# Best McAfee Alternatives for Small Business (November 2026) *McAfee's business products became Trellix in 2022, and Trellix sells its small-business licence at several times the price of the products that lead our rankings.* > What became of McAfee's business products after the 2022 merger into Trellix, what Trellix now charges a small company in its own online store, what McAfee's consumer brand still sells to businesses through Dell, and which tracked endpoint security products replace a McAfee licence for each situation, with list prices, lab results and the steps to take before switching. Endpoint Index research (Buyer's guide). Published 2026-11-01, updated 2026-11-01, data as of 2026-11-01. Source: https://endpointindex.com/research/mcafee-alternatives-small-business/ ## Executive summary **For a small company replacing McAfee, Bitdefender GravityZone Business Security at $38.50 per endpoint per year is the closest like-for-like swap: antivirus for Windows, Mac and Linux machines in one console, bought online from 3 devices.** The McAfee business line no longer exists under that name. McAfee Enterprise and FireEye were merged into Trellix in 2022, and Trellix's online store sells its small-business licence, Trellix Complete Endpoint Protection - Business, at $256.28 per device per year for 5 to 25 licences. That is more than any product we track: the highest list price in our rankings is SentinelOne Singularity Complete at $179.99 per seat per year. If you want EDR with the replacement, Microsoft Defender for Business includes it at $36.00 per user per year. If nobody in the company will watch for alerts, ThreatDown Elite includes 24/7 managed response at $99.00 per endpoint per year. Staying with the McAfee engine is still a defensible choice: Trellix Endpoint Security was Approved in AV-Comparatives' March to June 2026 business test with a 97.5% protection rate, but it also raised 10 false positives, more than any engine we track. ## What happened to McAfee for business? Three things, and a small company may be sitting on any of them. 1. **The business products became Trellix.** McAfee Enterprise and FireEye were combined into Trellix in 2022; AV-Comparatives tests the result as Trellix Endpoint Security (ENS) and notes that it runs the former McAfee engine. Trellix's end-of-life list shows MVISION Endpoint, the McAfee-era cloud endpoint product, reaching end of life on 7 April 2025. A McAfee-era business licence is now renewed, supported and priced by Trellix. 2. **Trellix sells to small businesses from its own store.** The Trellix Online Store lists one product for small businesses, Trellix Complete Endpoint Protection - Business, at $256.28 per device per year for 5 to 25 licences, $207.63 per device per year at 26 to 50 and $205.05 per device per year at 51 to 100, each a one-year subscription with a year of business software support. The band above 100 is cheaper again, and above 250 licences the store sends you to sales. The listing covers PCs, Macs, Linux systems, virtual machines and Windows tablets, with encryption and application containment, and it does not mention EDR; Trellix EDR is a separate product with no published price. 3. **The McAfee brand still sells one business product, through Dell only.** McAfee, the consumer company that kept the name, offers McAfee Business Protection "exclusively available on Dell PCs", in partnership with Dell. McAfee's page describes a security console, a Business Protection Score and automatic policy enforcement, and publishes no price. It is not among the products in AV-Comparatives' current business round. ## Why do small businesses look for a McAfee alternative? 1. **Price.** At 5 to 25 licences Trellix charges $256.28 per device per year. Bitdefender GravityZone Business Security costs $38.50 per endpoint per year and Microsoft Defender for Business $36.00 per user per year, and both carry current results from the same labs. 2. **An enterprise console.** Trellix's endpoint page is written around ePolicy Orchestrator, its enterprise management console. The products in our rankings are run from cloud consoles built for an office without an administrator. 3. **No EDR in the small-business licence.** The store product is prevention, encryption and containment. A company that wants detection and response has to take Trellix EDR on a quote, or buy a product that includes it. 4. **False positives.** In AV-Comparatives' March to June 2026 business test Trellix raised 10 false positives, against 8 for CrowdStrike Falcon Go, the highest count among the engines we track, and 0 for Microsoft Defender for Business. In an office without IT support, every false alarm is a blocked file someone has to release. 5. **Weight.** Trellix's impact score in the same round was 37.1, under the lab's 40 limit but a long way from 3.7 for the lightest tracked engine, ESET PROTECT Core. The [performance report](/research/which-endpoint-security-slows-pcs-least/) sets out the full table. ## Which McAfee alternative fits your situation? | Your situation | Start with | Why | |---|---|---| | McAfee ran on a handful of Windows PCs and Macs, and you want the same job done at a sensible price | Bitdefender GravityZone Business Security | Online from 3 devices at $38.50 per endpoint per year; macOS is included and Linux is included; its engine scored 99.8% in AV-Comparatives' current business round | | Your McAfee came with Dell PCs and the fleet now has machines from other makers | Bitdefender GravityZone Business Security | Top of the [antivirus ranking](/best/antivirus-for-small-business/): licensed per device whatever the maker, with lab results published under its own name | | You pay for Microsoft 365 Business Premium and want EDR | Microsoft Defender for Business | EDR is included, licensed per user at $36.00 per user per year, and Business Premium already carries it | | You want EDR, rollback and patching without Microsoft | ThreatDown Advanced | Ransomware rollback is included, sold online from 5 devices at $79.00 per endpoint per year | | Nobody will answer alerts | ThreatDown Elite | 24/7 managed response is included in the list price of $99.00 per endpoint per year | | An MSP runs your IT and wants one console for several clients | ESET PROTECT Core | Multi-tenant console, Linux included, online from 5 devices at $54.90 per endpoint per year | | You want to keep the McAfee engine | Trellix Complete Endpoint Protection - Business | Trellix's own store, 5 licences minimum, $256.28 per device per year at 5 to 25; Approved by AV-Comparatives in its current business round | ## How do the McAfee alternatives compare?
ProductEDR24/7 managed responseRansomware rollbackmacOSLinux
Bitdefender GravityZone Business SecurityNot offeredNot offeredIncludedIncludedIncluded
ESET PROTECT CoreNot offeredNot offeredIncludedIncludedIncluded
Microsoft Defender for BusinessIncludedNot offeredNot offeredIncludedAdd-on
CrowdStrike Falcon GoNot offeredNot offeredNot offeredIncludedIncluded
ThreatDown EliteIncludedIncludedIncludedIncludedIncluded
ThreatDown AdvancedIncludedNot offeredIncludedIncludedIncluded
From each vendor's product and pricing pages. "Add-on" means available at extra cost. Follow a product link for sources and verification dates.
Where the vendor publishes a price, the cost at 10, 25 and 100 seats:
ProductPer unit per month10 seats / yr25 seats / yr100 seats / yr
Microsoft Defender for Business$3.00 /user/mo$360.00$900.00$3,600.00
Bitdefender GravityZone Business Security$3.21 /endpoint/mo$384.99$854.99$3,064.99
ESET PROTECT Core$4.58 /endpoint/mo$549.00$1,167.50Via sales (online up to 99)
CrowdStrike Falcon Go$5.00 /endpoint/mo$599.90$1,499.75$5,999.00
ThreatDown Advanced$6.58 /endpoint/mo$790.00Via sales (online up to 20)Via sales (online up to 20)
ThreatDown Elite$8.25 /endpoint/mo$990.00Via sales (online up to 20)Via sales (online up to 20)
Annual totals from each vendor's store or calculator at list price. "Quote only" means the vendor publishes no online price at that seat count; "Min N seats" means the vendor's smallest purchase is larger.
Trellix is absent from both tables because it is not a tracked product; its store price is recorded in the [Price Index](/research/smb-endpoint-security-price-index/) instead. The Trellix store charges $2,562.80 a year for 10 devices, which is $256.28 per device per year. Lab results for the tracked products:
ProductAV-Test protectionAV-Comparatives protectionMITRE ATT&CK Evaluation
Bitdefender GravityZone Business Security6.0/6 2025-1299.8% 2026-H172.5% coverage 1 of 80 not evaluated 2024 Dated
ESET PROTECT Core6.0/6 2025-1298.8% 2026-H124.4% coverage 36 of 90 not evaluated 2025
Microsoft Defender for Business6.0/6 2026-0898.8% 2026-H183.8% coverage 2024 Dated
CrowdStrike Falcon GoNo public result98.5% 2026-H198.9% coverage 2025
ThreatDown AdvancedNo public resultNo public result23.7% coverage 2024 Dated
Latest published round per lab, as recorded on each product page. Results marked "Dated" are past the freshness window and score zero in the SMB Fit Score. MITRE does not rank or score vendors.
## Is Trellix still a good product? Yes, on protection. In AV-Comparatives' March to June 2026 business test, Trellix Endpoint Security 10.7 blocked 97.5% of real-world threats and was Approved, and its malware protection rate was also 97.5% with no false positives on business files; the lab noted an issue at the time of testing that caused some extra misses and was fixed before publication. The reservations are the 10 false positives in the real-world test, an impact score of 37.1 that sits close to the approval limit, and a price built for an enterprise buyer. The question for a small company is not whether Trellix protects, but whether it is worth paying several times the price of products with results in the same round. ## What should you check before switching from McAfee? 1. **Find out which McAfee you have.** Consumer McAfee installed on business PCs, McAfee Business Protection bought with Dell machines, or a McAfee-era business licence now held with Trellix. The renewal date, the console and the removal steps differ for each. 2. **Count Macs, Linux machines and servers.** The alternatives license them differently, and the capability table above shows where each is included. 3. **Remove the old agent completely.** Use the vendor's own removal tool before installing the replacement; two endpoint agents on one machine fight each other. 4. **Decide on EDR now.** If you want it, pick a product that includes it rather than planning to add it later on a quote. 5. **Trial on your slowest PC.** If weight was the complaint, two weeks on the oldest laptop tells you more than any lab table. ## Frequently asked questions ### What is the best alternative to McAfee for a small business? Bitdefender GravityZone Business Security: a published price of $38.50 per endpoint per year, Windows, Mac and Linux in one licence, self-serve from 3 devices, and current results in AV-Test and AV-Comparatives. Choose Microsoft Defender for Business instead if you want EDR and already run Microsoft 365. ### Is McAfee still available for business? Under the McAfee name, only McAfee Business Protection, which McAfee sells exclusively with Dell PCs. The former McAfee business products are sold by Trellix, which lists Trellix Complete Endpoint Protection - Business in its online store at $256.28 per device per year for 5 to 25 licences. ### Trellix or Bitdefender for a 10-person company? Bitdefender. Bitdefender GravityZone Business Security costs $38.50 per endpoint per year against Trellix's $256.28 per device per year, covers Mac and Linux in the same licence, and raised fewer false positives in AV-Comparatives' current business round. Trellix suits a company that already has a Trellix or McAfee-era console and the staff to run it. ### Does Trellix have EDR for a small business? Not in the store product. Trellix Complete Endpoint Protection - Business is listed without EDR, and Trellix EDR is sold separately on a quote. Microsoft Defender for Business and ThreatDown Advanced include EDR in their published prices. ### Is McAfee Business Protection from Dell good enough? Not for a company that wants independent evidence. McAfee's page describes a security console, a protection score and automatic policy enforcement, and the product is sold only with Dell PCs. It has no published price and no result under its own name in AV-Comparatives' current business round, so there is no independent measure of its protection. A company that has outgrown it should buy a product with published lab results. ## Methodology and caveats Trellix's prices were read from the Trellix Online Store on 1 November 2026 with the store's currency set to US dollars, and the pricing chart is stored as evidence in the Price Index. Trellix's lab figures are quoted from AV-Comparatives' published report for the product it tested, Trellix Endpoint Security 10.7, which is not the same packaging as the store product. Each tracked product's price, capability states and lab results come from its Endpoint Index product page, every value sourced and dated. Prices are list prices per seat per year. The [SMB Fit Score](/methodology/) measures how well a product fits a small buyer; it is not a protection score. ## Sources 1. Trellix. [Trellix Online Store](https://shop.trellix.com/1320/purl-cataloghome), Trellix Complete Endpoint Protection - Business, pricing chart in US dollars, checked 1 November 2026. 2. Trellix. [Endpoint Security product page](https://www.trellix.com/products/endpoint-security/) and [Product End-of-Life Information](https://www.trellix.com/support/end-of-life-products/), MVISION Endpoint entry, checked 1 November 2026. 3. McAfee. [McAfee Business Protection](https://www.mcafee.com/learn/mcafee-small-business/), "Exclusively available on Dell PCs", checked 1 November 2026. 4. AV-Comparatives. [Business Security Test 2026 (March to June)](https://av-comparatives.org/tests/business-security-test-2026-march-june/), Trellix Endpoint Security 10.7 results and the note on the 2022 merger. 5. Endpoint Index. Product pages for each alternative named, with per-value sources. Latest price check: 2026-11-01.