Northwave vs WatchGuard
Northwave is a Services firm that works with your existing tools. WatchGuard is a MSP-channel that works with your existing tools. Northwave targets Mid-market and Enterprise organizations; WatchGuard serves SMB and Mid-market. Northwave includes 2 attack surfaces in base pricing (Endpoint, Network), compared to 5 for WatchGuard (Endpoint, Cloud, SaaS, Identity, Network).
Buyer brief
Northwave is a Services firm that works with your existing tools. WatchGuard is a MSP-channel that works with your existing tools. Northwave targets Mid-market and Enterprise organizations; WatchGuard serves SMB and Mid-market. Northwave includes 2 attack surfaces in base pricing (Endpoint, Network), compared to 5 for WatchGuard (Endpoint, Cloud, SaaS, Identity, Network).
Northwave (Services firm) and WatchGuard (MSP-channel) 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 WatchGuard's watchguard mdr is strongest for msps that already standardize on watchguard or want a managed soc....
At a glance
| FIELD |  |  |
|---|---|---|
| Best fit | Benelux, DACH and Nordic buyers that want European MDR with a Utrecht SOC | MSPs already selling WatchGuard Firebox, AuthPoint or Endpoint Security who want to add managed SOC coverage |
| Price | Custom quote | Custom quote |
| Response authority | 1/6 actions · Configurable | 3/6 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
- MSPs already selling WatchGuard Firebox, AuthPoint or Endpoint Security who want to add managed SOC coverage
- Price
- Custom quote
- Response authority
- 3/6 actions · Configurable
- Stack
- Works with existing stack
- Data access
- Dashboards
- Warranty
- None listed
›› Detailed comparison
| FIELD | NorthwaveTECH-AGNOSTIC | WatchGuardTECH-AGNOSTIC |
|---|---|---|
| ›› Fit | ||
| Target size | Mid-market, Enterprise | SMB, Mid-market |
| Sentiment | Mixed | Mixed |
| ›› Your stack | ||
| Approach | Works with your tools | Works with your tools |
| EDR integrations | Customer endpoint telemetry | WatchGuard Endpoint SecurityMicrosoft DefenderCrowdStrike |
| SIEM integrations | Customer log sources | WatchGuard Cloud |
| 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 | Configurable |
| Response actions | Custom playbooks | IsolateContainCustom playbooks |
| IR included | Separate | ✓ Included |
| ›› Cost | ||
| Price range | Not published | Not published |
| Minimum seats | None | None |
| Breach warranty | – | – |
| ›› 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 | 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. | Per licensed user or endpoint through WatchGuard service-provider licensing. Core MDR, Core MDR for Microsoft, Total MDR and Open MDR are separate package options. |
| 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. | WatchGuard publishes package requirements but not public MDR pricing, so buyers need an MSP or WatchGuard quote before cost comparison.. The package names hide meaningful scope differences: Core MDR and Core MDR for Microsoft are narrower than Total MDR and Open MDR.. Open MDR can use existing tools, but buyers still need valid third-party licenses and permissions for each monitored source.. License expiration disables Managed Services portal access and stops MDR monitoring after the grace period.. Core MDR for Microsoft data is deleted after expiration if not renewed within the grace period. |
| Data portability | Partial | Limited |
| Contract terms | Custom | Subscription, Term license, 1 year, 3 years |
| Channels | PortalEmailPhone | PortalEmailPhone |
| Data access | Dashboards | Dashboards |
| Dedicated analyst | – | ✓ |
| SOC regions | Europe | North AmericaEuropeAsia-Pacific |
| 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. | Vendor states onboarding can be completed in hours. April 2026 release notes added direct onboarding from WatchGuard Cloud. |
| Industry focus | Financial ServicesHealthcareManufacturingLogisticsTechnologyPublic SectorCritical Infrastructure | Managed Service ProvidersHealthcareFinancial ServicesRetailTechnology |
| MTTD | Not published | Not published |
| MTTR | Not published | 6 minutes mean time to first response on critical alerts (vendor-published, not a full MTTR metric). |
| 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. | WatchGuard has a strong MSP installed base, but WatchGuard MDR is newer and public MDR-specific review volume is still thin. Reddit discussion in MSP communities is mixed: some MSPs like having EDR, MDR, firewall and MFA in one platform, while others say the endpoint and MDR stack needs more time to mature. |
| Compliance | NIS2ISO 27001GDPRTISAX | ISO 27001GDPRFIPS 140-2Common Criteria |
| Certifications | – | WatchGuard Cloud ISO/IEC 27001:2022Firebox FIPS 140-2Firebox Common Criteria EAL4+WatchGuard Endpoint Security CCN High ENSWatchGuard Endpoint Security Common Criteria EAL2+ |
| Founded | 2006 | 1996 |
| Data retention | Not published as a standard MDR retention period. | Not published as a standard MDR retention period. WatchGuard Core MDR for Microsoft data is deleted after license expiration if not renewed within the grace period. |
| API available | – | ✓ |
| Website | Visit → | Visit → |
›› FAQ
What is the main difference between Northwave and WatchGuard?
Northwave is a Services firm that is technology-agnostic (works with your existing tools). WatchGuard is a MSP-channel that is technology-agnostic (works with your existing tools). Northwave covers 2 attack surfaces in base pricing vs. 5 for WatchGuard.
How do Northwave and WatchGuard differ in response capabilities?
Northwave supports 1 autonomous actions (custom playbooks) and approval is configurable. WatchGuard supports 3 autonomous actions (custom playbooks, endpoint isolation, network containment) and approval is configurable. Incident response is not included with Northwave and included with WatchGuard.
How does Northwave pricing compare to WatchGuard?
Northwave pricing: Not published. WatchGuard pricing: Not 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 WatchGuard: WatchGuard publishes package requirements but not public MDR pricing, so buyers need an MSP or WatchGuard quote before cost comparison.; The package names hide meaningful scope differences: Core MDR and Core MDR for Microsoft are narrower than Total MDR and Open MDR..
Should I choose Northwave or WatchGuard?
Choose Northwave if: benelux, DACH and Nordic buyers that want European MDR with a Utrecht SOC. Choose WatchGuard if: mSPs already selling WatchGuard Firebox, AuthPoint or Endpoint Security who want to add managed SOC coverage. Northwave is not ideal for buyers that need public MDR pricing or response SLAs before engaging sales. WatchGuard is not ideal for direct enterprise buyers who want a mature, analyst-validated MDR service with deep public review volume.
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.