/IoT: Optional add-on | EPEndpoint: CoveredCloudCloud: CoveredIDIdentity: 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 | Separate |
| ›› Cost | ||
| Price range | Not published | Starts at $11/device/month (vendor-published) |
| Minimum seats | None | None |
| Breach warranty | – | $1,000,000 |
| ›› More details | ||
| Requires own agent | No | No |
| Endpoints | ✓ Included | ✓ Included |
| Cloud workloads | ~ Limited | ✓ Included |
| Identity | ~ Limited | ✓ Included |
| SaaS apps | Not offered | ✓ Included |
| Network | ✓ Included | ✓ Included |
| OT/ICS | + Optional | + Optional |
| Threat hunting | ✓ Included | ✓ Included |
| Response SLA | Not disclosed | Not disclosed |
| 24/7 coverage | ✓ | ✓ |
| Pricing model | Custom quote. Northwave does not publish MDR package pricing. | Per-device pricing, vendor-agnostic (same rate for all asset types) |
| 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. | $11/device is a starting price for marketing. Actual cost varies by scope, and annual contract is required.. 3-year contract required for $1M breach warranty. Not available on 1-year deals.. IR retainer is separate from MDR. $0 upfront but billed per-incident, so budget for breach costs on top of subscription.. Custom integrations beyond pre-built connectors may require professional services fees. |
| Data portability | Partial | Full |
| Contract terms | Custom | Annual |
| Channels | PortalEmailPhone | SlackTeamsEmailPortalPhone |
| Data access | Dashboards | Full query access |
| Dedicated analyst | – | ✓ |
| SOC regions | Europe | North AmericaEurope |
| 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. | 30 days |
| Industry focus | Financial ServicesHealthcareManufacturingLogisticsTechnologyPublic SectorCritical Infrastructure | ManufacturingHealthcareFinancial Services |
| MTTD | Not published | Not published |
| MTTR | Not published | Not published |
| 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. | Gartner Peer Insights 4.9/5 (7 reviews). G2 shows 5/5 but across only 31 total reviews for all products. 66 reviews on Clutch with strong ratings. PeerSpot mindshare is 0.0% in the MDR category. No Reddit or independent practitioner forum discussion found. |
| Compliance | NIS2ISO 27001GDPRTISAX | SOC 2 Type IIISO 27001HIPAAPCI DSS |
| Certifications | – | SOC 2 Type IIISO 27001Splunk certificationsGIACOSCP |
| Founded | 2006 | 2017 |
| Data retention | Not published as a standard MDR retention period. | Determined by customer's existing SIEM. UnderDefense does not store raw logs, data lives in customer infrastructure. |
| API available | – | ✓ |
| Website | Visit → | Visit → |
›› FAQ
What is the main difference between Northwave and UnderDefense?
Northwave is a Services firm that is technology-agnostic (works with your existing tools). UnderDefense is a Pure-play MDR that is technology-agnostic (works with your existing tools). Northwave covers 2 attack surfaces in base pricing vs. 5 for UnderDefense.
How do Northwave and UnderDefense differ in response capabilities?
Northwave supports 1 autonomous actions (custom playbooks) and approval is configurable. UnderDefense supports 6 autonomous actions (account disable, custom playbooks, endpoint isolation, file quarantine, network containment, process termination) and approval is configurable.
How does Northwave pricing compare to UnderDefense?
Northwave pricing: Not published. UnderDefense pricing: Starts at $11/device/month (vendor-published). 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 UnderDefense: $11/device is a starting price for marketing. Actual cost varies by scope, and annual contract is required.; 3-year contract required for $1M breach warranty. Not available on 1-year deals..
Should I choose Northwave or UnderDefense?
Choose Northwave if: benelux, DACH and Nordic buyers that want European MDR with a Utrecht SOC. Choose UnderDefense if: mid-market teams with existing EDR/SIEM that want MDR layered on top without ripping and replacing. Northwave is not ideal for buyers that need public MDR pricing or response SLAs before engaging sales. UnderDefense is not ideal for organizations that require independently validated detection metrics (MITRE, Forrester, etc.) before committing.
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.