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Arctic Wolf Managed Detection and Response vs Expel comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 8, 2024
 

Categories and Ranking

Binary Defense MDR
Sponsored
Ranking in Managed Detection and Response (MDR)
7th
Average Rating
9.2
Number of Reviews
16
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Arctic Wolf Managed Detecti...
Ranking in Managed Detection and Response (MDR)
2nd
Average Rating
9.2
Number of Reviews
19
Ranking in other categories
SOC as a Service (1st)
Expel
Ranking in Managed Detection and Response (MDR)
18th
Average Rating
9.0
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
SOC as a Service (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2024, in the Managed Detection and Response (MDR) category, the mindshare of Binary Defense MDR is 0.6%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Arctic Wolf Managed Detection and Response is 9.8%, down from 10.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Expel is 2.0%, down from 2.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Managed Detection and Response (MDR)
 

Featured Reviews

Rich Ullom - PeerSpot reviewer
May 1, 2023
Worth the money, fantastic communication, and fast service with an average response time of about four minutes on an alert
This is my third SOC. I have never had anybody react as well. So, it's hard for me to provide something that they could do better because I'm really happy with them. I just signed another three-year contract with them. I don't find any downside to them, but if I have to put one, it would be consistent manpower or staffing. The only area where the solution can be improved is going to be with people. As they grow, they are struggling with the same thing that every other company is, which is getting talent and getting that talent to stay, but they've just revised their tiering system to go from a flat analyst and manager to a three-tier solution where it goes through two or three before it gets elevated. That seems to have worked out well, so if one level misses it, the next one picks it up, and it works out fine. Consistent staffing is the only challenge they have because when you're hiring level-one analysts, you go through them pretty quickly. You'll probably hire them at 50K or 55K, and after they do it for a year, they find out they can make 85K somewhere else, and they bounce. So, their turnover is a little high, but that's it.
Jared Kruger - PeerSpot reviewer
Oct 11, 2023
Particularly valuable for smaller and mid-sized businesses without a dedicated cybersecurity team
The scalability of this solution is great. It offers user-based licensing, so if there is an increase in the number of IT users, it can easily scale accordingly. In contrast to other solutions that base pricing on data ingestion, which can be challenging as data grows, user count tends to be more predictable, making this model highly scalable. Arctic Wolf is flexible and works with clients to ensure smooth scaling. Our clients for this solution come from a range of business sizes, primarily focusing on small and medium-sized enterprises. We generally don't cater to large enterprises, but instead, our clients typically fall within the medium-sized category, with user counts ranging from 50 to around 3,000.
reviewer2578461 - PeerSpot reviewer
Oct 16, 2024
Rapid threat management and diverse technology integration for effective monitoring
I have experience reselling Expel. Customers often come to me wanting to evaluate multiple providers to make a choice based on their specific use cases, requirements, technology investments, and so forth. Expel is beneficial for customers with diverse environments in terms of technologies that need…

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The case interface is Binary Defense MDR's most valuable feature."
"The speed at which their services are reactive is valuable. Nowadays, when a threat hits an endpoint, you've got minutes, not hours or days. Their average response time is about four minutes on an alert. For anything that needs to be sent to us, it's about fourteen minutes, which is pretty good. They're the third SOC that I've used in fifteen years. By far, they are the quickest ones to act. When you're looking at prevention, that's a key factor."
"The most valuable part of Binary Defense is its team of cybersecurity analysts. Their analysts filter out the noise and only forward the critical threats that require a response instead of false positives."
"One of the main benefits of Binary Defense MDR is the ability to easily meet with their support team to discuss any issues we encounter."
"In the six months we have been with Binary Defense on this, they run with the ball. They take care of our problems. When we get a ticket, they do not just give us a report."
"Binary Defense's most valuable feature is the 24/7 monitoring and threat hunting. Their team checks the latest breaches and how they're done."
"The biggest aspect for us is that they are able to conform to our environment and utilize our tools. That way, we still maintain ownership of all the data and access to the applications, and we never lose control of the ability to run the solution ourselves if we need to."
"With Binary Defense, we don't just get an alert, but also a detailed rundown of why they're alerting us on it. They tell us what was executed, or the username, script, or IP. That way, we're not wasting time investigating."
"The integration between Cisco AMPs and the Windows servers is most valuable. So, they can also sandbox machines on which they see something suspicious."
"They provide useful quarterly updates."
"The tool definitely saves money for our company's customers."
"They have a portal where you can evaluate and mitigate any vulnerabilities that you and your network might have."
"Having quarterly meetings with the team to review the last 90 days and determine what if any changes need to be made."
"Whenever there is a major thing like Exchange vulnerabilities, it scans our Exchange server for indicators of compromise. It then alerts us and points exactly where we need to go to check for ourselves if it is normal or not."
"The tool's most valuable feature is its ease of implementation."
"The visibility into our endpoints is huge."
"Their threat hunting protocol and process with AI and machine learning are strong, allowing for active and rapid responses."
 

Cons

"The only area I see for improvement with Binary Defense is their service portal. It could benefit from some enhancements."
"I would like to see more frequent check-ins with our security status."
"While my understanding is that they're working on this, I would like to see some more of the quantification or reporting."
"The only area for improvement that I can think of relates to statistical analysis for SLAs. They are in the middle of moving to a new product called D3 which is going to do some backend work for them. I know they are working to improve some of the help desk statistics, such as the time the tickets open and the time they are closed."
"If I were shopping for an MDR solution today, I would not only look for a company that has the ability to alert, detect, and remediate, but also the ability to integrate vulnerability management. That's a big thing that they're lacking today."
"We found a couple of bugs in the user interface."
"I would like to get more reports from Binary Defense about what they're blocking."
"The current reporting system could benefit from improvement."
"It's nitpicky; however, if it could integrate with more of our products, like our CRM, that would be ideal. They may only integrate with Salesforce. We use a different mid-market CRM."
"In the future, I would like to see a summary report."
"Arctic Wolf Managed Detection and Response's analysis and remediation parts could be improved. It's not bad, but it needs improvement."
"It will be helpful if the dashboard is more granular."
"While it isn't a regular occurrence, there have been some gaps in response to some support questions. Questions get answered, yet there are times it takes longer than I'm comfortable with."
"More integrations with various security tools to improve data ingestion would be beneficial."
"I would like to see a more sophisticated dashboard for our technical staff to monitor."
"They could probably expand on their integration tools. They can integrate with more security tools."
"The one area where Expel may not measure up is if a customer requires a managed SIEM as part of their overall solution. There's a gap there, and solutions might require third-party assistance for management."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"From the initial cost that Binary Defense came in with, we pared it down quite a bit over the course of 30 or 60 days. My leadership would say that their cost was high, but realistically, they were in line with the market."
"Binary Defense has changed its pricing model from being primarily based on the volume of data to one based on escalations and incidents they handle."
"Binary Defense MDR is priced competitively and may be slightly lower than CrowdStrike."
"The solution's price is spot on; if anything, it's slightly below the norm for most services. Compared to building the same team internally, it would cost more to create the same amount of capability than what we get from an external team. Price-wise, Binary Defense is in a great spot."
"The pricing is very good. They are definitely competitive and they were lower at the time that we went with them."
"The pricing is on target. Working with their sales team on pricing negotiations was a pleasant process. They were very respectful of the constraints we had and I feel that we're paying a fair price."
"The pricing isn't that bad, it's very competitive. I don't feel that it's over-priced and I don't feel that it's under-priced."
"After we acquired this platform, we met with a number of different vendors. Binary Defense came in with a proposal that was surprisingly affordable. In fact, we were able to recoup the cost of their services within a short period of time. This is because Binary Defense is able to provide the same level of security as a team of two or three in-house analysts but at a fraction of the cost. As a result, Binary Defense is saving us an estimated $250,000 to $300,000 per year."
"It is more expensive than CrowdStrike, but it also has more features. I don't remember the amount, but I do remember that it was on the higher side. I believe we have five sensors, and the sensors have a yearly cost. We don't have any additional costs, but I know that if we have more features, they will add to the cost."
"I rate the tool's pricing a nine out of ten."
"The pricing is fair."
"The pricing is pretty competitive."
"I find their pricing to be reasonable and competitive."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Healthcare Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Government
7%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Computer Software Company
19%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Real Estate/Law Firm
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Binary Defense MDR?
The most valuable feature is reviewing tickets and the notes added by technicians.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Binary Defense MDR?
The pricing is very competitive; it's on par with or below others. For those sensitive to pricing, I'd advise that th...
What needs improvement with Binary Defense MDR?
Sometimes, something may not install right; however, whenever we have challenges, they are very solution-oriented and...
What do you like most about Arctic Wolf Managed Detection and Response?
The agents give pretty good visibility into what is happening at the endpoint.
What needs improvement with Arctic Wolf Managed Detection and Response?
I have heard that the tool doesn't go right to the endpoints. With CrowdStrike, I don't think that it is a bad thing ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Expel?
Expel's pricing has adapted as the market evolved and has become competitive over the past twelve months.
What needs improvement with Expel?
The one area where Expel may not measure up is if a customer requires a managed SIEM as part of their overall solutio...
What is your primary use case for Expel?
I have experience reselling Expel. Customers often come to me wanting to evaluate multiple providers to make a choice...
 

Also Known As

Binary Defense Vision, Binary Defense Managed Detection and Response, Binary Defense Managed Detection & Response
Arctic Wolf AWN CyberSOC
Workbench, Expel SOC-as-a-Service
 

Learn More

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Securitas USA, Black Hills Energy, Lincoln Electric,The J.M. Smuckers Company, New York Community Bank, State of Connecticut, NCR
Agero, Madison Memorial Hospital, DLZ, Howard LLP, City of Sparks
Amanda Fennell CSO
Find out what your peers are saying about CrowdStrike, Arctic Wolf Networks, Huntress and others in Managed Detection and Response (MDR). Updated: November 2024.
815,854 professionals have used our research since 2012.