Managed SOC pricing covers security monitoring, threat detection, and incident response across your environment. Most of the time, costs scale with the number of users or devices (endpoints) it covers. 

Many providers:

• Charge per user or per endpoint for security tools like EDR/XDR, SIEM, and ITDR

• Then add another fee for the managed SOC team to actually watch those tools and respond to alerts

For example, you’ll often see:

• Per-user licenses are priced in the tens to hundreds of dollars per user per month

• Per-endpoint plans in the high single digits to tens of dollars per device per month

It’s normal to charge for each cybersecurity tool, like Managed EDR or Managed SIEM, and then again for a managed SOC to watch them. Some brands offer tiered subscriptions or packages that bundle features. But even within those, 24/7 SOC coverage, faster SLAs, and remediations are frequently pushed into higher tiers or sold as separate add-ons.

Huntress takes a different approach: The SOC, technology, and remediation all come in one package. You’re not buying a SIEM and then paying extra for someone to actually watch it—we bundle 24/7 SOC oversight into our per-endpoint, per-identity, per-source, and per-learner pricing.

SOC vs. managed SOC

A SOC is an internal team that makes sure your organization’s security controls are working the way they’re supposed to. It’s made up of several cybersecurity and IT specialists who set up and handle all the advanced tools needed to spot and respond to cyber threats.

A managed SOC, often called a SOC-as-a-service, is an outsourced team from a third-party that watches your cybersecurity from off-site. It’s also called SOC-as-a-service (SOCaaS), and providers are often referred to as Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs). Most providers sell you the kit (EDR, ITDR, SIEM)—and might even help you set it up—but they’ll charge extra for monitoring. Huntress includes managed SOC services with all the products we sell at no extra cost, rolling all your cybersecurity needs into one service.

With traditional vendors, you often end up paying twice: once for the platform (like SIEM) and again for someone to watch it. Here’s an SOC cost breakdown showing what can drastically affect the final cost of outsourcing your SOC:

• Users: Per-user pricing models might seem more predictable, but with more users comes extra login activity and endpoint devices, creating more activity that the SOC needs to monitor.

• Devices/endpoints: Some managed SOCs charge per device or endpoint. This is a more transparent way to calculate prices because it reflects each asset covered.

• Products: Most services split up their packages into EDR/XDR, SEIM, and ITDR, with optional SAT on the side, but some require you to buy into their ecosystem of productivity or collaboration tools, too.

• Incident response coverage: Some services charge extra for 24/7 coverage while only operating during business hours. With Huntress, you’ll receive around-the-clock protection against attacks.

• Monitoring versus remediation: Packages that only offer monitoring are much cheaper but not nearly as useful. While it’s helpful to have someone alert you to an attack, it won’t do much good if there’s no one around to remediate it.

• Regulatory compliance: If you need to adhere to frameworks like CMMC, HIPAA, or PCI, your costs can increase dramatically to offset other infrastructure and operational expenses.

Getting a managed SOC up and running involves multiple systems and line items, and many providers take that as an opportunity to slip in hidden fees and requirements. 

Let’s say, for example, a managed endpoint security service has two plans, and both need a custom quote. But before you consider signing up, you’ll need to buy into their newest platform. Want to save money by getting the smaller package? Sorry, you’ll also need a mid-tier plan, too.

After you’ve done all that, you can chat with the providers about pricing for the managed service itself. While you’re getting your custom quote, they’ll try to sell you on add-ons, like fast response times, 24/7 coverage, and advanced monitoring. (You know, all the things you wanted the managed SOC for in the first place.) Add to that setup and implementation fees, 3–6 months of operating costs, and overage fees. By the end, you have a pretty hefty bill.

If all these hidden fees and scaling costs seem overcomplicated, you’re not wrong. Here’s a straightforward five-step process you can follow when you’re shopping for a managed SOC.

1. Verify what's included in the base price

First, you’ll need to figure out what you’re paying for. Here’s how: 

• Pick one of the services you’re considering, and head to their site’s pricing page. 

• Scope out all the features in each package, and look for details about cost and use cases. 

• Pick the package that gives you everything you need.
  
  

2. Identify all potential costs

Check out the pricing page for caveats and footnotes that say things like “Requires X product.” Search the site for other products or subscriptions and price those out, too. 

3. Compare pricing models (per-endpoint vs. per-user vs. flat-rate)

Some providers offer ways to scale costs, but if you’re buying services a la carte, the logical default is per-endpoint for EDR (each device) and per-user for SIEM (each user).

4. Check response time guarantees at your tier

If the costs seem reasonable, focus on what you’re actually getting. Some things, like around-the-clock incident response, aren't included. Be sure to state this alongside your response time service level agreements (SLAs); if not, they’re probably going to try to sell you add-ons.

5. Test transparency and predictability

As you move toward the end of the checkout flow, take one last look over everything to identify overage fees, potential price increases, and setup or operational costs. Huntress, for example, charges zero setup or implementation fees and keeps overage charges separate (not auto-billed) for transparency.

Our mission at Huntress is to bring world-class cybersecurity to organizations that are scaling up but don’t have enterprise-sized budgets or security teams. A 24/7 SOC isn’t a “nice to have” in today’s threat landscape; it’s essential. 

Every customer benefits from our industry-leading mean time to respond for EDR (eight minutes) and similarly rapid, around-the-clock incident handling across the platform—plus deep expertise and human-written guidance instead of automated, noisy alerts.

For many vendors, a managed SOC is a high-margin, premium add-on that only shows up at the very end of the sales cycle. By then, you’ve already committed to a stack of tools and licenses—and upgrading to a higher tier or adding a SOC SKU is the only way to get the coverage you actually need.

Huntress flips that script:

• 24/7 managed SOC coverage comes standard with every Huntress product.

• Straightforward per-unit pricing keeps costs predictable as you grow.

• Active remediation and human-written incident reporting turn alerts into clear, actionable outcomes.