Managed EDR is endpoint detection and response delivered with 24/7 SOC monitoring and response.
Checked on. Huntress, CrowdStrike, Microsoft, Sophos, Arctic Wolf, Secureworks, Red Canary and Blackpoint Cyber offer managed EDR or MDR services with SOC support.
For most buyers:
- Huntress Managed EDR is a straightforward, cost-conscious managed EDR service.
- CrowdStrike Falcon Complete is suited to enterprises that want provider-led detection, containment and remediation.
- Microsoft Defender Experts for XDR fits organisations already using Microsoft Defender.
- Sophos MDR and MDR Plus offer different levels of customer and provider involvement.
- Arctic Wolf and Red Canary suit companies that want experts to operate across a wider security stack.
Providers often call managed EDR managed detection and response, or MDR. The key difference is whether the provider only monitors alerts or also investigates, contains and remediates threats.
Managed EDR and SOC Providers Compared
| Provider | Service | SOC support and response | Best suited to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Huntress | Managed EDR | 24/7 AI-assisted human SOC, threat hunting, detection, response and remediation | SMBs, mid-market companies and lean IT teams |
| CrowdStrike | Falcon Complete MDR | 24/7 detection, investigation, containment and end-to-end remediation | Enterprise organisations needing provider-managed response |
| Microsoft | Defender Experts for XDR | Around-the-clock alert triage, investigation, proactive hunting and managed response | Microsoft Defender and Microsoft Sentinel customers |
| Sophos | Sophos MDR and MDR Plus | 24/7 monitoring, hunting, containment and, with MDR Plus, full incident response | Organisations without a mature internal SOC |
| Arctic Wolf | Aurora MDR and Managed Endpoint Defense | 24/7 monitoring, triage, response, threat hunting and security guidance | Companies wanting a broader managed SOC relationship |
| Secureworks | Taegis MDR | 24/7 monitoring, investigation, proactive response and access to security analysts | Organisations needing open XDR and analyst support |
| Red Canary | Managed Detection and Response | 24/7 expert monitoring and response across endpoints, identities and cloud | Businesses that want to retain their existing EDR |
| Blackpoint Cyber | Managed EDR and MDR | 24/7/365 SOC monitoring and response to EDR alerts | MSP-led environments and companies prioritising active response |
Which Managed EDR Provider Is the Best Fit?
The best fit depends on whether you need a packaged managed EDR service, provider-led remediation, Microsoft integration or an MDR layer over existing tools.
Best for a Straightforward Managed EDR Service: Huntress
Huntress is the clearest option for buyers looking for managed EDR with SOC support in one package. It provides the EDR technology, manages the endpoint security service and supplies a 24/7 AI-assisted SOC backed by human threat experts. The service includes threat detection, investigation, active remediation and incident reporting.
Huntress lists example pricing of $7.99 per endpoint per month at 100 endpoints on its pricing page. It also states that direct Managed EDR purchases normally have a 50-endpoint minimum. Confirm the current price and eligibility before buying.
Huntress suits buyers that want:
- A managed EDR service rather than a standalone EDR licence.
- 24/7 SOC monitoring without building an internal SOC.
- Per-endpoint pricing.
- Support for Microsoft Defender alongside Huntress EDR.
- A service aimed at smaller security and IT teams.
Best for Enterprise Remediation: CrowdStrike Falcon Complete
CrowdStrike Falcon Complete suits enterprises that want the provider to handle detection, investigation, containment and remediation. Falcon Complete combines the Falcon endpoint platform with 24/7 expert monitoring, threat hunting and managed response. CrowdStrike says its analysts can provide end-to-end remediation across endpoints, identities, cloud workloads and other connected telemetry.
Falcon Complete is suited to organisations that:
- Need enterprise-scale endpoint and identity protection.
- Want the provider to take direct response actions.
- Require threat hunting as well as alert monitoring.
- Have complex environments or limited internal incident-response capacity.
CrowdStrike generally requires a sales engagement for pricing. Ask for the endpoint licence, managed-service fee, onboarding cost and minimum commitment as separate figures.
Best for Microsoft Environments: Microsoft Defender Experts for XDR
Microsoft Defender Experts for XDR is designed for organisations that already use Microsoft security products. The service covers Microsoft Defender for Endpoint and can operate across Defender for Office 365, Defender for Identity, Defender for Cloud Apps, Microsoft Entra ID and Microsoft Defender for Cloud. A second plan extends expert triage and investigation to supported third-party data ingested through Microsoft Sentinel.
Microsoft describes the service as providing:
- Around-the-clock alert triage and investigation.
- Managed response and remediation guidance.
- Proactive threat hunting.
- Access to Microsoft security experts.
- The option for Microsoft experts to take agreed response actions for the customer.
Defender Experts is not designed to be a vendor-neutral managed EDR service. Its value depends on how much of your security environment runs through Microsoft Defender and Microsoft Sentinel.
Best for Flexible Response Options: Sophos MDR
Sophos MDR provides 24/7 managed detection and response for Sophos endpoints and supported third-party security products. The service combines continuous monitoring, threat hunting and incident response through the Sophos SOC.
Sophos separates its service into two main levels:
- Sophos MDR focuses on monitoring, detection, containment and escalation. The customer may remain responsible for final threat neutralisation.
- Sophos MDR Plus adds full incident response, including a dedicated incident-response lead and work to remove the threat. Sophos positions MDR Plus for organisations without their own SOC or with limited security resources.
This structure lets buyers choose between guided response and a more complete provider-led response model.
Best for a Named Security Team: Arctic Wolf
Arctic Wolf combines managed endpoint protection with MDR across endpoint, network and cloud environments. Its Aurora Managed Endpoint Defense service includes 24/7 monitoring, detection, triage, response, threat hunting, reporting and advisory support. Arctic Wolf also provides a Concierge Security Team as the customer's main point of contact.
Arctic Wolf fits companies that want:
- Managed endpoint and network visibility.
- A named security team that understands their environment.
- Threat hunting and security posture guidance.
- A wider outsourced SOC relationship rather than endpoint monitoring alone.
Check the prerequisites before signing. Arctic Wolf's standard Aurora Managed Endpoint Defense service requires specific Aurora endpoint products, while its wider MDR offering can ingest telemetry from multiple sources.
Best for Organisations Keeping Their Existing EDR: Red Canary
Red Canary is primarily an MDR overlay for an existing EDR platform. The company positions its service around 24/7 expert detection and response across endpoints, identities, cloud environments and other data sources.
Red Canary suits organisations that:
- Already use Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, CrowdStrike, SentinelOne or another supported EDR.
- Do not want to replace their existing endpoint technology.
- Need a managed SOC to investigate and respond to alerts.
- Want a provider focused on detection quality and operational response.
Secureworks and Blackpoint Cyber are also options in this category. Secureworks provides Taegis MDR with monitoring, investigation, proactive response and analyst access. Blackpoint Cyber offers managed EDR and MDR with 24/7/365 SOC monitoring and response, including services for MSP-led environments.
What Does SOC Support Include?
SOC support can range from alert monitoring to full incident response. The label alone does not tell you how much work the provider will perform.
| SOC capability | What it means |
|---|---|
| Alert monitoring | The provider watches EDR alerts, often continuously |
| Triage | Analysts decide whether an alert is suspicious or malicious |
| Investigation | The SOC examines affected users, devices, processes, accounts and indicators |
| Threat hunting | Analysts search for attacker activity that did not generate a clear alert |
| Containment | The provider isolates endpoints, disables accounts or blocks malicious activity |
| Remediation | The provider removes persistence, cleans systems and restores a known-good state |
| Incident response | The provider coordinates the wider investigation, recovery and communications |
Ask whether containment and remediation are included in the subscription or charged as separate incident-response work.
Questions to Ask Before Choosing a Provider
Get clear answers to these questions before comparing prices:
- Does the provider supply the EDR agent, or manage my existing EDR?
- Can the SOC isolate endpoints and disable accounts without waiting for approval?
- Is monitoring performed by human analysts, automation or both?
- What happens after a confirmed detection?
- Is full remediation included, or does the provider only offer alerting and guidance?
- Which operating systems and workloads are covered?
- Does the service include identity, email, cloud and SaaS monitoring?
- What are the response-time objectives and escalation procedures?
- Are threat hunting, onboarding, tuning and incident response included?
- Is pricing based on endpoints, users, data volume or a minimum commitment?
Bottom Line
Choose the provider whose contract gives its SOC authority to investigate, contain and remediate threats 24/7. A service that only forwards EDR alerts to your IT team is not equivalent to provider-led response.