Build vs Buy: Point Solutions vs XDR
Updated 26 March 2026
Should your organisation assemble a best-of-breed security stack from individual tools, or consolidate onto a unified XDR platform? The answer depends on team size, existing contracts, and how much integration overhead you can absorb.
The typical build stack and its cost
A comprehensive point-solution stack for 500 endpoints, 100 cloud workloads, and 500 users typically requires these components.
| Tool Category | Typical Cost |
|---|---|
| EDR (endpoint) | $8 to $15/ep/mo |
| SIEM | $15 to $30/GB/day or $20 to $50/ep/mo |
| Cloud Security (CSPM/CWPP) | $3 to $8/workload/mo |
| Email Security | $3 to $8/user/mo |
| Network Detection (NDR) | $5 to $15 per 100 endpoints monitored/mo |
| Identity Threat Detection (ITDR) | $3 to $7/user/mo |
| SOAR (automation) | $20,000 to $80,000/year flat |
Building a point-solution stack
Advantages
- ✓Best-of-breed capability in each category
- ✓No single vendor lock-in
- ✓Can replace one tool without disrupting others
- ✓Existing contracts and team expertise preserved
- ✓Higher customisation and detection rule control
Disadvantages
- ✕7 vendor relationships and contract renewals to manage
- ✕Integration work required for each tool pair
- ✕Analysts must context-switch between 7 consoles
- ✕No automatic cross-source correlation
- ✕Integration breaks when any vendor updates their API
Buying an XDR platform
Advantages
- ✓Native cross-source correlation without integration work
- ✓Single console for all security operations
- ✓Automatic attack timeline across all data sources
- ✓Lower integration maintenance burden
- ✓Often cheaper than equivalent point solution stack
Disadvantages
- ✕Single vendor dependency
- ✕Individual components may lag best-of-breed tools
- ✕Migration cost from existing tools
- ✕Vendor price increases affect your entire stack
- ✕Less flexibility for niche requirements
Total cost of ownership: 500 endpoints, 3-year view
Point solution stack
Tool licences (all 7)~$180,000/year
Integration work (one-time)~$40,000
Annual integration maintenance~$15,000/year
Extra analyst time (context-switching)~$30,000/year
3-year total~$769,000
XDR platform
XDR licence (advanced tier)~$66,000/year
Migration and deployment (one-time)~$25,000
Integration maintenance (minimal)~$5,000/year
Analyst productivity gain (saved)-$30,000/year
3-year total~$241,000
Estimates for illustrative purposes based on representative market pricing. Actual costs vary significantly by vendor, negotiation, and deployment complexity.