Managed Detection and Response ROI Calculator

Build the business case for MDR by stacking subscription spend against avoided breach losses. Provide your annual MDR contract cost, the baseline annualized loss expectancy, and the percent reduction in loss you expect once MDR is live. Layer optional onboarding fees to surface total investment, then see losses avoided, net benefit, ROI, and simple payback in months.

Total annual subscription and service fees for the MDR provider.
Expected annual breach loss (ALE) without MDR, including downtime, response, and fines.
Percentage drop in breach loss you expect after implementing MDR.
Defaults to $0.00. Add deployment fees, tuning, or integration labor.

Validate breach probability and loss estimates with your security, finance, and insurance teams before committing spend based on these projections.

Examples

  • Example 1 — $180,000.00 MDR cost, $1,250,000.00 baseline loss, 65% reduction, $35,000.00 onboarding ⇒ Losses avoided: $812,500.00 USD | Total MDR investment: $215,000.00 USD | Net benefit: $597,500.00 USD | ROI: 278.60% | Simple payback: 3.2 months
  • Example 2 — $240,000.00 MDR cost, $600,000.00 baseline loss, 30% reduction, onboarding left blank ⇒ Losses avoided: $180,000.00 USD | Total MDR investment: $240,000.00 USD | Net benefit: -$60,000.00 USD | ROI: -25.00% | Simple payback: Not reached

FAQ

How should I estimate the baseline annual loss?

Blend historical incidents, cyber insurance actuarial data, and industry breach benchmarks to quantify average loss per event and probability per year.

What reduction percentage should I use?

Start with independent studies or pilot metrics—many organizations model 40–70% reductions when MDR adds 24/7 monitoring and response beyond in-house coverage.

Can I include productivity gains from internal teams?

Yes. Translate reclaimed analyst hours into annual dollars and add them to the baseline loss exposure so the avoided loss reflects labor savings too.

How often should I refresh the model?

Revisit the calculator quarterly to fold in updated incident rates, new MDR pricing, or scope changes such as EDR rollout and cloud log sources.

Additional Information

  • Expected loss should include downtime, recovery services, fines, churn, and legal exposure to capture the full risk avoided.
  • ROI compares annual savings against first-year investment; update costs and reduction percentages as the MDR program matures.
  • Simple payback divides total investment by monthly losses avoided—use it to communicate time-to-value with finance leaders.
  • If onboarding is capitalized separately, set the optional field to zero so ROI aligns with your accounting treatment.
  • All outputs are denominated in USD but remain accurate in other currencies when inputs share the same unit.

Related calculators