Guide · Updated · 6 min read

Agentic SOC vs MDR vs SIEM vs MSSP. Which model fits, and when each is the better choice.

A security operations centre (SOC) is the function that watches for attacks and responds to them. There are four ways to run one: in-house on a SIEM (a security information and event management platform, staffed by your own analysts); outsourced to a managed detection and response (MDR) service; through a managed security service provider (MSSP) that runs tools and people for many clients; or agentic, where an AI agent runs the operation under a policy you set. This page compares them on the questions buyers actually ask, and says plainly when each is the right answer.

Start with the free posture scan First: what "agentic" means

The four models, on the questions that decide it.

The descriptions of SIEM, MDR and MSSP are of the model, not of any one vendor; a good provider in any model beats a poor one in another. The agentic column describes Cyvantic, with its figures measured on real alerts and incidents.

In-house SIEMMDR serviceMSSPAgentic SOC (Cyvantic)
Who investigates each alertYour analysts, on the shifts you can staffThe provider's analysts, usually tiered, usually sampled by severityThe provider's analysts, against a service levelThe agent, on every alert, at any hour; your people review and approve
Coverage hoursWhat your rota covers; nights and weekends are the common gap24×7 by contract24×7 by contract24×7 by construction; out-of-hours containment is a policy setting
Alert to executed containmentHours, set by staffing and tool sprawlSet by the service level; the provider often recommends, you executeSet by the service level and the change windowUnder ten minutes typical, verified twice on the way, executed through your approval gate · measured on real alerts and incidents
ScopeWhatever you ingest and write detections forUsually endpoint-led, with identity and cloud added at a priceThe tools in the contractIdentity, mail, endpoint, cloud, documents and anything with an API, normalised to one shape so one investigation crosses them
Evidence per verdictWhatever the analyst writes upA ticket summary; raw evidence on requestA ticket summaryEvery claim cites the event it rests on; click through from the verdict to the raw record
Threat huntingIf someone has the timePeriodic, often an add-onIf contractedContinuous and hypothesis-driven; a finding becomes a case or a risk-register entry
Posture and compliance evidenceSeparate toolsUsually out of scopeSometimes, as a separate serviceIncluded: a configuration scan with framework views, a live risk register, compliance evidence drawn from what the platform sees
Tuning noisy rulesYour job, foreverDone in the provider's tooling, not yoursDone in the provider's toolingDone at the source, in the consoles you own, so the stack you keep gets quieter
Where your data livesWith youWith the provider, in their regionWith the providerIn the region you choose at sign-up, fixed from then on, isolated per tenant; your data trains nothing
What you pay forLicences per GB ingested, plus salaries, plus the tools around the SIEMPer endpoint or per user per month, with a termPer seat or per service, with a termUsage (data ingested with retention, plus the AI work, inside caps you set) or a fixed monthly figure; no seats, no tiers, no minimum term
ContractAnnual licencesTypically one to three yearsTypically one to three yearsMonthly; stop when you like
Autonomy and controlTotal, and all yours to buildThe provider acts to the runbook you agreedThe provider acts to the runbook you agreedPropose by default; autonomy dialled per action type; every action through one gate and into a tamper-evident ledger

Investigation cost on Cyvantic is typically a few dollars per full investigation; it varies with case complexity and every run stays inside a hard cap you set. Pricing in full.

When each one is the better choice.

choose an in-house SIEM when

You already have the people

A staffed, round-the-clock team with detection engineers and a tolerable alert volume loses little by keeping the operation in house. The gain from an agent is largest where alerts outrun people, and a strong team can also run an agent inside its own SIEM-centred operation.

choose MDR when

Endpoint is the whole problem

If your risk is concentrated on endpoints and you want a provider's analysts to own that one thing, with a contract and a service level you can hold them to, a good MDR is a clean answer. It is also the right choice if you need named human analysts on every case by regulation or contract.

choose an MSSP when

You want one supplier for everything

A provider that runs your firewalls, your identity, your awareness training and your monitoring under one contract suits an organisation that wants a single accountable supplier. Ask which platform they run it on: many now run an agentic one.

choose agentic when

Alerts outrun people

Small teams, growing estates, more products than analysts, nights uncovered, a board asking for evidence: this is where an agent that investigates everything, cites everything and acts only inside your policy changes the economics. Also when you want the operation to stay yours: your data, your region, your consoles tuned.

they combine

Not either or

A provider can run the agentic platform for you, with you holding the approval gate. An MDR for endpoints can sit beside an agent that covers identity, mail and cloud. The posture scan runs under any of the four models, because it needs no logs at all.

whatever you choose

Start with the configuration

Every model investigates better on an estate whose doors are set right. A read-only posture scan takes minutes and shows what to fix first, before you spend on monitoring.

Asked when comparing the models.

Is an agentic SOC a replacement for MDR?
For many organisations, yes: it covers what MDR covers (detection and response on the alerts) and what MDR usually does not (identity, mail and cloud as first-class sources, hunting, posture, compliance evidence, tuning your own tools). For an organisation whose risk is endpoints alone, or that must have a named analyst on every case, a good MDR remains the right choice, and the two can run side by side.
Do I still need a SIEM?
You need an event store and a way to query it; whether you call it a SIEM is a naming question. Cyvantic ingests every product into one store normalised to the Open Cybersecurity Schema Framework (OCSF), keeps the raw payload, and speaks the Kusto Query Language in its console, so analysts who know a SIEM feel at home. If you already own one, Cyvantic connects to it and tunes its noisy rules at the source.
How does the price compare?
The models price differently, which makes a like-for-like figure hard. A SIEM charges per gigabyte and then needs people; MDR and MSSP charge per endpoint, user or seat on a term. Cyvantic charges for usage (data with retention, plus the AI work, inside caps you set) or a fixed monthly figure, with no seats, tiers or minimum term, and a full investigation typically costs a few dollars. Every quote states the rates; the pricing page has the detail.
What about the human in the loop?
In every model a human decides something. The difference is what they decide. In a SIEM they decide everything, including the drudgery. In MDR and MSSP they decide to the runbook. In an agentic SOC the agent does the investigation and proposes; your people approve, and raise the agent's autonomy per action type only when they are ready. Out-of-hours containment of a confirmed account takeover is a common first delegation.

Whichever model you choose, start with the doors.

The free posture scan reads how your accounts, cloud and email domain are configured and gives you a score in minutes with the fixes in order. Read-only, no logs collected. No charge, no sales call required, no credit card.

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