You’re probably here because you want to figure out if EDR or MDR is the path for you. As you dig a little deeper into Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) tools or Managed Detection and Response (MDR) services, you’ll start to realize that the choice isn't as straightforward as the marketing materials suggest.
Both EDR and MDR aim to catch bad actors before they wreak havoc on your systems. But they approach the problem from completely different angles. Think of EDR as buying a really sophisticated security camera system that you monitor yourself. Meanwhile, MDR is more akin to hiring a professional security company to watch those cameras for you around the clock.
Let's dig into what each actually does, when they make sense, and how to think about this decision without getting lost in vendor marketing.
EDR involves managing attacks at endpoints and responding to them accordingly. However, that begs a broader question, which is “What exactly is an endpoint?”
Endpoints are all of the devices that your company uses such as laptops, servers, workstations, and sometimes mobile devices. Unlike traditional antivirus software that mostly looks for known bad files, EDR watches how processes behave and tries to spot suspicious patterns in real-time.
The technical implementation varies by platform, but here's what's happening under the hood:
On Windows systems, EDR agents tap into Event Tracing for Windows (ETW) and kernel callbacks to monitor everything from process creation to registry modifications. They're watching for things like unusual memory injections, suspicious network connections, or processes trying to access files they shouldn't.
macOS implementations use Apple's Endpoint Security Framework (the replacement for kernel extensions that got deprecated in 2019) to subscribe to system events. Linux agents typically use either kernel modules or the newer eBPF technology to trace system calls and monitor file system activity.
All this telemetry gets shipped to a central platform that’s usually cloud-based where machine learning models and behavioral analytics try to separate normal activity from potential threats. When something looks suspicious, the EDR will automatically isolate the endpoint, kill processes, quarantine files, or collect forensic data for investigation.
The key difference from traditional security tools is that EDR assumes a breach will happen. Instead of just trying to prevent attacks, it focuses on detecting them quickly and containing the damage. It's designed for the "when, not if" mindset that most security teams have adopted.
Common EDR products include CrowdStrike and SentinelOne—software products that manage EDR servers and provide an UI for monitoring them.
With Managed Detection Response (MDR), instead of buying software and running it yourself, you're essentially outsourcing your threat detection and response to a team of security professionals who do this all day, every day.
Here's how it typically works: the MDR provider deploys their tools across your environment (often including EDR agents, but also network sensors, log collectors, and cloud monitoring). Then their security operations center (SOC) analysts monitor everything 24/7. When they spot something suspicious, they don't just send you an alert. They investigate it, confirm whether it's a real threat, and often take immediate containment actions.
The "managed" part is crucial. If ransomware starts encrypting files on a server at 3 AM, the MDR team is already investigating and isolating the affected systems before your on-call engineer even gets paged. They're not just monitoring; they're actively responding.
Most MDR services also include threat hunting. This entails proactively searching through your environment for signs of advanced persistent threats that might have slipped past automated detection. They'll dig through weeks or months of historical data looking for subtle indicators that something isn't right.
The scope often extends beyond just endpoints too. Many MDR providers monitor network traffic, cloud service logs, and identity systems to get a complete picture of what's happening across your entire infrastructure. This broader visibility can catch attacks that might not be obvious when you're only looking at individual endpoints.
The choice between EDR and MDR comes down to a few key factors that go beyond just the technology.
EDR requires you to have security analysts who can investigate alerts, tune detection rules, and respond to incidents. If you get 50 alerts during a widespread attack, your team needs to triage all of them and figure out which ones are real threats. MDR providers handle that triage for you and only escalate confirmed threats.
EDR gives you deep visibility into individual endpoints, but that's where it stops. MDR typically provides broader coverage across your entire environment, looking at data sources such endpoints, network telemetry, cloud logs, and identity systems. The MDR analysts can correlate events across all these data sources to spot attacks that might not be obvious from any single system.
With EDR, you have complete control over detection policies, response procedures, and how the system integrates with your existing tools. You can customize everything to fit your specific environment and requirements. MDR trades some of that control for convenience. The provider uses standardized procedures, and you have less ability to customize their response playbooks. That said, a middle-ground solution is MDR working with an existing EDR solution, but doubles the costs.
EDR licensing is typically straightforward. You usually pay per endpoint or user. You also need to factor in the cost of the security team to manage it effectively. MDR services cost more upfront because you're paying for human expertise; MDR staffers are trained strictly on alerts, while internal staff are likely wearing multiple hats. The upside is that you need fewer internal security staff while simultaneously getting better coverage. The math depends on your organization's size and existing security capabilities.
MDR shines at response speed. When an attack happens outside business hours, an MDR team is already investigating before your internal team even knows there's a problem yet. For organizations without 24/7 security coverage, this can be the difference between containing an incident and dealing with a full breach.
In-House Expertise
You’re a tech company with a mature security operations team that can handle alert investigation and incident response. You’ll deploy EDR across all your endpoints and have your analysts hunt for threats and respond to incidents directly. You want the granular control to tune detection rules for your specific environment and integrate the EDR data with your existing security tools.
Highly Sensitive Data
You're dealing with highly sensitive environments where you can't allow external access. You simply can't have third-party providers accessing your systems, even for security monitoring.
A Lack of In-House Staff
Maybe you’re a growing startup that might have a couple of security-minded engineers, but you can't monitor alerts around the clock, and you’re afraid of an attack during nightfall. An MDR service ensures that threats are being investigated even when your internal team is asleep. This was the case with Cyberhaven that suffered a Christmas eve attack but had MDR ready!
Noisy Signals
If you have a busy product, you’ll easily become overwhelmed by alert fatigue. If your current security tools are generating hundreds of alerts per day and your team is struggling to keep up, MDR can help filter out the noise and only escalate real threats.
Time-To-Secure
You need to quickly improve your security posture. After a security incident or to meet new compliance requirements, MDR can provide immediate expert-level monitoring while you build up internal capabilities.
Limited Engineering Bandwidth
If you have limited engineering bandwidth, you’ll want broader coverage without the complexity. Instead of deploying and managing separate tools for endpoint, network, and cloud monitoring, many MDR providers can give you comprehensive coverage through a single service.
Here's something the vendors don't always mention: you don't have to pick just one. Some organizations deploy EDR for the deep endpoint visibility and control, then layer on MDR services for additional monitoring and expert analysis. This can work well for companies that have some security expertise but want to augment their capabilities without hiring a full 24/7 SOC team.
Zip Security is a leader in the hybrid space—our advanced packages bundle EDR and MDR together so that the MDR team leverages an internal Crowdstrike EDR instance, providing full visibility with hands-off coverage.
The EDR vs MDR decision ultimately comes down to your team's capabilities and what you're trying to achieve. If you have experienced security analysts who want hands-on control over threat detection and response, EDR gives you the tools to do that effectively. If you need expert-level security monitoring but don't have the internal resources to staff a 24/7 SOC, MDR can fill that gap.
Don't get caught up in the feature comparisons and vendor marketing. Instead, ask yourself a few practical questions:
The good news is that both approaches can significantly improve your ability to detect and respond to threats compared to traditional security tools. The key is picking the one that fits your organization's current capabilities and long-term security strategy.
