Trace Id is missing
Skip to main content
Microsoft Security

Microsoft Defender for Business

Strengthen your security with cost-effective, easy-to-use, enterprise-grade device protection that’s powered by AI and built for businesses with up to 300 employees.    

A coffee shop employee.

Get industry-leading cybersecurity

Help protect your business with AI-powered capabilities that detect and respond rapidly to cyberthreats such as phishing, malware, and ransomware. Defender for Business is included in Microsoft 365 Business Premium or available as a standalone subscription.

Standalone device protection

Microsoft Defender for Business

Originally starting from $3.00 now starting from $3.00

$3.00 $3.00

user/month

(Annual subscription—auto renews1)

Price does not include tax.

  • 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 $22.00 now starting from $22.00

$22.00 $22.00

user/month

(Annual subscription—auto renews1)

Price does not include tax.

  • Includes Defender for Business, plus: 

  • Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 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

Choose the right plan for your business

  • Included Included

Microsoft Defender for Business

Originally starting from $3.00 now starting from $3.00

$3.00 $3.00

user/month

(Annual subscription—auto renews)1
Price does not include tax.

Microsoft 365 Business Premium

Originally starting from $22.00 now starting from $22.00

$22.00 $22.00

user/month

(Annual subscription—auto renews)1
Price does not include tax.

  • Included Included
Device security (supported by Microsoft Defender for Business)
included
included
Threat intelligence: Help protect against ransomware, malware and other cyberthreats with enterprise-grade security across devices.
included
included
Attack surface reduction: Reduce potential cyberattack surfaces with network protection, firewall, and other attack surface reduction rules.
included
included
Web category blocking: Track and regulate access to websites based on content categories.
included
included
Centralized management: Get centralized management and reporting through the Microsoft Defender portal.
included
included
Simplified client configuration: Get started easily with a setup wizard that helps organizations configure Defender for Business.
included
included
Cross platform support: Get device support across Windows, MacOS, iOS, and Android.
included
included
Endpoint detection and response: Proactively search for new and unknown cyberthreats with AI and machine learning to monitor devices for unusual or suspicious activity, and initiate a response.
included
included
Automatic attack disruption: Automatically disrupt in-progress human-operated ransomware attacks by containing compromised users and devices.
included
included
Automated investigation and response: Investigate alerts and automatically respond to most cybersecurity threats with 24x7 automated responses.
included
included
Identity management (supported by Microsoft Entra ID Plan 1)
included
Conditional access: Help employees securely access business apps wherever they work with conditional access, while helping prevent unauthorized access.
included
Multifactor authentication: Prevent unauthorized access to systems by requiring users to provide more than one form of authentication when signing in.
included
Device management (supported by Microsoft Intune Plan 1)
included
Windows device setup and management: Remotely manage and monitor Windows devices by configuring device policies, setting up security settings, and managing updates and apps.
included
Mobile device management: Remotely manage and monitor mobile devices by configuring device policies, setting up security settings, and managing updates and apps.
included
Mobile app management: Manage and secure mobile apps on users’ devices.
included
Email and collaboration security (supported by Microsoft Defender for Office 365 P1)
included
Microsoft 365 protection: Help protect all the different components of the Microsoft 365 platform, including email, Microsoft Teams, and SharePoint.
included
Safe links: Scan links in emails and documents for malicious URLs, and block or replace them with a safe link.
included
Safe attachments: Scan attachments for malicious content, and block or quarantine them if necessary.
included
Antiphishing: Help protect users from phishing emails by identifying and blocking suspicious emails, and provide users with warnings and tips to help spot and avoid phishing attempts.
included
Data protection and compliance (supported by Microsoft Purview)
included
Message encryption: Help protect sensitive data by encrypting emails and documents so that only authorized users can read them.
included
Data loss prevention: Help prevent risky or unauthorized use of sensitive data on apps, services, and devices.
included
Information Protection: Discover, classify, label and protect sensitive data wherever it lives and help prevent data breaches
included
E-discovery: Help organizations find and manage information that might be relevant to legal or regulatory matters.
included
Litigation hold: Preserve and retain data in the case of legal proceedings or investigations to ensure content can’t be deleted or modified.
included
Productivity apps and services (supported by Microsoft 365)
included
Access an AI-powered chat for work with commercial data protection with Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365, now available as an add-on6

Available as an add-on

Collaborate on desktop, web, and mobile versions of Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote (plus Access and Publisher for PC only).
included
Communicate using Exchange email hosting with a custom business email (name@yourbusiness.com).
included
Use personal file storage and sharing with OneDrive.
included
Host secure, organized meetings with audio, video, screen-sharing, and the option to record.
included
Get additional Microsoft 365 services, including SharePoint Online, Microsoft Viva Engage, Microsoft Planner, and Microsoft Stream.
included
Make it easier for your customers to schedule and manage appointments with Microsoft Bookings.
included
Support and deployment
Partially Included
included
Access help and troubleshooting tools, videos, articles, and forums.
included
included
Get phone and online support anytime.
included
Get technical support for installation, setup, configuration, and general usage.
included
Get a financially backed 99.9% uptime guarantee.
included

Elevate your security

Go beyond traditional antivirus with enterprise-grade protection and vulnerability management for your Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android devices.

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 in the office or remote. 

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. 

Threat and vulnerability dashboard screenshot.

Protect

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

Next-generation protection screenshot

Detect and respond

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

Suspicious powershell Command line screenshot.

Recover

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

Back to tabs
Microsoft Defender for Business

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.
Back to tabs

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 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 monitoring3, and privacy protection4.  It also offers identity theft insurance up to USD1 million to cover restoration costs and restoration support that’s available anytime, day or night.5

    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.

Microsoft Defender for Business

  • [1] 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.
  • [2] 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.
  • [3] 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.
  • [4] 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.
  • [5] The identity theft insurance is underwritten and administered by American Bankers Insurance Company of Florida, an Assurant company. Please 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.
  • [6] Copilot for Microsoft 365 may not be available for all markets and languages. To purchase, enterprise customers must have a license for Microsoft 365 E3 or E5 or Office 365 E3 or E5, and business customers must have a license for Microsoft 365 Business Standard or Business Premium, or a version of these suites that no longer includes Microsoft Teams.

Follow Microsoft