Analyst Report
“Expel’s strategy continues to successfully strike a balance between human delivery and software-enabled platforms that few in the cybersecurity market can replicate.”
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What is the Forrester Wave™: Managed Detection and Response Services?
The Forrester Wave™ is an independent research methodology that evaluates technology and services vendors across a defined market. For each report, Forrester analysts score vendors on dozens of criteria grouped into three dimensions: current offering, strategy, and market presence.
The resulting report helps security leaders shortlist MDR providers with independent, data-driven analysis rather than relying solely on vendor marketing.
What Forrester evaluated in Q1 2025 for Managed Detection and Response Services?
In the Q1 2025 evaluation, Forrester assessed 10 MDR providers across three dimensions:
- Current offering: Detection and response capabilities, coverage breadth across endpoint, cloud, identity, and network, investigation quality, response speed, and transparency of operations
- Strategy: Product vision, innovation roadmap, partner ecosystem, and how well each provider’s approach aligns with how enterprise security is evolving
- Market presence: Customer base, revenue, and growth trajectory
Providers were designated as Leaders, Strong Performers, Contenders, or Challengers based on their combined scores.
Expel was designated a Leader.
Why Expel was named a Leader?
Forrester specifically called out Expel’s balance of human-led investigation and software-enabled platforms as a differentiator in the market. For buyers evaluating MDR providers, this distinction matters: many MDR services rely heavily on automated alerting.
Expel’s model emphasizes analyst judgment at every stage, from initial detection through containment and response.
Forrester also noted: “Expel is an excellent choice for tech-forward enterprise customers looking for a premium provider to manage the entirety of the detection and response lifecycle.”
Who is this report for?
The Forrester Wave for MDR Services is most useful for security leaders actively evaluating MDR providers—typically CISOs, security architects, or procurement teams building a vendor shortlist. If you’re deciding between MDR vendors, this is the independent analysis that narrows the field.
Want Expel’s take on what this recognition means? Read our CEO’s perspective on the Q1 2025 Forrester Wave: MDR Services findings.
Forrester does not endorse any company, product, brand, or service included in its research publications and does not advise any person to select the products or services of any company or brand based on the ratings included in such publications. Information is based on the best available resources. Opinions reflect judgment at the time and are subject to change. For more information, read about Forrester’s objectivity here .