NetSys vs. ClearNetwork
ClearNetwork runs its security operations center from Hazlet, New Jersey, which their About page places about twenty miles south of New York City. Buyers who want monitoring more than a help desk ask us how the two firms compare. The question underneath that is whether you buy security separately or buy it with your IT.
The short answer
Pick ClearNetwork if what you need is a security operations layer over IT you already run or already buy elsewhere; pick NetSys if you want one firm doing the security and the IT. ClearNetwork publishes an itemized SOC as a Service with SIEM, twelve months of log retention, vulnerability scanning and file integrity monitoring. NetSys puts cybersecurity, managed IT with help desk, PAM, PIM and disaster recovery planning under one month to month agreement.
What ClearNetwork is
The company describes itself as entirely focused on cybersecurity, and the site reads that way. Their About page says the firm was formed in 1996 and serves hundreds of companies from small businesses to enterprises, with a customer figure of two hundred plus on the contact page. The SOC as a Service page itemizes what is covered, including SIEM and log management, network and cloud vulnerability scanning, cloud and host intrusion detection, file integrity monitoring and asset discovery, and states deployment takes less than a day. Their consulting page lists penetration testing services down to wireless war driving and social engineering assessments.
Published headquarters: Hazlet, New Jersey. clearnetwork.com
A security service, itemized
Their SOC as a Service page names what you get: SIEM and log management with twelve months of retention, network and cloud vulnerability scanning, intrusion detection at the cloud and host level, file integrity monitoring, asset discovery, and deployment in under a day. That is a clear scope, and clear scope is worth a lot when you are comparing security offers. NetSys sells a different shape: one agreement carrying the security work together with the help desk, privileged access management, privileged identity management and disaster recovery planning, so the people watching the alerts and the people rebuilding the server work off the same agreement.
What the agreement says about leaving
Their Terms of Use points cancellation and refunds back to the individual subscription agreement, so the terms that matter to you are in the document you personally sign rather than on the website. Ask for that document before the demo, and read what it says about cancellation first. Every NetSys agreement is month to month with no early-exit penalty, which sounds like a small thing until the year you want to make a change. It moves the pressure onto us every thirty days.
Two ways to buy a penetration test
ClearNetwork's consulting page lists internal and external network testing, application testing, wireless security testing described as war driving, and social engineering assessments, and says their experts can come on site. Prospects send requirements and get a quote. That is the normal way this is sold, and for a scoped engagement it is the right way. NetSys does the first step differently: a Tier 1 external penetration test at no charge for any business, findings handed over whether or not you hire us, with a Tier 2 source code test quoted per codebase in an isolated sandbox.
What each of us publishes
Their column is quoted from pages on clearnetwork.com and links to each one. Ours states what we commit to elsewhere on this site. Nothing below is our opinion of their work.
| The NetSys Group | ClearNetwork | |
|---|---|---|
| Agreement | Month to month. Leave any time, no early-exit penalty. | Their Terms of Use states that cancellation and refunds for products and services are governed by the individual subscription agreements. (clearnetwork.com) |
| What the monthly fee covers | One agreement: AI services, cybersecurity, managed IT with help desk, PAM, PIM and disaster recovery planning. | Their SOC as a Service page itemizes what the service covers, including SIEM and log management with 12 months log retention, network and cloud vulnerability scanning, cloud intrusion detection, host-based intrusion detection, file integrity monitoring, and asset discovery; it also states deployment takes less than a day. (clearnetwork.com) |
| Privileged access and credentials | PAM and PIM in the base agreement, each with a published service page describing the work. | We could not find privileged access, privileged identity management or managed credentials named on their site. |
| AI and automation | In-house practice led by Jamie Baum: readiness assessments, Copilot rollouts, custom agents and workflow automation. | Their Managed CrowdStrike page attributes machine learning and artificial intelligence to the endpoint technology they manage, and their email security page describes machine learning as part of the spam and phishing detection capability. (clearnetwork.com) |
| Disaster recovery | A written plan plus restores that are performed and timed. More than 30 ransomware incidents handled in three years, every one recovered. | We could not find published detail on restore testing or recovery targets. |
| Who answers | A NetSys engineer, plus a named account manager who gives you a real cell number. | Their support page publishes a phone number of (800) 463-7920 and a contact form, and states the support team is standing by. (clearnetwork.com) |
| Response commitments | Written into the agreement rather than implied on the website. | We could not find published response-time commitments. |
| Proof before you commit | A free Tier 1 external penetration test. The findings are yours whether or not you hire us. | Their consulting page lists penetration testing services, internal and external penetration testing, internal and external application testing, wireless security penetration testing (war driving), and social engineering assessments, and states experts can come on site; prospects are directed to contact them with requirements for a quote. (clearnetwork.com) |
| Where they are | One office, in Brooklyn. On-site coverage across the New York metro, Long Island, the Hudson Valley, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and Florida, and remote delivery anywhere in the US. | Their About page names one location, describing their SOC and headquarters as being in Hazlet, New Jersey, about 20 miles south of New York City. (clearnetwork.com) |
ClearNetwork appears here because it came up in the search results for managed IT services when we checked in September 2026. Everything in their column is drawn from pages published on https://clearnetwork.com/ and links to the source. Where we could not find something published we say so, which means we did not find it, not that it does not exist. We make no claim about the quality of their service. All trademarks belong to their owners and no affiliation or endorsement is implied.
Four more things worth knowing about ClearNetwork
Size and history
- Their About page states the company was formed in 1996 and describes a customer base of hundreds of companies, from small to enterprise. (clearnetwork.com)
- Their contact page publishes three figures: a 98% customer retention rate, 200+ customers, and 100% cybersecurity focused. (clearnetwork.com)
NetSys: Independent since 1998. One office, in Brooklyn, and no private equity owner behind the name.
Industries they name
- Their site navigation lists eight industries: Manufacturing, Financial, Healthcare, Government, Energy, Law Firms, Retail, and Transportation. (clearnetwork.com)
NetSys: Twenty six industries with a page each, from healthcare and legal to hedge funds, auto dealers and government contractors.
Compliance work published
- Their About page names PCI, HIPAA, SOX, GLBA and NIST as compliance specialties; their consulting FAQ adds PCI-DSS and NERC-CIP; and their SOC as a Service page names FFIEC and states they and their partners support SOC-2 internal compliance standards. (clearnetwork.com)
NetSys: Nine frameworks with a service page each: HIPAA, CMMC 2.0, SOC 2, NIST CSF 2.0, NYDFS 23 NYCRR 500, NY SHIELD, FTC Safeguards, PCI DSS and GLBA.
Rates on the website
- Their SOC as a Service overview page states there are no upfront costs or additional hardware required. (clearnetwork.com)
- Their SOC as a Service FAQ answers the cost question in narrative terms rather than with a figure. (clearnetwork.com)
NetSys: We do not publish rates. We quote per business rather than per seat, after a call, because a thirty person firm with two servers and a thirty person firm with a regulator are not the same job.
What we looked for on their site and could not find
privileged access, privileged identity management or managed credentials; restore testing or recovery targets; response-time commitments.
That means we did not find it published, not that it does not exist. Ask them directly, and ask us the same questions. If ClearNetwork publishes any of this and we missed it, write to info@netsysgroup.com and we will add it.
The honest fit: is NetSys the right ClearNetwork alternative?
When ClearNetwork is the better choice
Choose ClearNetwork if security monitoring is the gap and the rest of your IT is settled, whether you run it in house or through another provider. Their SOC service is written down in detail, it deploys quickly by their own account, and the compliance names on their site run to PCI, HIPAA, SOX, GLBA, NIST and FFIEC. If you want a specialist watching the alerts and nothing else changing, that is a clean fit.
When NetSys is the better choice
Choose NetSys if you would rather one firm own the alert and the fix. We have been independent since 1998, run out of one office in Brooklyn, and put managed IT, cybersecurity, AI work, PAM, PIM and disaster recovery planning in a single month to month agreement. Your account manager gives you a cell number, and on-site engineers cover the New York metro, Long Island, Westchester and the Hudson Valley, plus New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and Florida.
NetSys and ClearNetwork: FAQs
Is ClearNetwork the same as a managed IT provider?
Not quite the same thing, going by what they publish. ClearNetwork presents itself as entirely cybersecurity focused, and the service described in most detail on the site is SOC as a Service: SIEM and log management, vulnerability scanning, intrusion detection, file integrity monitoring and asset discovery, plus a consulting practice that includes penetration testing. A managed IT provider also owns the help desk, the patching, the licensing and the hardware. If you need both, ask them how the two fit together on one invoice.
What is a good ClearNetwork alternative if we also need IT support?
NetSys is built for that case. One agreement covers the help desk, the patching, the security operations, privileged access and identity management, and the disaster recovery plan, so a single team is accountable when an alert turns into an outage. We have run this way from Brooklyn since 1998. If you would rather keep security separate from IT, that is a legitimate structure and ClearNetwork publishes a detailed version of it, so settle that decision first.
What are the contract terms if we move from ClearNetwork to NetSys?
Ours are month to month from the first invoice, with no early-exit penalty and no term that renews itself. On their side, the Terms of Use we read says cancellation and refunds are governed by your individual subscription agreement, so pull that document and read the cancellation terms before you plan a date. The move itself turns mostly on continuity of logging, so we account for the SIEM data and the retention history before anything is cut over, and run both sets of monitoring at once until no window is left dark.
Can NetSys work alongside a SOC provider we already use?
Yes, and it is a common arrangement. Where a client already buys security monitoring from a specialist, we take the managed IT side, keep the endpoint and identity work aligned with what the SOC expects to see, and make sure someone owns remediation when an alert lands at two in the morning. What we will ask about is log retention, escalation paths, who holds the privileged credentials, and who is on the hook for the repair. Those are the places a split arrangement usually leaks.
Get both answers in writing.
Fifteen minutes with a NetSys engineer, not a salesperson, and you will have our side of every question on this page in writing. Take it into any comparison you like.