AgileBlue
What AgileBlue actually does
AgileBlue is a SOC-as-a-service provider that bundles MDR with a SIEM platform built on top of the Elastic Stack. They’ve layered proprietary detection and correlation logic — what they call Cerulean — over Elastic to handle alert triage, threat correlation, and automated response. Logs flow in from endpoints, cloud workloads, network devices, identity providers, and SaaS applications. Their SOC analysts handle investigation and response.
The identity threat detection is worth calling out specifically. AgileBlue can monitor and respond to identity-based attacks in Microsoft environments — compromised credentials, lateral movement, privilege escalation — without requiring Microsoft 365 E5 licenses. Most competing MDR providers that offer identity threat detection either require Defender for Identity (E5) or charge for a separate identity module. AgileBlue includes it in the base platform.
They support environments up to around 5,000 endpoints. This is not an enterprise-scale SIEM replacement for organizations pushing petabytes of telemetry. It’s a bundled detection-and-response service for teams that want real monitoring without building a SOC or wrestling with SIEM cost models.
Who it’s best for
- Organizations with up to 5,000 endpoints that lack an in-house SOC
- Teams stuck paying unpredictable SIEM bills driven by log ingestion volume
- Microsoft shops on M365 Business Premium or E3 that need identity threat detection without upgrading to E5
- Companies replacing an underperforming MSSP that was forwarding alerts without context
- Cloud-heavy environments on AWS, Azure, or GCP that want native log ingestion without per-GB surprises
Pricing reality check
AgileBlue prices based on the number of endpoints monitored and the number of integrations connected to the SIEM — not on log ingestion volume. This is the key differentiator. Traditional SIEMs (Splunk, Sentinel, Sumo Logic) charge per GB ingested, which means your bill grows every time you add a data source, increase logging verbosity, or onboard a new cloud workload. AgileBlue’s model eliminates that cost creep entirely.
Because the SIEM is included in the service, the total cost is often meaningfully lower than buying a standalone SIEM plus a separate MDR contract. You’re paying one predictable number that covers detection, SIEM, and response. For mid-market organizations that have been burned by SIEM budget surprises, this pricing model alone is reason to evaluate.
Alternatives to consider
- Arctic Wolf — More established MDR with a concierge model and named security team. No built-in SIEM — integrates with your existing tools. Pricing is less transparent.
- Expel — Transparent MDR with strong automation and a customer-facing portal. Integrates with your existing SIEM rather than replacing it, so you still pay for the SIEM separately.
- Microsoft Sentinel + Defender — If you’re already on E5, Microsoft’s native stack covers SIEM and identity threat detection. But E5 licensing plus Sentinel ingestion costs add up fast.
- Rapid7 InsightIDR — Bundled SIEM and MDR at mid-market price points, but still uses ingestion-based pricing that can creep.
The Charting Cyber take
AgileBlue solves two problems that plague mid-market security teams: unpredictable SIEM costs and the E5 licensing tax for identity threat detection. The per-endpoint pricing model is genuinely refreshing — you know what you’re paying before the bill arrives, and it doesn’t punish you for logging more data.
The Elastic Stack foundation is solid. It gives AgileBlue the query performance and scalability of a proven platform without the licensing overhead of running Elastic Security yourself. The proprietary Cerulean layer adds the correlation and automation that raw Elastic doesn’t provide out of the box.
If you have fewer than 5,000 endpoints, need SOC coverage, and are tired of SIEM bills that grow faster than your environment, AgileBlue should be on the shortlist. The identity detection without E5 is a bonus that most competitors can’t match at this price point.