Compare Microsoft endpoint security plans
Microsoft endpoint security plans, such as Microsoft Defender for Endpoint and Microsoft 365 Defender, were designed to help enterprise organizations prevent, detect, investigate, and respond to advanced threats. Microsoft Defender for Business and Microsoft 365 Business Premium provide similar capabilities, optimized for small and medium-sized businesses. These plans provide advanced threat protection with antivirus and antimalware protection, ransomware mitigation, and more, together with centralized management and reporting.
This article helps clarify what's included in the following plans:
- Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Plan 1
- Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Plan 2
- Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management add-on
- Microsoft Defender for Business
Important
This article provides a summary of threat protection capabilities in Microsoft endpoint security plans; however, it's not intended to be a service description or licensing contract document. For more detailed information, see the following resources:
Compare Microsoft endpoint security plans
The following table summarizes what's included in Microsoft endpoint security plans.
(1) Microsoft Defender for Business is available as a standalone subscription for small and medium-sized businesses. It's also included as part of Microsoft 365 Business Premium. These plans feature advanced security capabilities with a simplified setup and configuration experience. See Compare Microsoft Defender for Business to Microsoft 365 Business Premium.
Tip
For more detailed information, see the following resources:
Options for onboarding servers
Defender for Endpoint Plan 1 and 2 (standalone), Defender for Business (standalone), and Microsoft 365 Business Premium don't include server licenses. To onboard servers, choose from the following options:
- Microsoft Defender for Servers Plan 1 or Plan 2 (recommended for enterprise customers) as part of the Defender for Cloud offering. To learn more. see Overview of Microsoft Defender for Servers.
- Microsoft Defender for Business servers (recommended for small and medium-sized businesses who have Microsoft Defender for Business). To learn more, see How to get Microsoft Defender for Business servers.
- Microsoft Defender for Endpoint for Servers (if you already have these licenses). See Defender for Endpoint onboarding Windows Server.
Mixed licensing scenarios
Suppose that your organization is using a mix of Microsoft endpoint security subscriptions, such as Defender for Endpoint Plan 1 and Defender for Endpoint Plan 2. Currently, the highest functional Microsoft endpoint security subscription sets the experience for your tenant. In this example, your tenant experience would be Defender for Endpoint Plan 2 for all users.
However, you can contact support and request an override for your tenant experience. That is, you could request an override to keep the Defender for Endpoint Plan 1 experience for all users.
- For more information about licenses and product terms, see Licensing and product terms for Microsoft 365 subscriptions.
- For information about how to contact support, see Contact Microsoft Defender for Endpoint support.
Tip
If your organization is a small or medium-sized business, see What happens if I have a mix of Microsoft endpoint security subscriptions?
Start a trial
- To try Defender for Endpoint, go to the Defender for Endpoint trial sign-up page.
- To try the Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management add-on for Defender for Endpoint Plan 2, visit https://aka.ms/AddonPreviewTrial.
See also
- Get started with Microsoft Security (trial offers)
- Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
- Microsoft Defender for Business (endpoint protection for small and medium-sized businesses)
- Microsoft 365 licensing guidance for security & compliance
- Exclusions for Microsoft Defender for Endpoint and Microsoft Defender Antivirus
Feedback
Submit and view feedback for