5ironCyber vs Data-Tech Managed SOC (Guardian): Side-by-Side Comparison (2026)

5ironCyber

Mid-market and smaller enterprise teams without dedicated SOC staff should pick 5ironCyber for its US-based 24/7 operations center that actually investigates and contains threats rather than just alerting on them. The vendor covers four of five NIST Detect and Respond functions, with particular strength in continuous monitoring and incident mitigation through active containment. Skip this if you need a platform that also handles recovery and forensics at the depth required for heavily regulated industries; 5ironCyber prioritizes stopping the attack over post-incident investigation.

Data-Tech Managed SOC (Guardian)

SMBs and mid-market shops without dedicated security staff should run Guardian if they need 24/7 monitoring without building a SOC; the SIEMless architecture and 35+ integrated security product connectors mean you're not stranded if your EDR or firewall vendor changes. The PSA ticketing integration cuts alert noise by routing only actionable findings to your IT team, which matters when you're thin on headcount. Skip this if your priority is incident recovery and forensics over detection; Guardian's NIST coverage is strong on continuous monitoring and threat analysis but light on the RS.MI mitigation and RS.AN investigation depth you'd need for complex breach response.