Managed SIEM cost in 2026: MSSP pricing, what's included, in-house comparison
Independent reference for managed SIEM pricing. Monthly ranges by organisation size, the line items every MSSP contract should specify, in-house vs managed cost comparison, and where managed SIEM ends and MDR begins.
What is managed SIEM pricing in 2026?
Managed SIEM pricing runs roughly $3,000-$5,000 per month for small businesses (under 100 endpoints, business-hours coverage), $5,000-$15,000 per month for mid-market (100-1,000 endpoints, 24x7 triage), $15,000-$50,000 per month for enterprise (1,000-10,000 endpoints, dedicated SOC capacity), and $50,000-$150,000+ per month for large enterprise. That is $36K to $1.8M+ per year depending on scale and scope. MSSPs price on one of four structures: per-endpoint ($15-$50 per asset per month), per-GB ($0.50-$2.00 per GB per day), flat monthly tier, or a hybrid of per-asset plus GB overage. The headline rate usually excludes incident response hours, custom detection development, and threat hunting, so the quoted figure is a floor. The in-house alternative, a genuine 24x7 SOC of 5-6 analyst FTEs, costs $450K-$900K per year fully loaded before SIEM licensing, which is why managed SIEM almost always wins under 1,000 endpoints.
Managed SIEM pricing by org size
Business-hours coverage, basic alerts, monthly reports
24x7 monitoring, alert triage, weekly reports, basic IR support
24x7 SOC, custom rules, dedicated CSM, IR retainer, threat hunts
Multi-region, dedicated team, custom integrations, board-level reporting
MSSP pricing structures
Four common pricing structures across MSSPs. Most providers will offer two or more depending on your environment.
In-house 24x7 SOC: what does it really cost?
A genuine 24x7 SOC requires shift coverage. Eight analyst-hours per shift, three shifts per day, plus shift overlap and leave coverage averages 5-6 FTE for the frontline tiers, plus engineering and leadership.
| Role | Count | Salary | Annual cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 analyst | 4 | $85K + 28% benefits | $435K |
| Tier 2 analyst | 2 | $110K + 28% benefits | $282K |
| Tier 3 / lead | 1 | $145K + 28% benefits | $186K |
| SIEM engineer | 1 | $130K + 28% benefits | $166K |
| Total fully loaded | $1.07M/yr |
Salaries reflect 2026 US market rates from Robert Half and Mandiant compensation surveys. Add SIEM platform licensing on top: typically $150K-$500K for the environment a 1,000-employee organisation generates.
When managed SIEM makes sense
- Org under 1,000 endpoints
- No security operations capability today
- Compliance demands 24x7 monitoring
- Hiring market makes SOC building impractical
- Predictable monthly bill matters more than control
- Org over 5,000 endpoints with budget for talent
- Custom detection logic core to business
- Existing SOC ops capability with retention
- Data sensitivity prohibits MSSP access
- Threat hunting and red team coordination matters