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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 Wayfinder MDR
  • Expel

Versus in-house SOC

$1,180,000 / yr

Our own staffing model: 5 analysts plus a manager plus tooling, on assumed salaries rather than surveyed ones. MDR mid-point saves $1,005,040/yr against it at this scale. Both sides of that comparison are modelled, so treat the gap as directional.

This is a parametric model, not a quote engine and not a dataset. The per-endpoint base band is anchored on the two MDR prices any buyer can read without a sales call: Huntress Managed EDR at $7.99 per endpoint per month at 100 endpoints, and Arctic Wolf MDR Basic at $44,000 per year for up to 100 users on AWS Marketplace. The coverage, SLA and contract-term multipliers on top of that band are our own editorial assumptions about how quotes move, not measured figures. Every other MDR service modelled here is sold by quotation only. The in-house SOC comparison is likewise our own staffing model on assumed salaries, not survey data. Treat the output as a budgeting bracket to test against real quotes.

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.

Where volume discounts actually appear

  • Huntress, per unit at 100$7.99
  • Huntress, per unit at 50$8.99
  • Red Canary, 24-month termUp to 50% off
  • Red Canary, 36-month termUp to 67% off
  • Everyone elseNot published

These are the only volume and term discounts any MDR vendor states openly. Huntress says the per-unit rate keeps falling above 100 units but does not publish the higher tiers. Sources: huntress.com/pricing and Red Canary's AWS Marketplace listing, both checked 7 September 2026.

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?
It is a parametric model, not a dataset, and it does not predict your quote. The base per-endpoint band is anchored on the only two MDR prices published openly: Huntress Managed EDR at $7.99 per endpoint per month at 100 endpoints (huntress.com/pricing) and Arctic Wolf MDR Basic at $44,000 per year for up to 100 users on AWS Marketplace, both checked 7 September 2026. The multipliers for coverage, SLA and contract term are our editorial assumptions about how quotes move, not measured figures. Use the output as a budgeting bracket to sanity-check real quotes, not as a benchmark.
Why does the price range vary so much within one configuration?
Two reasons. First, vendors price the same scope very differently: published Huntress Managed EDR is $7.99 per endpoint per month at 100 endpoints, while CrowdStrike's Falcon Complete publishes no rate at all and sits above its published Falcon Enterprise tier of $19.99 per device per month. Second, the same vendor will quote a wide range on the same scope depending on multi-year commitment, payment terms, and competitive pressure at quote time. The model widens the band to reflect both effects rather than pretending to a single number.
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. Where a vendor publishes a price, we cite the vendor's own pricing page or marketplace listing with the date we checked it. Where a vendor does not publish, we say so and label the figure as channel-reported or as a third-party aggregate, naming the aggregator. We do not run our own buyer survey. Always request a direct quote for your environment.