Sentra vs Tines: which AI SOC fits your team in 2026?
TL;DR: Tines is a no-code workflow automation tool beloved by security engineers, with a strong free tier and an active community. Sentra is an autonomous AI SOC — the detections, triage and response are the product. If you have a security engineering team that enjoys building, pick Tines. If you want the SOC to already exist when you log in, pick Sentra. Many teams currently pay for both; Sentra is designed so SMB and mid-market teams can collapse that into one.
At a glance
| Sentra | Tines | |
|---|---|---|
| Target customer | SMB & mid-market security buyers | Security engineers & builders |
| Product category | AI SOC (end-to-end) | No-code security workflow automation |
| Pricing model | Flat platform fee | Free Community Edition + paid tiers |
| Live Ops Theatre | Yes — visual ops feed | No — story canvas + run logs |
| Detection-as-code | Built-in, YAML in Git | You build stories yourself |
| Auto-remediation | Default-on, pre-built playbooks | You design every action |
| Free tier | 14-day full trial | Yes — Community Edition (single user) |
| MDR replacement | Yes | No — Tines is workflows, not a SOC |
| Setup time | ~1 day to first detections | Hours per story, ongoing |
| Where it shines | Out-of-the-box SOC, CISO-facing | Custom workflows, security engineering teams |
| Where it doesn't | Generic IT / business workflow automation | Teams without engineers to build stories |
When Tines wins
Tines has earned its reputation honestly. There are environments where it is clearly the better choice:
- You have at least one security engineer who enjoys building automations and owns the SOAR layer.
- Your workflows extend beyond security into IT, HR and ops — Tines is great as a general no-code glue.
- You want a free tier to prototype with before any procurement conversation.
- You already have a SOC (in-house, MDR, or EDR-vendor) and just need a better workflow tool around it.
- Your engineering culture values craft and customisation over opinionated defaults.
If any of those describe you, Sentra is probably not what you are shopping for, and that is fine. Sentra is opinionated software for a different buyer.
When Sentra wins
The most common Sentra-vs-Tines conversation is with a 20–200 person team that is already paying for Tines and an MDR or EDR-vendor SOC. The math gets compelling fast:
- Live Ops Theatre — a CISO-facing operational view that no workflow tool ships out of the box.
- Collapses two line items into one — Sentra is the SOC and the response automation in one platform.
- Pre-built detections and playbooks for the common SMB attack surface: GitHub / GitLab, identity, endpoints, cloud.
- No story maintenance — Sentra owns the detection and response logic and updates it as threats evolve.
- Replaces MDR. Tines, by design, does not.
FAQ
Is Sentra cheaper than Tines?
Tines has a generous Community Edition that is free for a single user — that is hard to beat on raw price. The honest comparison is total cost of ownership: most teams using Tines in production also pay for a SOC product (MDR, EDR vendor SOC, or a stand-alone AI SOC). Add those together and Sentra typically comes out cheaper, because Sentra is the SOC and the response automation in one platform.
Can I use Tines and Sentra together?
Yes, and many teams do during a transition. A common pattern: Tines stays for non-security workflows (IT onboarding, on-call routing, finance approvals) while Sentra runs the SOC. Sentra can fire webhooks into Tines stories and consume callbacks back, so escalations that need a human approval inside Tines still work.
Does Sentra do everything Tines does?
No. Tines is a general-purpose, no-code workflow builder loved by security engineers because it is fast to prototype in. Sentra is not trying to be a workflow tool — it is a SOC. If your use case is "build a custom workflow that talks to 12 internal systems," Tines is the right answer. If your use case is "I need a security operation running by next week," it is Sentra.
I already have Tines stories — do I lose that work if I move to Sentra?
No. Most security-focused Tines stories fall into a few buckets: phishing triage, account compromise response, EDR alert enrichment. Sentra ships those flows as first-class detections and playbooks, so the logic carries over even though the implementation does not. Tines stories for non-security workflows are unaffected — keep using them.
I am a security engineer who likes building. Why would I pick Sentra over Tines?
Honest answer: maybe you would not, and that is fine. Tines is built for the security engineer who enjoys the craft of building automations. Sentra is built for the CISO or head of engineering who wants the SOC to exist without having to staff a team to build and maintain it. Different buyers, different jobs.
Collapse the stack
See the SOC, the playbooks and the Live Ops Theatre running together — no stories to build, no MDR contract to keep paying.