Evaluating security solutions to find the right fit?

MDR (Managed Detection and Response) is a fully outsourced security service where a third-party SOC monitors your environment and responds to threats on your behalf. SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) is a platform you operate that collects and correlates log data across your environment, giving your team direct visibility into what's happening. The core tradeoff: MDR removes the operational burden but also removes your visibility. With a SIEM like Blumira, you retain full access to your security data while Blumira's 24/7 SecOps team provides expert backup on critical findings.

MDR pricing varies widely by provider, but published data gives some reference points. Arctic Wolf's MDR Basic for 100 users lists at $44,000/year on AWS Marketplace, and their EWS Small for 1,000 employees lists at $20,750/year on Azure Marketplace (per marketplace listings, accessed March 2026). Most MDR providers require a sales conversation for exact quotes, so total costs depend on environment size and service tier. A small automotive company evaluated Arctic Wolf MDR alongside CrowdStrike and Splunk, and chose Blumira at less than half the cost of Arctic Wolf (blumira.com/blog/small-automotive-company). Blumira uses flat-rate pricing per employee with unlimited data ingestion, so costs stay predictable regardless of log volume or endpoint count. Both models include security expertise, but Blumira also gives you the detection platform itself, not just the service layer on top.

MDR is a reasonable choice when your organization has zero internal security staff, no plans to hire any, and needs coverage immediately. If you genuinely cannot dedicate anyone to security operations, even part-time, a fully outsourced MDR provider like Arctic Wolf or Expel handles everything for you. The tradeoff is that you lose visibility into your own environment and become entirely dependent on the provider's detection logic, escalation decisions, and response timelines. Another option for zero-staff organizations is deploying Blumira through an MSP partner, which gives you SIEM visibility and expert management without the black-box limitations of pure MDR.

You lose direct visibility into your security data, the ability to investigate incidents yourself, and control over detection tuning. MDR operates as a black box: the provider decides what's worth escalating and what gets suppressed. You also lose log retention you can search independently, which matters for compliance audits and forensic investigations. With Blumira's SIEM+XDR approach, you get 1 year of searchable log retention, pre-built detections maintained by Blumira's security operations team, and automated response actions that execute immediately rather than waiting for a human analyst in someone else's SOC.

You can, but it creates overlap and cost duplication. Some organizations run an MDR service alongside a SIEM to get both outsourced response and internal visibility, but you end up paying for the same detection twice and managing two separate alert streams. Blumira addresses this by combining the platform (SIEM+XDR with automated response) and expert support (24/7 SecOps team) in a single product. That team provides guided response playbooks for your staff and handles escalations directly, which covers the same ground MDR does without requiring a separate contract.

MDR alone often falls short for compliance because auditors want to see that your organization has access to security logs and can demonstrate your own monitoring capabilities. Many compliance frameworks require log retention (HIPAA requires 6 years of documentation retention for policies and procedures (per 45 CFR 164.530(j)), and most compliance advisors recommend matching that retention for audit logs, PCI DSS requires 1 year (per PCI DSS v4.0, Requirement 10.7)). For DoD contractors, CMMC 2.0 Level 2 requires audit log retention aligned to NIST 800-171 AU controls. With pure MDR, those logs live in the provider's environment, not yours. Blumira provides 1 year of searchable log retention and gives your team direct access to findings and reports, which auditors can verify firsthand.

With most MDR providers, your historical security data stays with them. You typically lose access to detection logs, investigation records, and incident history when the contract ends. This creates vendor lock-in, and your incident timeline has a gap that auditors and insurers will notice. With a SIEM like Blumira, the data lives in your environment. Your log history, detection records, and incident documentation remain accessible throughout your retention period regardless of contract status.

Blumira executes automated response actions immediately for known threat patterns, but some incidents still require a human to review the evidence and make the call. If nobody on your team can make that call, a fully managed MDR provider handles everything, including the decisions. For very small organizations with no IT staff at all, working with an MSP who manages Blumira on your behalf is a more practical path than either self-managed SIEM or direct MDR.