Managed detection and response, in your tenant
24/7 analyst coverage. Verdicts in minutes. Full evidence in your environment, not a black box portal.
MDR without the black box
Head-to-head: traditional MDR provider vs ManySignal MDR.
| Capability | Traditional MDR | ManySignal MDR |
|---|---|---|
| Transparency of verdicts | Black box — you get a ticket, not reasoning | Full evidence chain, agent reasoning, and confidence score in your tenant |
| Data location | Ingested into provider's SIEM — your data leaves your environment | Your data stays in your tenant. Analysts access in-environment, not via VPN to theirs |
| Custom detection support | Ruleset owned by provider — change requests take weeks | Detection-as-code in your repo. MDR team co-authors detections with you |
| Containment actions | Phone call required to authorise response | In-tenant automation with your pre-approved playbooks — no phone tag |
| Monthly reporting depth | PDF with alert count and SLA adherence | Drill-down report: entity timelines, detection coverage map, MTTR trends |
| Exit costs | Data locked in provider SIEM. Export takes months and costs extra | Your data, your tenant. Leave any time. Detection library stays with you |
What your MDR shift looks like
Midnight P1, resolved in 3 minutes, morning brief on your desk.
Impossible travel flagged
ManySignal agent detects a login from Singapore 8 minutes after a confirmed session in London. Risk score: Critical. Agent enriches with entity history and drafts a containment recommendation.
MDR analyst reviews in your tenant
On-call analyst opens the case directly in your ManySignal tenant — not a separate portal. Raw logs, entity graph snapshot, similar historic events. No context switching.
Session terminated in 3 minutes
Analyst approves the pre-authorised containment playbook. Okta session revoked, Slack notification to your security lead, case escalated to P1. Alert to containment: 3 minutes.
Morning brief in your inbox
Overnight shift summary: 1 P1 resolved, 3 P2 analyst-reviewed false positives documented, 0 missed SLAs. Your team starts the day with full situational awareness.
Service level agreements
SLA credits applied automatically — no claim needed.
| Severity | Acknowledge | Contain | Resolve |
|---|---|---|---|
| P1 — Critical | 5 min | 15 min | 2 hours |
| P2 — High | 15 min | 1 hour | 8 hours |
| P3 — Medium | 1 hour | 4 hours | 24 hours |
| P4 — Low | 4 hours | 24 hours | 72 hours |
Onboarding timeline
From contract signature to 24/7 production coverage in four weeks.
Connectors & baseline
Connect primary telemetry — EDR, IdP, cloud logs, email. MDR team validates coverage against your MITRE ATT&CK priorities.
Baseline learning
Agents learn your entity landscape: normal working hours, typical cloud API patterns, expected data flows to seed detection thresholds.
Shadow run
MDR team monitors alongside your existing process. Every verdict recorded, no autonomous actions. You review daily and calibrate.
Production handover
Autonomy ladder configured per your approved playbooks. MDR team takes 24/7 primary responsibility. You govern; ManySignal executes.
MDR pricing models compared
MDR pricing varies widely by delivery model. Here's what the market looks like in 2026 and where ManySignal MDR sits.
| Pricing model | Typical range | Used by | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Per-endpoint | $40–$120 / endpoint / year | CrowdStrike Falcon Complete, Huntress, SentinelOne Vigilance | Endpoint-heavy environments where the endpoint count is stable |
| Per-user | $60–$200 / user / year | Arctic Wolf, Expel, Red Canary | Identity-centric organisations with predictable user counts |
| Log volume (GB/day) | $1,500–$4,000 / GB / day | Rapid7 MDR, Secureworks Taegis, Deepwatch | Log-heavy environments — costs escalate with data growth |
| Flat tier | $25K–$120K / year (SMB/mid-tier) | Huntress (SMB), Binary Defense (mid-market) | SMBs wanting predictable annual cost, no volume surprises |
| Telemetry + entity | By log volume + monitored entities | ManySignal MDR | Teams wanting cost aligned with coverage scope, not headcount growth |
Affordable MDR for small and mid-market teams
"Affordable MDR" typically means fixed-tier SMB pricing (Huntress, Binary Defense small) starting under $25K/year, or telemetry-priced agentic MDR (ManySignal) that scales cost with coverage rather than headcount. Below is the affordable MDR landscape for teams under 3,000 endpoints.
SMB flat tier
$18K–$45K / yr
Huntress, Binary Defense — fixed pricing under 500 endpoints
Mid-market agentic MDR
$45K–$140K / yr
ManySignal MDR — telemetry + entity pricing, no per-alert
Concierge MDR entry
$60K–$180K / yr
Arctic Wolf, Expel entry tier — dedicated analyst relationship
ManySignal MDR is priced by monthly telemetry volume plus monitored entities — no per-alert or per-hostname surprises. Enterprise volume discounts available. Contact sales for a scoped quote.
Get an MDR pricing quoteThe MDR vendor landscape in 2026
The MDR market fragmented in 2024–2025 into three tiers: endpoint-native (CrowdStrike), full-service concierge (Arctic Wolf, Red Canary, Expel), and the emerging agentic MDR category (ManySignal). Below is our editorial ranking — full analysis on the roundup page.
ManySignal MDR
Agentic MDR — in your tenant, full evidence trail, portable detection library
CrowdStrike Falcon Complete
Endpoint-native managed detection with a breach-prevention warranty
Arctic Wolf
Concierge Security Team model, mid-market and SMB fit
Red Canary
Co-managed MDR with high investigation transparency
Expel
Cloud-first MDR with real-time workbench visibility
Huntress
SMB and MSP-focused MDR at accessible pricing
eSentire
Sub-15-minute MTTD SLA and multi-surface coverage
Secureworks Taegis
Backed by deep threat intelligence from the Counter Threat Unit
Rapid7 MDR
InsightIDR-native MDR with strong compliance reporting
Deepwatch
Squad-based co-managed model, Splunk-strong environments
See the full MDR providers comparison for strengths, watch-outs, and best-fit criteria for each vendor.
8 questions to ask every MDR vendor
The questions vendors are least prepared for during a bake-off are the ones that expose whether the delivery model actually scales for your environment.
What is the MTTD SLA and how is it measured?
Why it matters: Vague SLAs let a vendor claim 15-minute MTTD while measuring from the moment they choose to acknowledge, not from telemetry arrival.
Where does our data live and who can query it?
Why it matters: Data ingested into the vendor's tenant creates lock-in. In-tenant MDR keeps ownership with you.
Can we see the full investigation, not just the conclusion?
Why it matters: Transparent verdicts let your team learn and let audits verify. Black-box tickets do neither.
Who authors detection rules and who owns them?
Why it matters: If detection logic lives with the vendor, portability suffers. Detection-as-code with joint authorship is the modern standard.
What happens to our data if we exit?
Why it matters: Export projects that take months and cost extra are how vendors monetise churn. Portability should be contractual.
How are containment actions authorised at 3 a.m.?
Why it matters: Phone-call authorisation is the difference between 3-minute and 30-minute containment. Pre-approved playbooks are the fix.
What certifications and playbook standards does the analyst team hold?
Why it matters: GCIH / GCIA / CISSP mix plus a NIST 800-61-aligned methodology is table stakes for enterprise MDR.
How is pricing structured — and what triggers a price increase?
Why it matters: Per-alert, per-hostname-explosion, and 'log growth surcharge' clauses are the most common bill-shock sources.
"I was sceptical of MDR — every provider I tried was a black box. ManySignal MDR is the first service where I can see exactly what the analysts saw, why they made the call they made, and what was executed. That transparency is what convinced my board."
CISO — Series D Fintech, London
ManySignal MDR: frequently asked questions
- Do we lose visibility into what the MDR team is doing?
- Every action is recorded in your tenant's audit log with analyst identity, timestamp, and evidence reviewed. You see more than with a traditional MDR.
- Can we keep our own detections?
- Yes. Your detection library is yours. The MDR team operates on your rules, with detection-as-code co-authoring available so your engineers and our analysts collaborate in the same repo.
- What is the exit path if we want to bring the SOC in-house?
- Your data stays in your tenant. Your detection library, entity baselines, and case history come with you. Offboarding is removing MDR team access — no export project, no ransom pricing.
- How is MDR priced?
- Priced by monthly telemetry volume plus entity count — no per-alert charges. Enterprise volume discounts available. Talk to sales for a custom quote based on your environment.
- Are SLA credits automatic?
- Yes. If we miss a documented SLA for a confirmed incident, a credit is automatically applied to your next invoice. You do not need to file a claim.
- What detection coverage do MDR analysts use, and can we influence it?
- MDR analysts operate on ManySignal's 500+ shipped detection rules plus any custom rules your team has authored. Detection-as-code co-authoring is available: your detection engineers and ManySignal MDR analysts can collaborate in the same Git repository, propose new rules, and review each other's changes. Custom detection rules built during the MDR engagement are your intellectual property.
- How does the MDR team handle an active incident at 3 AM?
- When the triage agent escalates a P1 finding overnight, the on-duty MDR analyst reviews the pre-assembled evidence package and executes approved containment actions within the P1 SLA window — typically 15 minutes from initial escalation. You receive a Slack and PagerDuty notification simultaneously showing the analyst's actions in real time. For incidents requiring customer approval (higher-risk actions), the analyst pages your designated approver with a one-click approve/deny.
- What certifications does the MDR team hold?
- ManySignal MDR analysts hold industry-standard certifications including GCIH, GCIA, GCFE, and CISSP across the team. The team operates a documented incident response methodology aligned with NIST SP 800-61. Certification details and the MDR team's operational methodology are available for review under NDA as part of the vendor assessment process.
- How does ManySignal MDR compare to traditional MDR providers like Secureworks, Arctic Wolf, and Rapid7 MDR?
- Traditional MDR providers use proprietary tooling and deliver outcomes through a managed portal — you see summaries and recommendations, not the underlying investigation. ManySignal MDR operates inside your tenant: all investigation evidence, triage reasoning, and action records are in your environment, not a vendor-controlled portal. When you transition away from MDR or bring the SOC in-house, all evidence and detection logic travel with you. Traditional MDRs typically create data lock-in; ManySignal MDR is structured around data portability.
Explore ManySignal MDR
Book a session to see 24/7 analyst coverage, live verdict trails, and P1 containment in action — in your environment.