Analyst report
Gartner® Market Guide for Managed Detection and Response
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What’s inside this Market Guide?
This Gartner® Market Guide for Managed Detection and Response is for anyone considering MDR service providers.
According to Gartner, “By 2029, 90% of initial findings from MDR providers will be processed and addressed with the support of AI models without any human action, up from 30% today.”
Wondering if you need the full report? Inside, you’ll find insights like:
- “Use MDR services to obtain 24/7, remotely delivered, security operations capabilities when there are no existing internal capabilities. MDR services should also be used when the organization needs to accelerate or augment existing security operations capabilities.”
- “Investigate whether the MDR provider’s service aligns with your business-driven requirements, such as data residency requirements, by using requests for proposals (RFPs) and proofs of concept (POCs). Determine whether the service provider successfully reacts to actionable findings that internal teams understand, rather than settling for recited technology outputs with no added analysis.”
What does Gartner look for in MDR services?
According to the 2026 report, Gartner identifies the following as core MDR requirements:
- A provider-hosted, provider-operated shared technology stack coordinating real-time detection, investigation, and mitigating response
- 24×7 staffing that recognizes customer-specific risk-based use cases, engages daily with individual customer data, with skills in threat monitoring, detection and hunting, threat intelligence, and remote response
- Immediate remote mitigative response, investigation, and containment beyond alerting—preapproved by the customer
- Turnkey delivery with predefined, pretuned processes and regularly evolving detection content
- Triaging and investigating all discovered threats regardless of priority, with no limits on volume or time
Who is this report for?
This Market Guide is written for security and risk management leaders evaluating MDR services, which are typically CISOs, security directors, and procurement teams building a vendor shortlist. We feel it’s most useful for organizations that are new to MDR, expanding existing security operations, or reassessing their current provider.
Want Expel’s take on the 2026 findings? Read our analysis of what changed this year, and why Expel was recognized for the eighth consecutive time.
Gartner, Market Guide for Managed Detection and Response, Andrew Davies, Angel Berrios, Eric Ahlm, Darren Livingstone, Craig Lawson, 9 September 2026.
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This graphic was published by Gartner, Inc. as part of a larger research document and should be evaluated in the context of the entire document. The Gartner document is available upon request from Expel.
Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
The Gartner Market Guide for MDR defines a market and explains what clients can expect it to do in the short term. With the focus on early, more chaotic markets, a Market Guide does not rate or position vendors within the market, but rather more commonly outlines attributes of representative vendors that are providing offerings in the market to give further insight into the market itself.
According to the 2026 Gartner Market Guide for MDR, providers must deliver: a provider-hosted and provider-operated technology stack that coordinates real-time detection, investigation, and mitigating response; 24×7 staffing that engages daily with individual customer data and brings skills in threat monitoring, detection and hunting, threat intelligence, and remote response; immediate remote mitigative response and containment beyond alerting, preapproved by the customer; turnkey delivery with pretuned processes and regularly evolving detection content; and triage and investigation of every discovered threat regardless of priority, with no limits on volume or time.
We believe the report is written for security and risk management leaders evaluating MDR services—typically CISOs, security directors, and procurement teams building a vendor shortlist. It’s the most useful for organizations new to MDR, expanding security operations, or reassessing an existing provider.
Yes. Expel has been recognized as a Representative Vendor in the Gartner Market Guide for Managed Detection and Response for eight consecutive years, including the 2026 edition.