If you run a UK business with somewhere between 10 and 250 people, there is a good chance you already own Microsoft Defender for Business without having bought it on purpose. It comes bundled with Microsoft 365 Business Premium, and plenty of IT providers switch it on as part of a standard build. So when someone suggests CrowdStrike Falcon instead, the fair first question is: why pay for something when I already have something?
This guide gives you a straight answer. We sell CrowdStrike, so we have an interest, but Defender for Business is a good product and for some organisations it is the right choice. The aim here is to help you decide based on what your business actually needs, not on marketing.
The short version
- Defender for Business is a capable endpoint protection and EDR product, included in Business Premium, designed for organisations with up to 300 users.1 If you already pay for Business Premium and have someone who will look at alerts, it is very hard to argue it is a bad choice.
- CrowdStrike Falcon is a dedicated endpoint security platform with a strong record in independent assessments, and it can come with CrowdStrike's own 24/7 threat hunting or managed response teams. It costs extra, and the extra is mostly about detection depth and who responds when something happens.
- The decision usually turns less on which product detects more and more on who acts on an alert at 2am on a Sunday.
What each product is
Microsoft Defender for Business
Microsoft describes Defender for Business as built for small and medium-sized businesses with up to 300 users. Its capabilities include next-generation protection, attack surface reduction, endpoint detection and response (EDR), and automated investigation and remediation.1 It protects Windows, Mac, Android and iOS/iPadOS devices, and you can onboard up to five client devices per user licence.1
You can buy it standalone, listed at £2.30 per user per month on an annual commitment, or get it as part of Microsoft 365 Business Premium, which also includes Intune Plan 1 for device management.2 Microsoft has also been named a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms (2025).3
CrowdStrike Falcon
CrowdStrike Falcon is endpoint protection from a company that does little else but security. CrowdStrike was named a Leader in the 2026 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms, its seventh consecutive time,4 and a Leader in the Forrester Wave for Managed Detection and Response Services in Europe, Q3 2025.5 It also received the AV-TEST Award 2025 for Best macOS Security in the corporate category.6
In the 2025 MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Evaluations, CrowdStrike reports 100% detection and 100% protection with no false positives.7 Treat that with the right amount of care: MITRE does not rank or score vendors, and several vendors did not take part that year. It tells you Falcon performed well in that test, not that it is the winner of a league table.
Side-by-side comparison
| Microsoft Defender for Business | CrowdStrike Falcon (via Coffee Cyber) | |
|---|---|---|
| Who it is aimed at | Up to 300 users1 | Any size; our plans are built for 10 to 250 people |
| How you pay | Per user; included in Business Premium or £2.30/user/month standalone2 | Per device, monthly, no contract: £6.50, £9.95 or £15.95 ex VAT |
| Devices covered | Up to 5 client devices per user1 | Each device licensed individually |
| Platforms | Windows, Mac, Android, iOS/iPadOS1 | Windows, Mac and Linux; mobile as an add-on |
| Servers | Extra licence needed, priced at $3 per server; over 60 servers needs a different licence1 | Licensed per device like any other endpoint |
| EDR | Included, with automated investigation and remediation1 | Included on every plan |
| 24/7 human threat hunting | Not included in the product itself | Defend Plus (Falcon OverWatch) |
| Fully managed response | Through Microsoft or a partner, at extra cost | Complete (Falcon Complete), CrowdStrike's own MDR team |
| Management console | Microsoft Defender portal, with some settings in Intune1 | Falcon console, plus our control panel for billing and rollout |
Where Defender for Business is strong
Be honest with yourself about these, because they are real advantages.
You may already have paid for it. If every user is on Business Premium, Defender for Business is already in your bill. Adding a second product costs money that could go on something else, such as backups or staff training.
It fits the Microsoft stack. Defender for Business works alongside Intune endpoint security policies, and you can onboard devices and set policies from either the Defender portal or the Intune admin center.1 If your IT provider already lives in Microsoft 365 all day, that is one less console to learn.
Automated remediation is built in. For simple, common threats, automated investigation and remediation can clean things up without anyone touching a keyboard.1
Partners know it well. There is a large pool of UK IT providers who can configure it, and Microsoft supports multitenant management for partners through Microsoft 365 Lighthouse.1
Where Defender for Business has limits
None of these are deal-breakers on their own, but they are worth knowing before you rely on it.
- The 300 user ceiling. Defender for Business is designed for up to 300 users. If you grow past that, Microsoft recommends moving to a plan that includes Defender for Endpoint for all users.1
- Servers cost extra. Windows Server and Linux servers need an additional licence, and above 60 servers you need a different kind of licence altogether.1
- No mixed licensing. If some users have Business Premium and others have Microsoft 365 E5 Security, the experience defaults to Defender for Business for everyone unless all users are licensed for Defender for Endpoint Plan 2.1
- Some configuration needs Intune. Custom attack surface reduction rules and controlled folder access have to be set up in the Intune admin center, and only one web content filtering policy is supported per organisation.1
- Alerts still need a human. Automated remediation handles the easy cases. Anything more complicated lands in a queue, and someone has to look at it. In a lot of small businesses, that someone is an office manager or a busy outside IT provider.
Where CrowdStrike is strong
Independent track record. The Gartner, Forrester, AV-TEST and MITRE results above are the main reasons IT teams choose Falcon. Microsoft also does well in Gartner's assessment, so this is not a case of one good product and one bad one.
Human response is available as a plan, not a project. This is the biggest practical difference for a small business. With our Defend Plus plan, CrowdStrike's OverWatch team hunts for threats 24/7 and sends you written findings to act on. With Complete, CrowdStrike's own MDR team investigates, contains and removes threats for you. You can read more about how that works on our managed response page and in our guide to MDR.
Per-device and monthly. Through Coffee Cyber you pay per device per month with no contract, so servers, shared PCs and a laptop used by two part-timers are all simple to license. See our plans for the details.
Where CrowdStrike has downsides
It costs more. If you already have Business Premium, CrowdStrike is a cost on top. That is the main reason people stay with Defender.
The July 2024 outage. On 19 July 2024, a faulty content update from CrowdStrike (Channel File 291) caused Windows machines to crash. Microsoft estimated that 8.5 million Windows devices were affected.8 CrowdStrike published a root cause analysis setting out what went wrong and the process improvements and mitigation steps it was putting in place.9 You should weigh that honestly. Any security product that runs deep in the operating system carries some risk of this kind, but CrowdStrike is the one it happened to at scale.
Another console. If your IT provider is Microsoft-only, adding Falcon means another tool for them to manage. On our plans, alerts go to you or your IT provider on Defend, so check they are happy to receive them.
Can you use both?
Yes, and it is a common set-up: keep Business Premium for Intune, email security and data protection, and run CrowdStrike Falcon for endpoint protection. What you should avoid is two products both trying to do real-time scanning on the same device. On Windows 10 and 11, Defender Antivirus normally moves to a disabled or passive state once another antivirus is the primary product, but on Windows Server you have to set this yourself.10 Microsoft also notes that non-Microsoft antivirus can show devices as unprotected in the Defender portal,1 so plan the switch properly. Our guide to replacing your old antivirus walks through it.
How to decide
Work through these questions in order.
- Are you on Business Premium already? If no, the cost gap is smaller than it looks, because you would be buying either product.
- Who looks at alerts today, and when? If the honest answer is "nobody after 5pm", the product matters less than the response. Look at a plan with human hunting or full managed response, from either vendor or a partner.
- Do you have servers? Count them. Defender for Business needs extra licences for each one.1
- What does your insurer or customer ask for? Some questionnaires ask specifically about EDR and 24/7 monitoring. See our guide on what UK cyber insurers ask.
- Are you likely to pass 300 users? If yes, factor in a licence change down the line.1
A rough rule of thumb
- Stay with Defender for Business if you are on Business Premium, have a capable IT provider who already monitors the Defender portal, and are comfortable with response during office hours.
- Look at CrowdStrike if you want 24/7 human hunting or a fully managed response without hiring, you have several servers, or your insurer or clients are asking for more than standard EDR.
Whichever you choose, make sure it is switched on, covers every device, and that someone owns the alerts. A good product nobody watches is not much better than no product. If you want the longer commercial comparison, see our CrowdStrike vs Microsoft Defender page, and for background on the technology itself, read what is EDR.
Microsoft Learn, Microsoft Defender for Business frequently asked questions (updated 2026). https://learn.microsoft.com/defender-business/mdb-faq ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩
Microsoft UK, Microsoft Defender for Business product page (pricing and Business Premium inclusion, viewed 31 October 2026). https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/security/business/endpoint-security/microsoft-defender-business ↩ ↩
Microsoft Security blog, Microsoft is named a Leader in the 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms (16 July 2025). https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/2025/07/16/microsoft-is-named-a-leader-in-the-2025-gartner-magic-quadrant-for-endpoint-protection-platforms/ ↩
CrowdStrike, CrowdStrike named a Leader in the 2026 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms. https://ir.crowdstrike.com/news-releases/news-release-details/crowdstrike-named-leader-2026-gartnerr-magic-quadranttm-endpoint ↩
CrowdStrike, CrowdStrike named a Leader in The Forrester Wave: Managed Detection and Response Services in Europe, Q3 2025. https://www.crowdstrike.com/en-us/blog/crowdstrike-named-leader-forrester-wave-managed-detection-response-services-europe-q3-2025 ↩
AV-TEST, AV-TEST Award 2025 for CrowdStrike. https://av-test.org/en/news/av-test-award-2025-for-crowdstrike/ ↩
CrowdStrike, CrowdStrike achieves 100% detection and 100% protection in 2025 MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Evaluations. https://ir.crowdstrike.com/news-releases/news-release-details/crowdstrike-achieves-100-detection-and-100-protection-most/ ↩
TechCrunch, Microsoft says 8.5M Windows devices were affected by CrowdStrike outage (20 July 2024). https://techcrunch.com/2024/07/20/microsoft-says-8.5m-windows-devices-were-affected-by-crowdstrike-outage/ ↩
CrowdStrike, Channel File 291 incident root cause analysis. https://www.crowdstrike.com/en-us/blog/channel-file-291-rca-available/ ↩
Microsoft Learn, Microsoft Defender Antivirus compatibility with other security products (updated 2026). https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/defender-endpoint/microsoft-defender-antivirus-compatibility ↩
Common questions
Is Microsoft Defender for Business good enough for a small business?
For many small businesses, yes. It includes next-generation antivirus, attack surface reduction, EDR and automated investigation, and it comes with Microsoft 365 Business Premium. The bigger question is who will watch and act on its alerts.
Can I run CrowdStrike and Microsoft Defender on the same devices?
You should only have one product doing real-time protection. When a third-party product such as CrowdStrike Falcon is installed and active, Microsoft Defender Antivirus normally steps back into a passive or disabled state, so the two do not fight over the same files.
Do I still need Microsoft 365 Business Premium if I buy CrowdStrike?
Often yes. Business Premium also gives you Intune device management, email protection through Defender for Office 365 Plan 1 and data protection features. CrowdStrike replaces the endpoint protection part, not the rest of the bundle.
Which is cheaper, CrowdStrike or Defender for Business?
If you already pay for Business Premium, Defender for Business costs nothing extra for up to five client devices per user. CrowdStrike is an additional cost, so the case for it rests on detection quality, managed response and how much time your team has to handle alerts.
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