Self-hosted XDR: 15 platforms compared
Extended detection and response platforms correlate endpoint, network, identity and cloud telemetry into unified detections. Most are SaaS-first by architecture, which places your endpoint telemetry in the vendor's infrastructure. For organisations under data residency obligations that is the first question, not the last.
nPro publishes this comparison and is one of the platforms listed. Scores for nPro are our own assessment. Third-party review scores are sourced from public vendor profiles. Structural facts — deployment model, licensing basis, residency — are verifiable against each vendor's documentation.
15 platforms
nPro
NPRO TECH Sdn. Bhd.
Self-hosted only — publisher of this comparison
Reviews
—
Licensing
$4.50/agent/mo
Average score
8.1
- +Runs entirely on your own infrastructure with no cloud dependency and no SaaS option
- +Flat USD 4.50 per agent per month with no per-gigabyte ingestion charge at any tier
- +Bundles network monitoring with SIEM and XDR on one ClickHouse backend
- −Smaller integration ecosystem than any tier-one vendor in this table
- −Behavioural analytics still in development — Identity Sync is live, baselining is not
Best for Regulated organisations that must keep security telemetry inside their own perimeter
Watch out No SaaS option and no vendor-staffed SOC — you operate the platform yourself
CrowdStrike Falcon
CrowdStrike
Category leader — enterprise XDR
Reviews
—
Licensing
Per endpoint, per module
Average score
7.5
- +Widely regarded as the strongest detection engine in the category
- +Largest adversary intelligence library of any vendor listed here
- +Charlotte AI automates a very high proportion of alert triage
- −SaaS only — telemetry is processed in CrowdStrike's cloud with no on-premises option
- −Among the most expensive platforms in the category, and priced per module
Best for Enterprise SOCs prioritising detection quality and threat intelligence depth
Watch out No self-hosted path — a hard stop for data residency and air-gap requirements
Microsoft Defender XDR
Microsoft
Bundled with Microsoft 365 E5
Reviews
—
Licensing
M365 E5 licence tier
Average score
7.6
- +Effectively free at the margin for organisations already licensed for M365 E5
- +Deepest possible integration with Entra ID, Exchange and the Microsoft estate
- +Security Copilot adds AI-assisted investigation without a separate purchase
- −Runs in Azure only — no on-premises deployment at any tier
- −Coverage is materially weaker across non-Windows endpoints and Linux servers
Best for Microsoft-centric enterprises already paying for E5 Security
Watch out Value collapses outside the Microsoft stack, and residency is fixed to Azure regions
SentinelOne Singularity
SentinelOne
Autonomous response specialist
Reviews
—
Licensing
Per endpoint
Average score
8.0
- +Autonomous containment without waiting for analyst intervention
- +One-click rollback reverses ransomware file encryption on the endpoint
- +Purple AI supports natural-language threat hunting across telemetry
- −Licensing model is complex — validate per-seat versus capacity carefully
- −On-premises availability has varied by release and region; confirm before shortlisting
Best for Teams wanting automated response without building the automation themselves
Watch out Confirm current self-hosted availability directly — do not assume from older documentation
Palo Alto Cortex XDR
Palo Alto Networks
AI-driven XDR — enterprise
Reviews
—
Licensing
Per endpoint + data volume
Average score
7.3
- +Storyline stitches related alerts into a single readable attack narrative
- +Unifies endpoint, network and cloud telemetry where the Palo Alto stack is already present
- +Unit 42 research provides strong APAC threat actor coverage
- −At the expensive end of the market once data volume is factored in
- −Detections are noisy until tuned — budget engineering time, not just licence cost
Best for Enterprises already standardised on Palo Alto networking and firewalls
Watch out Model total cost including tuning services; licence price alone understates it
Trend Vision One
Trend Micro
Cloud-native XDR with APAC focus
Reviews
—
Licensing
Credit-based
Average score
7.6
- +Strong regional threat intelligence for Southeast Asian threat actors
- +Attack surface management included alongside detection and response
- +Risk-based prioritisation surfaces the highest-exposure assets first
- −Alert volume is high before tuning — significant initial rollout investment
- −Credit-based licensing makes forecasting harder than per-endpoint models
Best for Regional enterprises wanting cloud XDR with APAC-specific threat context
Watch out Understand the credit model thoroughly before committing to a term
Sophos Intercept X / XDR
Sophos
Consistently top-rated in SMB and mid-market
Reviews
—
Licensing
Per endpoint
Average score
7.9
- +Deep learning detection stops ransomware without relying on signatures
- +Security Heartbeat auto-isolates a compromised endpoint at the firewall
- +Among the easiest platforms in this table to operate with a small team
- −Managed through Sophos Central — no self-hosted management plane
- −Full detection and response capability requires the Sophos MDR add-on
Best for SMB and mid-market teams wanting strong protection with minimal operational load
Watch out May reach practical limits above roughly ten thousand endpoints
Cybereason XDR
Cybereason
Attack-chain visualisation
Reviews
—
Licensing
Per endpoint
Average score
7.6
- +Malop attack-chain view is genuinely strong for investigation workflow
- +On-premises deployment has historically been available — unusual in this category
- +Behavioural detection performs well against fileless and living-off-the-land techniques
- −Smaller vendor with less analyst coverage than tier-one competitors
- −Limited partner and support presence across Southeast Asia
Best for Teams wanting strong investigation UX with an on-premises option
Watch out Confirm current on-premises feature parity — it has historically trailed the SaaS build
Trellix XDR
Trellix
McAfee and FireEye lineage
Reviews
—
Licensing
Per endpoint
Average score
7.4
- +Hybrid deployment options including on-premises management
- +Broad existing install base in government and large enterprise
- +Strong network detection heritage from the FireEye side of the business
- −Post-merger product consolidation has made the portfolio harder to navigate
- −Management experience rated below newer platforms by most reviewers
Best for Existing McAfee or FireEye estates consolidating onto one platform
Watch out Clarify which components are current and which are in sunset before buying
Bitdefender GravityZone XDR
Bitdefender
Strong independent lab test results
Reviews
—
Licensing
Per endpoint
Average score
8.1
- +Consistently top results in AV-TEST and AV-Comparatives independent testing
- +On-premises GravityZone deployment available, unlike most XDR vendors here
- +One platform covers endpoints, servers, virtual machines and cloud workloads
- −Console navigation flagged as complex by a meaningful share of reviewers
- −Deep scans can affect performance on older endpoint hardware
Best for Organisations wanting proven detection with an on-premises management option
Watch out Verify which XDR features are available in the on-premises build specifically
Elastic Security
Elastic
Open platform — SIEM and endpoint
Reviews
—
Licensing
Free / resource-based tiers
Average score
8.1
- +Fully self-hostable with no vendor lock-in on your own data
- +Unified SIEM, endpoint and threat hunting on one searchable platform
- +Very large integration library and an active open community
- −Requires genuine Elasticsearch operational expertise to run well at scale
- −Machine learning and several security features sit behind paid tiers
Best for Engineering-capable teams wanting an open platform they fully control
Watch out The licence may be free but the operational cost is not — staff for it honestly
Wazuh
Wazuh Inc.
Open source — GPLv2
Reviews
—
Licensing
Free; paid support available
Average score
8.0
- +Genuinely free and open source with no licence cost at any scale
- +Mature rule engine, file integrity monitoring and configuration assessment
- +Fully self-hosted and air-gap capable with a large community rule base
- −The surrounding stack — indexer, dashboards, storage — is where the real cost lands
- −Operational burden falls entirely on your team unless a support contract is bought
Best for Teams with platform engineering capacity and a strong preference for open source
Watch out Budget for the indexing layer and the engineer who maintains it
Cisco XDR
Cisco
Network-led XDR
Reviews
—
Licensing
Per endpoint
Average score
7.1
- +Strongest network telemetry story of any platform in this table
- +Talos threat intelligence is among the largest research operations in the industry
- +Natural fit where Cisco networking is already the standard
- −SaaS delivery with no on-premises option for the XDR control plane
- −Full value depends on owning a broad amount of Cisco infrastructure
Best for Cisco-standardised enterprises wanting network and endpoint correlation
Watch out Assess how much of the value is contingent on further Cisco purchases
Fortinet FortiXDR
Fortinet
Security Fabric integration
Reviews
—
Licensing
Per endpoint
Average score
7.6
- +Tight integration with FortiGate firewalls and the wider Security Fabric
- +On-premises appliance and virtual machine options available
- +Competitive pricing where Fortinet hardware is already deployed
- −Detection breadth trails the specialist endpoint vendors in this table
- −Value is heavily dependent on already running Fortinet networking
Best for Fortinet-standardised networks wanting endpoint correlation without a new vendor
Watch out Evaluate detection quality on its own merits, not on Fabric convenience
ESET Inspect
ESET
Lightweight agent, on-premises capable
Reviews
—
Licensing
Per endpoint
Average score
8.2
- +On-premises ESET PROTECT server available — genuine self-hosted control plane
- +Very low endpoint performance impact compared with most agents here
- +Strong false-positive control, which reduces analyst load meaningfully
- −Managed detection service is less mature than managed-first competitors
- −Advanced threat intelligence features require additional tiers
Best for SMB and mid-market wanting self-hosted EDR with a light agent footprint
Watch out If you need a vendor-run SOC, this is not the strongest option in the table
Capability matrix
| Capability | NP | CS | MD | S1 | PA | TM | SO | CR | TX | BD | EL | WZ | CI | FT | ES |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Self-hosted deployment | ✓ | — | — | ~ | — | — | — | ~ | ~ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — | ~ | ✓ |
| Fully air-gapped operation | ✓ | — | — | — | — | — | — | ~ | ~ | ~ | ✓ | ✓ | — | ~ | ~ |
| Bundled network monitoring | ✓ | — | — | — | ~ | ~ | — | — | ~ | — | ~ | — | ✓ | ✓ | — |
| MITRE ATT&CK mapping | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| File integrity monitoring | ✓ | ~ | ~ | ~ | ~ | ~ | ~ | ~ | ✓ | ~ | ✓ | ✓ | — | ~ | ~ |
| YARA rule support | ✓ | ✓ | ~ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ~ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ~ | ✓ | ✓ |
| STIX / TAXII ingestion | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ~ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ~ |
| Behavioural analytics (UEBA) | ~ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ~ | ✓ | ✓ | ~ | ✓ | ~ | ✓ | ~ | ~ |
| SOAR / playbook automation | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ~ | ✓ | ✓ | ~ | ✓ | ~ | ✓ | ✓ | ~ |
| Flat per-unit licensing | ✓ | — | — | ~ | — | — | ~ | ~ | ~ | ~ | — | ✓ | ~ | ~ | ~ |
| No per-GB ingestion charge | ✓ | ~ | — | ~ | — | — | ~ | ~ | ~ | ~ | ~ | ✓ | ~ | ~ | ✓ |
✓ supported · ~ partial or requires an add-on · — not available
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Verification date pending. Vendors change packaging frequently — tell us if anything here is out of date and we will correct it.