Elastic InfoSec Slashes SOC Costs 5× with Specialized Agent Workflow

What We Tested

Elastic InfoSec evaluated two agentic SOC designs in production, feeding 36,822 real Agent Builder conversations into each. The goal: determine which setup delivers the lowest cost per alert investigation.

Cost Breakdown

• Single broad agent with on‑demand skills: $3.42 per investigation.
• Specialized, deterministic workflow of dedicated agents: $0.69 per investigation.

The difference is 5.7×. At 100 investigations daily, the bill jumps from roughly $1,080/month to $8,000/month—a clear $8,000 monthly savings.

Architecture Comparison

• Single‑Agent with Skills – One agent holds a library of 14 skills (macOS forensics, Windows forensics, AWS CloudTrail, Okta, etc.). It loads skills on demand, making it flexible for unpredictable analyst paths. No orchestration layer; all logic lives inside the agent.
• Specialized Agent Workflow – A deterministic orchestration layer triggers a series of domain‑specific agents. Each agent follows a fixed methodology written into its system prompt, eliminating runtime skill lookup. The workflow enriches alerts, performs low‑risk auto‑closure, and routes uncertain cases to the appropriate specialized agents, with a final review agent compiling the verdict.

When to Use Each

• Start small: If your team is new to Agent Builder or has limited capacity to maintain multiple agents, deploy a single broad agent for high‑severity alerts. It’s quick to set up and covers a wide range of scenarios.
• Scale volume: As alert volume grows and you identify recurring investigation types, shift those high‑frequency cases to the specialized workflow. The deterministic nature keeps costs predictable and low.
• Hybrid approach: Keep the single‑agent front door for all alerts, but route only the highest‑volume or most expensive investigations to the specialized fleet.

Takeaways

Elastic’s data shows that a well‑engineered, domain‑specific agent workflow can deliver dramatic cost savings without sacrificing investigative depth. The key is to match the architecture to your alert mix and team maturity. By running a side‑by‑side cost comparison in your own environment, you can confirm the same 5× benefit and free up budget for other security priorities.