How do they compare?
Business Premium gives you real security tools — Defender for Business, Defender for Office 365, Entra ID, Intune. What it doesn't give you is anyone watching them. EntraGuard runs the stack you already pay for and puts a 24/7 team behind it.
30 minutes · nothing to install · you keep the assessment either way
You already own more than you're using
Defender for Business, Defender for Office 365, Entra ID Conditional Access, and Intune are real, capable tools included in the plan you're probably already paying $22–32/user/month for. Microsoft's own guidance is candid about the rest: "your organization is still responsible for configuration, policy design, monitoring, and ongoing management."
There's no included 24/7 human SOC. Microsoft's actual managed offering (Defender Experts for XDR) is a separate, enterprise-priced add-on with no clear path for a sub-300-seat business. The tools generate findings; someone still has to read and act on them.
Defender for Business can automatically isolate a device or suspend an account — a genuine capability — but only for specific high-confidence scenarios like ransomware or business email compromise. Everything outside that narrow playbook is alert-only.
Attack Simulation Training — phishing simulations, employee reporting, remediation training — requires Defender for Office 365 Plan 2. It is not part of the Business Premium base bundle.
Business Premium includes only a limited slice of Purview Compliance Manager — no control mapping to specific frameworks (HIPAA, NIST, etc.) and no workflow. Microsoft's own documentation states Secure Score and Compliance Manager scores are not proof of compliance with any regulation.
Three reasons to add EntraGuard on top of Business Premium
Secure Score surfaces findings, but Microsoft's own guidance calls it "not a complete security program" — a work queue, not a watch team. EntraGuard puts a 24/7 SOC behind the same Microsoft consoles you already own, so what Business Premium flags actually gets triaged and acted on.
Business Premium has no dark-web monitoring for company credentials. EntraGuard adds credential-leak monitoring tied to your own domains on top of the identity layer you already have.
Turning a partial Compliance Manager score into board-ready, auditor-ready evidence for HIPAA, NIST, or a cyber-insurance questionnaire is manual work with no included tooling. EntraGuard turns the same Microsoft signals into continuous, framework-mapped evidence and one posture score.
You own more security tooling than you're using — let's find out what's actually being watched, and what isn't.
Every layer that goes unwatched in Business Premium
Managed 24/7 — contained, not just flagged.
Risk-based access, monitored continuously.
SPF/DKIM/DMARC enforced and watched.
Patched and verified, not just installed.
Credential exposure caught before it's used.
Run, tracked, and measured — not a checkbox.
Evidence collected continuously, mapped to your framework.
Our analysts, not a dashboard you're left to read.
Every device enrolled and accounted for.
From EntraGuard clients
"Within thirty days, EntraGuard had rolled out an impressive security program that immediately identified and remediated active vulnerabilities and threats."Noah R. — COO, Staffing & Recruiting Firm
"We have been a happy client since 2009. HIPAA was a breeze — the requirements actually fall short of the policies and protection we already had in place, thanks to them."Glen B. — President, NY-area Medical Practices
"EntraGuard has significantly improved our cybersecurity program. Our compliance efforts are now stronger, with more effective management of cybersecurity."James C. — CFO, NY-area Publishing Company
EntraGuard + Microsoft 365 Business Premium, 2026
This isn't rip-and-replace — EntraGuard runs on top of the Microsoft 365 you already own. Rows below show what Business Premium includes natively and what's missing without a managed team behind it.
| Capability | EntraGuard | M365 Business Premium |
|---|---|---|
| Next-gen antivirus & EDR | Included, managed | Included — Defender for Business |
| 24/7 managed threat hunting & response | Included, every plan | Not included — self-managed by design |
| Threats contained, not just alerted | Default behavior | Automated containment, narrow scope only |
| Identity threat protection | Included | Conditional Access only — Entra P1 |
| Email security | Included | Included — Defender for O365 P1 |
| Patch & device management | Included | Included — Intune Plan 1 |
| Dark-web credential monitoring | Included | Not included at business tier |
| Security-awareness training | Included & measured | Add-on only — Defender O365 P2 required |
| Continuous compliance evidence | Included | Read-only score, no framework mapping |
| Single posture score | One number, board-ready | Secure Score exists, not board/audit-grade |
| A team running it for you | Included, every plan | DIY by design |
| One vendor, one bill | Yes | One bill, but real coverage needs add-ons |
Microsoft's own documentation states organizations remain responsible for configuration, monitoring, and ongoing management of Defender for Business, and that Secure Score "is not a complete security program." Automatic attack disruption covers specific high-confidence scenarios (ransomware, BEC, adversary-in-the-middle), not general-purpose response. Attack Simulation Training and full Purview Compliance Manager require Defender for Office 365 Plan 2 / E5-tier licensing, not included in the base Business Premium bundle. Figures reflect Microsoft's public licensing and pricing pages, checked July 2026 — Microsoft's SMB pricing and packaging changed twice in the six months before this research; confirm current price and feature scope directly with Microsoft or a partner before publishing. Named products are the property of Microsoft Corporation and are shown to illustrate coverage, not a vendor-run benchmark. EntraGuard is built around Microsoft 365 and Entra, not a replacement for them.
Questions, answered
The watch never sleeps
Give us thirty minutes and we'll show you your own posture — gaps, wins, and the two or three things worth fixing first. You keep the assessment either way.