CrowdStrike vs SentinelOne vs Microsoft Defender for Small Business (October 2026)

Executive summary

For most small businesses, Microsoft Defender for Business is the best of the three: it includes EDR at $36.00 per user per year, it comes free with Microsoft 365 Business Premium, and it has the freshest independent lab results here. CrowdStrike Falcon Go, at $59.99 per endpoint per year, is the simplest to buy and covers phones, but it has no EDR. SentinelOne Singularity Control, at $79.99 per endpoint per year, is the cheapest way into SentinelOne's EDR and adds ransomware rollback, and it is sold only through partners. Prices are list prices at 10 seats, last checked on 2 October 2026.

None of the three includes a 24/7 managed service at these tiers. If nobody in your business can answer an alert at night, compare the ranking of endpoint protection with analysts included instead.

What does each vendor sell a small business?

Each vendor sells a ladder of plans, and the rung where EDR starts differs.

Every plan on each ladder, with its price at 5 to 100 seats, is on the Microsoft Defender for Business, CrowdStrike and SentinelOne pricing pages.

Which one includes EDR for the least money?

Microsoft Defender for Business does, and by a wide margin. It is the cheapest EDR product in the Endpoint Index at 10 seats, and Microsoft licenses it per user with up to five devices each, where CrowdStrike and SentinelOne count every device. SentinelOne's cheapest EDR, Singularity Control, costs more than twice as much per seat. CrowdStrike's, Falcon Enterprise, costs more than twice as much as Control.

Product	Per unit per month	10 seats / yr	25 seats / yr	100 seats / yr
Microsoft Defender for Business	$3.00 /user/mo	$360.00	$900.00	$3,600.00
CrowdStrike Falcon Go	$5.00 /endpoint/mo	$599.90	$1,499.75	$5,999.00
SentinelOne Singularity Control	$6.67 /endpoint/mo	$799.90	$1,999.75	$7,999.00
SentinelOne Singularity Complete	$15.00 /endpoint/mo	$1,799.90	$4,499.75	$17,999.00

Microsoft's low price has a catch for some offices: servers need a separate licence, and Defender for Business has no ransomware rollback. SentinelOne Control and Complete both include rollback.

Product	EDR	Ransomware rollback	Mobile	macOS	Linux	MSP multi-tenant	SIEM integration
Microsoft Defender for Business	Included	Not offered	Included	Included	Add-on	Included	Included
CrowdStrike Falcon Go	Not offered	Not offered	Included	Included	Included	Not offered	Not offered
SentinelOne Singularity Control	Included	Included	Add-on	Included	Included	Included	Included

Which has the best independent test results?

Microsoft has the most current results for the product you would buy. Defender, the engine under Defender for Business, scored 6, 5.5 and 6 out of 6 for protection, performance and usability in AV-Test's August 2026 test, and blocked 98.8% of attacks with no false alarms in AV-Comparatives' first-half 2026 Business Security Test.

CrowdStrike's results are strong but were earned by bigger plans: AV-Comparatives tested Falcon Enterprise, and MITRE's 2025 evaluation measured EDR that Falcon Go does not include. SentinelOne has no recent AV-Test or AV-Comparatives business result and skipped MITRE's 2025 round, so its 2024 result now counts as dated under our 18-month rule.

Product	AV-Test protection	AV-Comparatives protection	MITRE ATT&CK Evaluation
Microsoft Defender for Business	6.0/6 2026-08	98.8% 2026-H1	83.8% coverage 2024 Dated
CrowdStrike Falcon Go	No public result	98.5% 2026-H1	98.9% coverage 2025
SentinelOne Singularity Control	No public result	No public result	90% coverage 2024 Dated

Which is easiest to buy and live with?

Microsoft and CrowdStrike both sell online by card. Microsoft offers a one-month free trial and a 7-day prorated refund; CrowdStrike offers a 15-day trial of Falcon Go and a full refund within 30 days on annual plans, and Go can be paid monthly. Both renew automatically.

SentinelOne sells only through partners, so the price you pay is whatever the partner quotes, and there is no self-serve trial. Its master subscription agreement renews at 120% of the last order unless you give 30 days' written notice. For a small office without a buyer who reads contracts, that clause alone is a reason to prefer one of the other two.

Which is best for your business?

Which suits a regulated business?

All three list PCI DSS support. CrowdStrike and SentinelOne also list CMMC relevance and FedRAMP authorisation; our records hold neither for Defender for Business itself, so a defence supplier should check Microsoft's scope documents. HIPAA separates them further. SentinelOne says supporting a healthcare customer may include signing a business associate agreement. Microsoft's BAA covers a published list of services, and Defender for Business was not on it when we checked. CrowdStrike publishes a HIPAA report for Falcon but no BAA offer. A medical or dental practice should get the answer from each vendor in writing.

Product	HIPAA BAA	Supports PCI DSS	CMMC-relevant	FedRAMP
Microsoft Defender for Business	Unknown	Yes	Unknown	unknown
CrowdStrike Falcon Go	Unknown	Yes	Yes	authorized
SentinelOne Singularity Control	Yes	Yes	Yes	authorized

Frequently asked questions

Methodology and caveats

Prices are list prices per seat per year at 10 seats from each vendor's own pages, checked on the dates shown on the linked pricing pages; partners and resellers may charge less. Lab results are attributed to the plan the lab tested, which is not always the plan named here. Fit Scores (75 for Defender for Business, 62 for Falcon Go and 37 for Control) follow the published methodology and measure fit for a small business, not absolute protection.

Sources

• Microsoft, Defender for Business plans and pricing, and Defender for Business FAQ: price, licence terms, servers.
• CrowdStrike, Falcon Go pricing: plans, inclusions, trial and refund terms.
• SentinelOne, Platform Packages and Master Subscription Agreement: plans, partner-only purchase, renewal clause.
• AV-Comparatives, Business Security Test, March to June 2026; AV-Test, business test results; MITRE, ATT&CK Evaluations.
• Endpoint Index product pages for each product named, with per-value sources and verification dates.