MDRCost.comSOC pricing intel

Interactive tool

MDR cost calculator / 2026

Plug in your endpoint count, coverage scope, SLA tier, and contract length. Get a low/mid/high annual cost range with a vendor band recommendation in under 30 seconds.

Inputs

500
252,5005,00010,000

Quick presets

Modeled cost

Annual MDR spend (range)

$97K to $292K

Mid-point: $174,960

Per endpoint / mo

$16-49

Monthly spend

$8K-$24K

Vendor band that fits

  • Arctic Wolf
  • Sophos MDR Complete
  • SentinelOne Vigilance
  • Expel

Versus in-house SOC

$1,180,000 / yr

5 analysts + manager + tooling. MDR mid-point saves $1,005,040/yr at this scale.

Estimates blend public pricing, Vendr transaction data, and partner channel reports across CrowdStrike, Arctic Wolf, SentinelOne, Sophos, Huntress, and Expel. Actual quotes vary 15-25% by region, sector, and negotiation leverage.

How pricing factors interact

Coverage scope, SLA tier, and contract length stack multiplicatively, not additively. A full-stack scope (1.85x) with a 1-hour SLA (1.5x) on a monthly contract (1.1x) compounds to roughly 3.05x the per-endpoint base rate. The same scope on a 3-year contract drops to 2.16x, a 29% saving on identical capability.

Volume discount thresholds

  • Under 100 endpointsList pricing
  • 100-50015-20% off list
  • 500-1,00025-35% off list
  • 1,000-5,00035-45% off list
  • 5,000+Fully custom

When the calculator under-estimates

Heavy cloud telemetry environments (multi-region AWS or GCP with verbose logs) often blow past included data tiers, adding 10-20% in overages. Compliance-heavy sectors (healthcare, finance, government) typically pay a 15-25% premium for documented evidence-of-control reporting. Adjust the high estimate up by 15% if either applies.

Companion view

Compare to EDR-only spend

MDR includes the EDR layer. If you only need the software (and have analysts to run it), EDR alone runs $3-15 per endpoint per month. See the dedicated calculator at edrcost.com/calculator. For most organisations under 5,000 endpoints, MDR is cheaper than EDR plus the analysts you'd need to hire.

MDR vs EDR breakdownMDR vs in-house SOCHidden cost line items

FAQ

Calculator questions

How accurate is this MDR cost calculator?
Estimates blend public pricing, Vendr buyer transaction data, and partner channel reports across the six largest MDR vendors. Real quotes typically land within 15-25% of the modelled mid-point. Negotiation leverage, sector, and region drive the rest.
Why does the price range vary so much within one configuration?
Two reasons. First, vendors price the same scope very differently (Huntress at $3-9 per endpoint vs CrowdStrike Falcon Complete at $25-45). Second, the same vendor will quote a 20-30% range depending on multi-year commitment, payment terms, and competitive pressure at quote time.
Should I model on endpoint count or user count?
Endpoint count. Most MDR contracts price per endpoint (laptops, servers, VMs, persistent containers) rather than per user. If your users have multiple devices, endpoint count is the safer planning number. A few vendors offer per-user tiers; switch the calculator to those if you have more users than devices.
What's missing from the headline number?
Onboarding (a one-time $5K-$25K), log ingestion overages ($1-5/GB/day above tier limits), incident response retainer hours ($250-$400/hour), and annual price escalation clauses (3-7% built into most contracts). Budget an extra 15-25% in year one to be safe.
How does the in-house SOC comparison work?
We assume a minimum viable 24x7 SOC: five analysts on a follow-the-sun rotation plus one manager. Salaries are fully-loaded at $150K per analyst and $180K for the manager. Add $250K-$450K per year for tooling (SIEM, SOAR, threat intel feeds). The number doesn't include the year-one infrastructure spend of $1M-$2M to stand up a SOC from scratch.

Disclaimer

MDRCost.com is an independent pricing guide. We are not affiliated with any MDR vendor. Pricing data is compiled from public sources, partner channels, Vendr transaction data, and verified buyer reports. Always request a direct quote for your environment.