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Microsoft Security

Microsoft Defender for Business

Strengthen your security with AI-powered device protection that’s cost effective and easy to use.  

A coffee shop employee.

Traditional antivirus solutions aren’t enough

Modern threats require modern protection, and traditional antivirus solutions can’t keep up. Defender for Business helps you to identify, protect against, detect, and respond to sophisticated cyberattacks, helping you to stay secure.

Get cost-effective protection

Save money by consolidating multiple products into one unified security solution that’s optimized for your business.  

Simplify security management

Quickly improve your security with easy-to-use management controls, actionable insights, and out-of-the-box policies that streamline onboarding.

Rapidly stop cyberattacks

Automatically detect and respond to cyberthreats with AI-powered endpoint protection for all your devices—whether working in the office or remotely.  

How traditional antivirus solutions compare to Defender for Business.

Infographic image comparing Microsoft Defender for Business versus other vendors.

Secure your hybrid workplace

Get enterprise-grade device security with AI-powered capabilities.
Key features dashboard screenshot.

Identify

Discover, prioritize, and remediate software vulnerabilities and misconfigurations that pose the most urgent and highest risk to your business.

Image of dashboard of threads and Vulnerabilities for Microsoft Defender for Business on a laptop screen

Protect

Minimize the areas across devices that are open to attacks and reinforce security with enhanced antimalware and antivirus protection.  

Image of dashboard device configuration for Microsoft Defender for Business on a laptop screen

Detect and respond

Automatically detect and disrupt sophisticated threats in real time and remove them from your environment.

Image of dashboard for suspicious terminal commands for Microsoft Defender for Business on a laptop screen

Recover

Quickly get back up and running after a cyberattack with automated investigation and remediation capabilities that examine and respond to alerts.

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Standalone device protection

Microsoft Defender for Business

Originally starting from £2.50 now starting from £2.50

£2.50 £2.50

user/month

(Annual subscription—auto renews)6

  • Up to 300 users and up to five devices per user, with no minimum device requirement

  • Enterprise-grade device protection for Windows, MacOS, iOS, and Android™ devices*

  • Wizard-based onboarding and simplified management experience

  • Vulnerability management to identify weaknesses and strengthen security

  • Next-generation antivirus protection to block new and emerging threats

  • AI-powered endpoint detection and response with automatic attack disruption to disrupt in-progress ransomware attacks in real-time

  • Automated investigation and remediation to automatically resolve most cyberthreats

  • Monthly security summary reports to track your protection

  • Server protection available as an add-on

Comprehensive security solution

Microsoft 365 Business Premium

Originally starting from £18.10 now starting from £18.10

£18.10 £18.10

user/month

(Annual subscription—auto renews)6

  • Includes Defender for Business, plus:

  • Microsoft 365 Copilot available as an add-on6

  • Email protection from phishing attacks with Microsoft Defender for Office 365 P1

  • The ability to secure work data on personal and company-owned devices with Microsoft Intune Plan 1

  • The ability to secure identities and access to work apps with Microsoft Entra ID Plan 1

  • Protection against lost or stolen passwords with advanced multifactor authentication

  • Data protection with Microsoft Purview Information Protection and Data Loss Prevention

  • Archiving, e-discovery, and legal hold

  • Web, mobile, and desktop versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook*

  • Chat, call, and meet with teams using a laptop, tablet, or phone*

  • 1 TB of cloud storage per user

Another way to buy

Defender for Business is also available as part of Microsoft 365 Business Premium, a unified solution that helps protect your business by bringing together best-in-class productivity apps, powerful cloud services, and comprehensive security.

What is Microsoft Defender for Business?  

Defender for Business is an enterprise-grade, AI-powered device security solution designed especially for small and medium-sized businesses (up to 300 employees). It helps protect your company's devices from ransomware, malware, phishing, and other cyberthreats.

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Industry Recognition

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is the foundation of Defender for Business, which features many of the same capabilities.

Industry antivirus tests

Our antimalware capabilities consistently achieve high scores in independent tests.

Gartner logo

Gartner

Microsoft was named a Leader in the 2023 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Endpoint Protection Platforms.1

IDC

IDC

Microsoft named a Leader in IDC MarketScape for Modern Endpoint Security for Enterprises, Midsize Businesses, and Small Businesses, 2024.2, 3, 4

Customer success stories

Martin & Zerfoss

Martin & Zerfoss and Kite Technology share the small-business advantages of Microsoft Defender for Business

NETCONFIG helps SMB customer Rodel succeed with Microsoft 365 Business Premium and Microsoft Defender for Business

Martin & Zerfoss

Related Microsoft Defender products

Defend against cyberthreats with best-in-class security from Microsoft.

A person using a mobile phone.

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint

Explore endpoint security for businesses with more than 300 users.

Desktop and mobile displays of the homepage in Microsoft Defender showing that each device is protected.

Microsoft Defender for individuals

Get online security protection for individuals and families with one easy-to-use app.5

Resources

Blog

Defender for Business blog

Catch up on all the news and details about the product.

Documentation

Technical documentation

Find everything you need to implement and run Defender for Business.

Blog

Stay up to date

Get the latest news on solutions for small and medium businesses at Microsoft.

Frequently asked questions

  • Defender for Business is an AI-powered, enterprise-grade device security solution that helps businesses with up to 300 employees protect against ransomware and other cyberthreats in an easy-to-use and cost-effective package.

  • Defender for Business servers is an add-on to Defender for Business or Microsoft 365 Business Premium. The add-on provides security for servers with Defender for Business, helping you protect all your endpoints using a single admin experience. Offering simplified onboarding and management, it includes security policies activated out of the box to help you quickly secure servers. Defender for Business servers also identifies threats and vulnerabilities, so you can patch and protect your environment from ransomware, malware, and other threats.

  • IT service providers can use Microsoft 365 Lighthouse to view insights from Defender for Business across multiple customers in a single location. This includes multi-tenant list views of incidents and alerts across tenants and notifications via email. Default baselines can be used to scale customer tenant onboarding, and vulnerability management capabilities help IT service providers see trends in secure score, exposure score, and recommendations to improve tenants.

  • Securing devices is critical to safeguarding your organization from malicious actors attempting to disrupt your business with cyberattacks. Device security helps to protect, detect, and respond to these cyberthreats for desktops, laptops, and mobile devices.*

  • Microsoft Defender Antivirus provides next-generation protection built into Windows devices, helping protect them from viruses, malware, and potentially unwanted applications. Defender for Business includes Defender Antivirus capabilities and extends protection to encompass cyberthreat and vulnerability management, attack surface reduction, endpoint detection and response, and automated investigation and response.

  • Microsoft Defender for Business is designed for small and medium-sized businesses with up to 300 users. It provides AI-powered, enterprise-grade cyberthreat protection that includes endpoint detection and response with automatic attack disruption, automated investigation and remediation, and other capabilities. Cross-platform support provides protection for Windows, MacOS, Android™, and iOS devices.*

    Microsoft Defender for individuals and families helps people stay safer online. It provides antivirus protection, antiphishing protection, identity theft monitoring, credit monitoring8, and privacy protection9. It also offers identity theft insurance up to USD1 million to cover restoration costs and restoration support that’s available anytime, day or night.10

    Microsoft Defender for Business is a comprehensive security solution for businesses, while Microsoft Defender for individuals and families is an all-in-one online protection app for the home.

Defender for Business

Make your future more secure. Explore your security options today. 

  • [1] Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

    GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally, and MAGIC QUADRANT is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved.

    Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms, Evgeny Mirolyubov, Max Taggett, Franz Hinner, Nikul Patel, 31 December 2023.
  • [2] IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Modern Endpoint Security for Small Businesses Vendor Assessment 2024, Document # US50521424, March 2024.
  • [3] IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Modern Endpoint Security for Midsize Businesses Vendor Assessment 2024, Document # US50521323, February 2024.
  • [4] IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Modern Endpoint Security for Enterprises Vendor Assessment 2024, Document # US50521223, January 2024.
  • [5] App is available on Windows, macOS, Android™, and iOS in select Microsoft 365 Family or Personal billing regions.
  • [6] Once your paid subscription begins, cancellation policies vary based on your status as a new customer, product, and domain selections on Microsoft. Learn more.

    Cancel your Microsoft 365 subscription any time by going to the Microsoft 365 admin center. When a subscription is canceled, all associated data will be deleted. Learn more about data retention, deletion, and destruction in Microsoft 365.
  • [7] After your one-month free trial ends, your subscription will automatically convert into a 12-month paid subscription and you will be charged the applicable subscription fee. Cancel anytime during your free trial to stop future charges. Credit card required to sign up. Learn more.
  • [8] Feature is available in the United States and US territories. Credit score is a single bureau VantageScore 3.0 provided by Experian®. The monthly credit report is provided by Experian® using single-bureau data. For users under the age of 18 or those without a credit history, credit score is not included. Family organizers will not have the ability to onboard, view, and receive alerts related to family member credit monitoring. Your device's primary display language must be set to English.
  • [9] Privacy protection (VPN) is available on Android devices in the United States and US territories. Privacy protection is coming soon to Windows. Some streaming services are excluded. After 10 GB per month, data transfer speeds may be limited.
  • [10] The identity theft insurance is underwritten and administered by American Bankers Insurance Company of Florida, an Assurant company. Refer to the actual policies for terms, conditions, and exclusions of coverage. Coverage may not be available in all jurisdictions. Review the summary of benefits.
  • [*] Availability of mobile apps varies by country/region.

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