Clear trade-offs, honestly stated
How Heimdall and Ragnarøk compare with the approaches teams usually weigh them against — and when the alternative still makes sense.
Heimdall vs an in-house SOC
- Coverage
- Heimdall24/7, with human escalation
- In-house SOCDepends on shifts and hiring
- Time to coverage
- HeimdallWeeks: connect, baseline, agree escalation
- In-house SOCMonths to hire and train
- Noise
- HeimdallAutomation clears volume; people take the hard calls
- In-house SOCAnalysts triage everything
- Cost shape
- HeimdallMonthly service
- In-house SOCSalaries, tooling and turnover
| Heimdall | In-house SOC | |
|---|---|---|
| Coverage | 24/7, with human escalation | Depends on shifts and hiring |
| Time to coverage | Weeks: connect, baseline, agree escalation | Months to hire and train |
| Noise | Automation clears volume; people take the hard calls | Analysts triage everything |
| Cost shape | Monthly service | Salaries, tooling and turnover |
When the alternative makes sense: If you have the budget and need full-time analysts embedded in your teams, building in-house can be right. Many teams start with Heimdall and build later.
Heimdall vs alert-forwarding MDR
- What reaches you
- HeimdallInvestigated cases with evidence and a next step
- Alert-forwarding MDRAlerts passed on for your team to judge
- Who decides
- HeimdallA named analyst who knows your environment
- Alert-forwarding MDRWhoever is on shift, often via a ticket
- Sources
- HeimdallIdentity, cloud, SaaS, email and endpoint in one queue
- Alert-forwarding MDROften limited to one vendor’s endpoint agent
- Audit evidence
- HeimdallLogged as you operate, mapped to controls
- Alert-forwarding MDRExported on request
| Heimdall | Alert-forwarding MDR | |
|---|---|---|
| What reaches you | Investigated cases with evidence and a next step | Alerts passed on for your team to judge |
| Who decides | A named analyst who knows your environment | Whoever is on shift, often via a ticket |
| Sources | Identity, cloud, SaaS, email and endpoint in one queue | Often limited to one vendor’s endpoint agent |
| Audit evidence | Logged as you operate, mapped to controls | Exported on request |
When the alternative makes sense: If you already run a capable internal team and only need overnight eyes on one product’s alerts, a lighter MDR may be enough.
Ragnarøk vs an annual pentest
- Cadence
- RagnarøkSelf-serve rescans on paid plans
- Annual pentestOnce or twice a year
- Output
- RagnarøkFindings with evidence and fix guidance
- Annual pentestA report at the end of the engagement
- Attack surface
- RagnarøkReassess when you rescan
- Annual pentestA snapshot of the test window
- Fix verification
- RagnarøkRetest from the report while quota remains
- Annual pentestUsually next year’s test
| Ragnarøk | Annual pentest | |
|---|---|---|
| Cadence | Self-serve rescans on paid plans | Once or twice a year |
| Output | Findings with evidence and fix guidance | A report at the end of the engagement |
| Attack surface | Reassess when you rescan | A snapshot of the test window |
| Fix verification | Retest from the report while quota remains | Usually next year’s test |
When the alternative makes sense: If a regulator or customer requires a point-in-time test from a specific firm, you may still need one. Ragnarøk covers the gaps in between — and manual pentests are quoted separately.
Ragnarøk vs a vulnerability scanner
- Findings
- RagnarøkEvidence and remediation in the report
- Vulnerability scannerRaw results, including false positives
- Prioritisation
- RagnarøkRanked by severity and reachability
- Vulnerability scannerRanked by CVSS score
- Fix guidance
- RagnarøkWritten for engineers in the finding
- Vulnerability scannerGeneric vendor advisories
- Human work
- RagnarøkManual pentest / remediation quoted separately
- Vulnerability scannerNone — you triage the output
| Ragnarøk | Vulnerability scanner | |
|---|---|---|
| Findings | Evidence and remediation in the report | Raw results, including false positives |
| Prioritisation | Ranked by severity and reachability | Ranked by CVSS score |
| Fix guidance | Written for engineers in the finding | Generic vendor advisories |
| Human work | Manual pentest / remediation quoted separately | None — you triage the output |
When the alternative makes sense: If you have engineers with time to triage raw output and only need broad hygiene checks, a scanner alone is a reasonable start.
See how it would run on your stack
Thirty minutes. We’ll map where you’re thin today, how Svalbard would operate, what go-live looks like — and whether we’re the right fit.