SentinelOne vs Microsoft Defender

Free Defender and Defender for Business are different products

The Defender built into Windows is consumer antivirus: real-time protection, no central console, no EDR. Defender for Business at $3 per user per month is genuinely EDR — investigation, response actions, and a console. Most comparisons online blur the two, which makes Defender look either better or worse than it is.

Per user versus per endpoint

Microsoft bills per user and each licence covers several devices, which is excellent value if your people have a laptop and a desktop each. We bill per endpoint. For a five-person office with five machines, Defender for Business is cheaper. For a workshop with twelve shared machines and three staff, the maths flips.

Rollback and independence

SentinelOne's rollback has no Defender equivalent. It is Windows only and depends on snapshots being enabled, but on the platform most small businesses run it is the difference between restoring files and losing them. Separately, some businesses prefer their endpoint security not to live in the same vendor and tenant as their email and identity — if Microsoft credentials are compromised, an attacker is inside the console that manages your defences.

The 2026 vulnerabilities

Defender had several serious vulnerabilities exploited in the wild during 2026, including CVE-2026-41091 (privilege escalation to SYSTEM) and the RoguePlanet zero-day. That is worth knowing, but it is not a reason on its own to switch: every endpoint agent runs at kernel level and every vendor including SentinelOne has had serious CVEs. Judge patch speed and tamper resistance, not the existence of bugs.

When Microsoft Defender is the better choice

We would rather you buy the right thing than buy from us. Microsoft Defender wins if:

• One or two personal machines, no employees, and you keep backups — Defender is free and sufficient.
• You already pay for Microsoft 365 Business Premium; EDR is included and adding us duplicates spend.
• Your staff each have several devices, making Microsoft's per-user licensing cheaper than per-endpoint.
• You want endpoint, email, identity and device management in one console and one bill.

When we’re the better choice

You run a handful of machines for a real business, you want behavioural detection and one-click rollback, and you don’t want a sales call or a seat minimum to get it. SentinelOne Control is $7.00 per endpoint per month and Complete is $10.00, starting at one endpoint.

Worth saying plainly: we are not a managed security provider. We supply the licence, the console and the documentation. We do not watch your alerts or respond to incidents.