Should a 200-person company run endpoint detection itself or pay for a managed service?

For most 200-person companies, I’d pay for managed detection and response (MDR) rather than try to run endpoint monitoring entirely in-house. The deciding factor isn’t headcount by itself—it’s whether you already have people who can monitor alerts, investigate them, and respond reliably outside business hours.

A useful distinction: buying endpoint detection and response (EDR) software is not the same as operating it. EDR creates visibility and alerts; someone still needs to decide what’s real and contain threats. If your IT team is already stretched, a tool that nobody can consistently monitor may provide less protection than its feature list suggests. A managed provider can offer round-the-clock coverage without your company staffing its own security operations center. (nvlpubs.nist.gov)

A practical approach

• Choose MDR if you lack dedicated security staff, need after-hours coverage, or wouldn’t be able to investigate and contain a serious alert promptly.
• Run it in-house if you have capable security staff with clear ownership, coverage, and tested incident-response procedures—not just an IT team that checks alerts when time allows.
• Consider a hybrid if you have a security lead but not 24/7 coverage: your team sets policies and owns decisions; the provider monitors, investigates, and helps contain incidents.

When evaluating providers, ask specifically whether they actively investigate and contain threats or merely forward alerts; what their response times and hours are; whether isolation or remediation is included; and what happens during a major incident or provider outage. Get the responsibilities, escalation rules, access to logs, and service levels in writing. CISA recommends defining requirements and using service-level agreements, while also considering the provider’s access and the risks of relying on a third party. (cisa.gov)

Bottom line: Unless you already have a staffed security function, outsource the monitoring and response—but keep internal ownership of risk decisions, endpoint policies, and incident coordination. Don’t outsource accountability along with the alerts.

Short answer: for most 200-person companies, buy a managed service (MDR). The exception is if you already have a security team that can staff alerts around the clock.

Why MDR usually wins at this size

• Staffing is the real cost. One in-house analyst is roughly $120k a year in median pay, per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and you need more than one to cover 24 hours, 7 days, 365 days. Vendor estimates put a full in-house SOC at $700K-$900K per year minimum for 24/7 coverage. Those are vendor figures, so treat them as directional.
• EDR without someone watching is a common failure. One guide notes that for organizations without a dedicated security operations team, self-managed EDR often creates a false sense of security: the tool is deployed but alerts go untriaged.
• Insurers increasingly ask about response time. One broker says EDR without 24/7 monitoring fails most 2026 insurance questionnaires on the "mean time to respond" question. Check your actual policy and renewal questionnaire, since this is a vendor's claim.

Rough cost at 200 people

Endpoint count is my assumption: roughly 250 to 300 devices including servers. Using the $15–30 per endpoint per month range that vendors cite, that's about $45k–$90k a year for MDR. Compare that with a few six-figure salaries plus tooling. Note that server endpoints are usually priced at a 2–3x premium over workstation endpoints, so get quotes that show server pricing separately.

When running it yourself makes sense

• You already have a SOC or analysts covering nights and weekends.
• You have strict data-residency or regulatory constraints that a provider can't meet.
• Your environment is unusual enough that a generic provider would struggle.

Practical approach

• Keep ownership of policy, exclusions, and the relationship with the provider. Outsource the 24/7 monitoring and first response.
• Ask providers for contractual response-time SLAs, what counts as containment (for example, can they isolate hosts without waiting for you?), and how they handle false positives.
• Check that the offering covers identity and email, not just endpoints, since many attacks start there.
• Compare at least three providers. Most sources I found were vendor or reseller blogs with a commercial interest in MDR, so verify pricing with actual quotes.

For a 200-person company, the decision to run endpoint detection in-house versus paying for a managed service (MDR) is rarely about the quality of the software—it is about staffing, risk tolerance, and operational capacity.

Most organizations of your size find that a managed service is the more practical and secure choice. Here is the breakdown of why, and how to evaluate your path forward.

The Reality Check: In-House vs. Managed

The central conflict is whether your internal IT team has the time and specialized expertise to act as a 24/7 Security Operations Center (SOC).

Why Managed Service (MDR) is Often Best for 200 Employees

1. The "Alert Fatigue" Problem: Modern EDR tools generate a massive volume of telemetry. If you run this in-house without a dedicated security analyst, your IT generalists will quickly become overwhelmed by "noise." This often leads to missed critical alerts because the team is exhausted by false positives.
2. The 24/7 Gap: Cyberattacks do not respect business hours. An attacker who gains access on a Friday night has until Monday morning to move laterally and deploy ransomware if you do not have someone watching the console 24/7.
3. Cost of Scaling: To build a true, resilient 24/7 internal capability, you would need to hire multiple analysts to cover shifts, weekends, and vacations—a massive investment that is rarely justifiable for a 200-person firm.

When In-House Might Make Sense

You should only consider running endpoint detection in-house if you meet all of the following criteria:

• Dedicated Security Talent: You have at least one or two full-time security engineers whose primary job is security operations, not general IT support.
• High Control Requirements: You operate in an environment with extreme privacy or compliance constraints that strictly forbid third-party access to your logs.
• High Alert Fidelity: You have the time and expertise to tune your EDR tools so finely that they only trigger on genuine, high-priority threats, avoiding the "noise" that drowns out small teams.

The Hybrid "Middle Ground"

If a full managed service feels like too much of a "black box" or a loss of control, consider these common compromises:

• Managed EDR: You use a top-tier EDR tool (like CrowdStrike or SentinelOne), but you purchase it through a partner that provides a "managed" wrapper, handling the alert triage and escalation for you while you retain access to the platform for visibility.
• Incident Response Retainer: You manage the daily alerts yourself, but you keep a third-party incident response firm on retainer. This ensures that if a major breach occurs, you have experts ready to step in immediately.

Recommendation

For a 200-person company, look for a Managed Detection and Response (MDR) provider.

The goal for your size is not to become a security company, but to maintain a secure business. Outsourcing the "heavy lifting" of 24/7 monitoring allows your internal IT staff to focus on strategic tasks that support the company's growth rather than chasing alerts at 3 a.m.

Next Steps:

1. Inventory your assets: Know exactly what you need to protect before getting quotes.
2. Define your risk tolerance: Are you okay with an alert waiting until Monday morning, or do you need immediate containment?
3. Vet providers based on response: Don't just ask what they detect; ask what they do when they detect it. Do they just email you a ticket, or do they actively isolate the machine to stop the spread?

For most 200-person companies, pay for managed detection and response (MDR), while keeping internal ownership of security decisions and incident response. Running endpoint detection yourself only makes sense if you already have people and processes to monitor alerts and respond reliably, including outside business hours.

The key distinction: EDR is the endpoint security technology; MDR adds people who monitor, investigate, and help respond to alerts. NIST’s small-business guide specifically suggests engaging a service provider to monitor for suspicious activity when you lack the internal resources. ¹ MDR can provide access to continuous monitoring and security expertise without building that coverage entirely in-house. ¹³

A practical rule of thumb: one continuously staffed monitoring seat needs more than four full-time people just to cover the hours, before accounting for leave, training, and other work. ¹² That’s a substantial commitment for a 200-person company unless security operations are already part of your business.

Consider running it in-house if you have an experienced security team, can provide dependable after-hours coverage, and want direct control over investigations and response. Consider MDR if your IT staff is small, alerts might go unattended overnight or on weekends, or you need faster access to specialist investigation and response.

Whichever route you choose, don’t treat outsourcing as handing over all responsibility. Retain an internal owner, agree in advance on who can isolate devices or disable accounts, and test your incident-response plan. NIST emphasizes defining response responsibilities and preparing before an incident occurs. ¹ CISA also recommends assessing provider and supply-chain risks and setting clear operational controls. ¹¹

When evaluating MDR providers, ask about:

• What endpoints and operating systems are covered—and what is excluded?
• Is monitoring truly 24/7? What are the response and escalation targets?
• Can the provider take containment actions, or only recommend them? What approval is needed?
• How are incidents documented, and how are logs and evidence retained?
• What happens during a serious incident, including support for recovery and coordination with your existing IT team?
• What are the contract, data-handling, and transition terms?

Bottom line: If you can’t confidently staff and operate detection and response around the clock, buy MDR rather than merely buying EDR software. Keep accountability, incident authority, and recovery planning in-house.