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Defender for Business vs Defender Suite vs Microsoft 365 E5

Endpoint and email security for small and large organisations, with prerequisites and prices.

The options

  • Microsoft Defender for Business

    MDE_SMB

    CHF 2.40

    user/month

    Microsoft list price for Switzerland, excl. VAT, as of 25 September 20261

    Includes

    • NGAV, EDR with automatic attack disruption, automated investigation & response, threat & vulnerability management, monthly security summaries; Windows/macOS/iOS/Android2
    • Included in Microsoft 365 Business Premium2

    Limits

    • Up to 300 users; 5 devices per user; servers via separate add-on2

  • Microsoft Defender Suite (formerly M365 E5 Security)

    CHF 9.70

    user/month · annual subscription, excl. VAT

    List price, excl. VAT, as of 24 September 20263

    Includes

    • Defender for Endpoint P2, Defender for Identity, Defender for Office 365 P2, Defender for Cloud Apps, Defender for IoT, XDR4

    Limits

    • Lacks the productivity and compliance components of E5; MDE covers up to 5 devices per user; servers licensed separately4

    Requires

    • Microsoft 365 E3, or Office 365 E3 + EMS E33

  • Defender Suite for Microsoft 365 Business Premium

    CHF 8.10

    user/month · annual subscription, excl. VAT

    List price, excl. VAT, as of 24 September 20265

    Includes

    • Entra ID (risk-based policies), MDE, MDI, MDO, MDCA, Defender for IoT (EIoT), XDR5
    • Defender + Purview Suites for Business Premium bundle CHF 12.105

    Limits

    • Max 300 seats5

    Requires

    • Microsoft 365 Business Premium5

  • Microsoft 365 E5

    SPE_E5

    CHF 54.33

    user/month

    Microsoft list price for Switzerland, excl. VAT, as of 25 September 20266

    Includes

    • Full Defender P2 stack plus Entra ID P2, Purview premium compliance, Windows Enterprise E5, Office apps, Teams Phone, Power BI Pro, Security Copilot capacity7

Key differences

  1. Defender for Business = SMB endpoint security only; Defender Suite = full enterprise Defender XDR stack as E3 add-on; E5 = Defender Suite + Purview Suite + productivity4
  2. USD: Defender Suite $12 add-on vs M365 E5 $608
  3. Defender Vulnerability Management add-on CHF 1.62 (requires MDE P2)4

Who it’s for

  • Defender for Business: SMBs (<=300) on Business Standard/Basic or Premium
  • Defender Suite: M365 E3 customers wanting E5-grade security without E5 compliance/productivity
  • M365 E5: enterprises wanting security + compliance + telephony consolidated

ClearSource’s reading of Microsoft’s documentation — not a recommendation for your situation.

What changed recently

  1. 'Microsoft 365 E5 Security' add-on renamed/reshaped as Microsoft Defender Suite ($12 USD list); exact rename date not stated8

  2. 2026-05

    Modern Work Plan Comparison notes 'Changed from Add-ons to Suites' in May 20269

Where Microsoft’s own pages disagree

  • Microsoft 365 E7: the Swiss comparison table doesn’t show clearly which Intune Suite items (Remote Help, Enterprise App Management, Endpoint Privilege Management, Advanced Analytics, Cloud PKI, Plan 2) are included; Microsoft’s pricing update says the E5 packaging changes apply to E7 too.78
  • Naming: Microsoft Learn (17 September 2026) calls the products “Microsoft Copilot” and “Microsoft Copilot Business”, while the Swiss and US pricing pages still say “Microsoft 365 Copilot” and Microsoft’s licensing list still says “Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365” (Microsoft_365_Copilot).101112
  • Switzerland isn’t in the EEA, yet Microsoft’s Swiss pages sell “EWR” (EEA) suites without Teams. The Swiss price gaps between with and without Teams (about CHF 6.93 for enterprise suites, 2.61 for Business, 1.30 for Business Basic) differ from the euro minimums Microsoft committed to the European Commission (EUR 8.00 / 3.00 / 1.50).713
  • Microsoft’s plan-comparison PDF shows inclusions as graphics only; that F1 and F3 include Entra ID P1 and Intune Plan 1 follows from its footnotes and add-on table.9

Sources

  1. 1microsoft.com
  2. 2Microsoft Defender for Business (de-ch) (24 September 2026)
  3. 3Microsoft Security pricing overview (de-ch) (24 September 2026)
  4. 4Microsoft Defender Suite (de-ch) (24 September 2026)
  5. 5Microsoft Defender Suite for Microsoft 365 Business Premium (de-ch) (24 September 2026)
  6. 6microsoft.com
  7. 7Microsoft 365 Enterprise plans & pricing (de-ch) (24 September 2026)
  8. 82026 Microsoft 365 packaging and pricing updates (Microsoft Licensing news) (16 February 2026)
  9. 9Modern Work Plan Comparison - Enterprise (Microsoft PDF, publish date September 1, 2026) (1 September 2026)
  10. 10learn.microsoft.com
  11. 11microsoft.com
  12. 12Product names and service plan identifiers for licensing (Microsoft CSV) (19 August 2026)
  13. 13microsoft.com

Official Microsoft pages (and, for print services, the vendors’ price pages), read on or before 24 September 2026.

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