Insights

Microsoft has introduced exciting new add-ons for Microsoft 365 Business Premium that make advanced security and compliance tools far more affordable to SMBs.

There are three new add-on options for Microsoft 365 Business Premium:

• Microsoft Defender Suite for Business Premium at $10 per user per month
• Microsoft Purview Suite for Business Premium at $10 per user per month
• Both combined for $15 per user per month

“You get an immense amount of coverage. Enterprise-grade security and compliance focused on the SMB” says Marcus Beer, Head of Global Channel (Security) at Chorus.

Buying the individual licences for the included products separately would cost around $47.20 per user per month, so the savings are significant (~68%).

What’s included

Microsoft Defender Suite for Business Premium covers: identity, endpoint, email, and cloud app security with tools like:

• Defender for Endpoint Plan 2
• Defender for Office 365 Plan 2
• Defender for Identity
• Defender for Cloud Apps
• Entra ID P2

Microsoft Purview Suite for Business Premium focuses on compliance and governance, including:

• E5 Information Protection & Governance
• E5 Insider Risk Management
• E5 eDiscovery & Audit

These include many Microsoft Purview tools such as Information Protection, Data Loss Prevention (DLP), Records and Data Lifecycle Management, Communication Compliance and more.

The combined option brings everything together between the Defender and Purview suites for a single, predictable price.

Marcus commented “You can now add both the Defender and Purview suites for $15 per user, so you’re really protecting yourself against external threats as well as insider risks for a heavily reduced price point. It’s offering incredible value for SMBs and offers the level of protection they’ve desperately wanted and needed for a long time”.

How does Microsoft Defender Suite for Business Premium differ from the recent the E5 Security add-on for Business Premium?

You might have noticed that Microsoft Defender Suite for Business Premium ($10 per user per month) includes the same products as the recently announced E5 Security add-on for Business Premium customers ($12 per user per month).

Customers with the E5 security add-on should refer to the FAQs at the bottom Microsoft’s announcement, which explains how customers are eligible to transition to the new Defender Suite, referring customers to these guidelines.

How much do the new Suites cost?

We have included the costs in £GBP below for the new Defender and Purview suites – as well as the Defender Suite for Microsoft 365 Enterprise licences (E3).

The below pricing is accurate as of November 2025 but subject to change from Microsoft. Since the launch of the New Commerce Experience (NCE) there are different ways to licence Microsoft solutions – a) Annual commitment, paid annually, b) Annual commitment, paid monthly (this has a 5% price increase to paying annually), Monthly commitment, paid monthly (this has a 20% price increase). Buying annual commitments gives you better pricing, however you cannot decrease the number of licences you have in that year, whereas monthly commitments mean you can flex up and down every month – but it comes at a higher cost.

All pricing listed below show Annual commitment with annual payment, or Monthly commitment with monthly payment, excluding VAT.

For Microsoft 365 Business Premium

• Microsoft Defender Suite for Microsoft 365 Business Premium = £92.40 per user per year or £9.24 per user per month.
• Microsoft Purview Suite for Microsoft 365 Business Premium = £92.40 per user per year, or £9.24 per user per month.
• Microsoft Defender and Purview Suites for Microsoft 365 Business Premium = £138 per user per year, or £13.80 monthly.

For Microsoft 365 E3

• Microsoft Defender Suite (formerly E5 security) = £110.40 per user per year, or £11.04 per user per month
• Microsoft Defender Suite for FLW (formerly F5 security) = £74.40 per user per year, or £7.44 per user per month

Why the new suites matter for SMBs

Cost and complexity have always been barriers for smaller organisations. These bundles remove both. Businesses can now access the same security and compliance capabilities used by large enterprises, without the enterprise price tag.

How it works with Chorus services

Managed Security

Chorus MXDR and MDR services are built to work with Microsoft security tools. Until recently, if you didn’t have E5 Security or similar, that meant stacking multiple security licences to achieve Microsoft-centric XDR coverage, which added up quickly for SMB’s. But with the new Business Premium offerings (E5 add-on and now the Defender Suite), you can get the right technology and our 24/7 managed Extended Detection & Response security services together, for less than what the licences alone used to cost.

“An SMB today could use the Chorus full MXDR service by pairing the Defender Suite add-on licenses with MXDR to give a very comprehensive, capable & advanced 24/7 solution to security, 100%.” said Marcus.

The only other prerequisite is Microsoft Sentinel, although this is billed based on consumption, which is extremely low cost for most SMBs.

Data Protection & Governance

The new Microsoft Purview Suite for Business Premium means SMBs can now access the tools that can help them protect their sensitive data, as well as ensuring compliance and better management of their data estate.

Chorus also delivers data protection & governance consultancy services that help you leverage your Microsoft tools to reduce data risks, comply with regulations, and improve information governance.

Many organisations aren’t aware of the data protection and governance challenges that they’re facing to remain compliant with their sensitive data and the potential solutions available to them.

Also, SMBs need to prepare for the inevitable introduction of AI in the workplace and tools such as Microsoft 365 Copilot. This includes reviewing data governance, security and information architecture to ensure that AI tools deliver value without introducing risk.

Jason Lee, Collaboration and Information Management Lead at Chorus, recently commented on this when discussing the addition of GPT-5 in Microsoft 365 Copilot:

“Strong data governance provides a solid foundation for success with Copilot. By creating those lifecycle management policies, managing your dormant and orphaned data, identifying and managing problematic SharePoint sites, and so on, you’ll reduce data risks while ensuring that Copilot draws on your most useful and accurate content.”

The new Microsoft Purview Suite for Business Premium is now paving the way for SMBs to really make progress on their data protection and information governance, and Chorus can help SMBs get the most out of this affordable, yet extremely powerful bundle of tools.

Why this is so exciting for our Business Premium customers

The combined bundle of the Microsoft Defender and Purview Suites for Business Premium at only $15 offers incredible value, bringing enterprise capabilities into a single, accessible licence at a price point that will be welcomed by SMBs.

The Purview suite will enable Chorus customers to implement many of the recommendations we’ve provided to help them better manage and protect their data, while as Marcus points out “Defender licensing plus our managed security services can now cost less than what the licensing was before without the service”.

This ultimately, means that more SMB customers using Business Premium will be able to add Chorus MXDR services, with 24/7 expert managed security from the Chorus SOC team.