MDR Replacement
Own your 24/7 coverage. Stop paying the retainer.
MDR retainers give you monthly summary reports and 3am calls from analysts who've never seen your environment. ManySignal gives your team AI-powered 24/7 coverage, full case evidence, and pre-triaged on-call escalations — at 40–60% lower cost.
40–60%
lower cost than MDR retainer
< 60s
mean time to triage vs. hours for MDR
100%
of your data stays in your environment
ManySignal vs. MDR retainer
| Capability | MDR / MSSP Retainer | ManySignal In-House AI SOC |
|---|---|---|
| Coverage hours | 24/7 with human analysts | 24/7 with AI agents + on-call escalation |
| Alert evidence access | Monthly executive summary | Full case evidence available instantly |
| Detection tuning control | Vendor controls detection rules | Your team owns and audits all detection rules |
| Response authority | Vendor requests permission before acting | Approval-gate policies you configure |
| Data residency | Data leaves your environment | All data stays in your cloud tenancy |
| Pricing model | $8,000–$25,000/month retainer | Flat per-asset subscription, typically 40–60% lower |
| Escalation quality | Human analyst calls at 3am | Pre-triaged case with full evidence before on-call page |
| SLA transparency | Vendor-reported, not independently auditable | Dashboard-level SLA metrics you own |
| Onboarding time | 30–90 days of profiling your environment | First detections in <2 hours; full coverage in 4 weeks |
8-week MDR cutover plan
Weeks 1–2
Parallel coverage
- Connect all data sources currently feeding the MDR
- Enable behavioral baselines from historical telemetry
- Configure triage confidence thresholds
- Run ManySignal alongside MDR coverage
Weeks 3–4
Parity validation
- Compare ManySignal detections to MDR-sourced findings
- Validate detection coverage across all data sources
- Train analysts on case management and approval workflow
- Configure on-call routing and escalation policies
Weeks 5–6
Response handover
- Enable approval-gated containment actions
- Test on-call escalation workflow with live cases
- Review MDR retainer notice requirements
- Document detection and response runbook
Weeks 7–8
MDR cutover
- Formal MDR retainer termination
- Full 24/7 AI agent coverage active
- On-call analyst rotation for escalations only
- First monthly SOC metrics report from ManySignal
What MDR replacement customers say
“Attack-chain reconstruction turned a 4-hour investigation into a 10-minute review. The case arrives already assembled.”
Victor Nkemelu
Incident Response Lead, Vantagrid
“The triage agent closed 80% of our queue with verdicts we could actually audit. My tier-1 analysts now do tier-3 work.”
Maya Lindqvist
CISO, Northwind Bank
“Dry-run workflows sold our change board on automated response. We see exactly what would happen before granting autonomy.”
Daniel Okafor
VP Security Operations, Cobalt Health
MDR replacement — common questions
How does AI-agent coverage compare to human MDR analysts overnight?
AI agents process every alert within 60 seconds, 24/7, with no degradation in quality at 3am. Human MDR analysts handling overnight shifts work more slowly and are more likely to defer complex cases until business hours. ManySignal's agents complete triage and evidence assembly for every alert before any human is paged.
We're contractually locked into our MDR for 18 months. Can we start now?
Yes. Many customers run ManySignal in parallel with their MDR during the contract period, using the parallel operation to build confidence and train their team. When the MDR contract expires, full cutover is already complete.
What does our team actually do if the AI handles 24/7 coverage?
Your analysts handle escalated cases that require human judgment — complex investigations, stakeholder communication, policy decisions, and tuning. They receive pre-triaged escalations with full evidence, not raw alert pages. The shift is from reactive alert-handling to proactive security improvement.
How do we handle escalations at 3am without a SOC team on shift?
ManySignal routes escalations to your configured on-call rotation with a pre-assembled case: full evidence, confidence score, recommended actions, and approval buttons. On-call analysts make informed decisions in minutes, not hours of manual investigation.
What's the typical cost difference vs. an MDR retainer?
A mid-market MDR retainer typically runs $120,000–$300,000 per year. ManySignal for the same environment typically costs $60,000–$120,000 — a 40–60% reduction. The comparison improves further when you account for the ManySignal platform replacing SIEM and SOAR as well.
What visibility do we get into what ManySignal's agents are doing?
Full transparency is a design principle. Every finding, triage decision, response action, and agent reasoning step is visible in the platform UI and the audit trail API. You see more of what your security operations are doing than you would with a typical MDR retainer's monthly summary.
How does ManySignal handle regulatory evidence that our MDR currently provides?
ManySignal generates compliance evidence reports, control-effectiveness metrics, and incident documentation from the same operational data that drives detection and response. These replace MDR-generated evidence packages and are produced automatically for each audit period.
What happens if ManySignal misses an incident?
No detection system has 100% coverage. ManySignal publishes its coverage map against MITRE ATT&CK, so you can see exactly which techniques are detected and which require additional controls. For techniques not currently covered, the ManySignal detection engineering team can build custom detections for enterprise customers.
Can we add ManySignal MDR as an option if we want human analysts on top?
Yes. ManySignal MDR is available as an add-on: ManySignal's 24/7 analyst team handles escalations, governs response, and delivers monthly reports — on the same platform, in your tenant. Many customers start in-house and activate MDR for additional coverage during high-risk periods or when the team is understaffed.
How do we evaluate whether ManySignal outperforms our current MDR?
The most objective comparison is a 30-day parallel run: both systems ingest the same data, and you compare verdict counts, escalation quality, and response speed. ManySignal will set this up at no cost for qualified enterprises — including a coverage gap analysis showing what your current MDR is missing.
See your MDR savings calculation
Share your current retainer cost and asset count. We'll produce a line-item cost comparison and coverage capability gap analysis in 24 hours.