Microsoft Defender for Business vs Scout Suite
Microsoft Defender for Business
microsoft.comScout Suite
github.comSide by side
| Figure | Microsoft Defender for Business | Scout Suite |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $0.25/mo | Free |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | — |
| Android | Yes | — |
| API | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 4 | 1 |
| Spec score · Cloud Security Posture Management Software | 8.5 (#3) | 7.4 (#21) |
| Purpose | Microsoft Defender for Business is an endpoint security solution for small and medium-sized businesses with up to 300 users that helps protect devices from ransomware, malware, phishing, and other threats. | Scout Suite assesses cloud security posture by collecting configuration data through cloud provider APIs and highlighting risk areas. |
Plans
Microsoft Defender for Business
- Microsoft Defender for Business$3 a month
- Microsoft Entra Internet Access$5 a month
- Microsoft Entra Suite$12 a month
- Microsoft Defender for Business$3 a year
In their own words
Microsoft Defender for Business
Microsoft Defender for Business has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.
Scout Suite
Scout Suite is a free, open-source command-line tool for assessing cloud security posture. It gathers configuration data through cloud-provider APIs and highlights risk areas, giving security consultants and auditors a point-in-time view of the account where it runs. The CLI creates a local HTML report containing findings and cloud-account configuration. After collection, the project says usage can continue offline. Supported providers include AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform, with alpha support for Alibaba Cloud, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, Kubernetes clusters on a cloud provider, and DigitalOcean Cloud. Scout Suite runs on Linux, macOS, or a self-hosted setup and is written in Python, with support listed for Python 3.9, 3.10, and 3.11. Installation uses pip or a cloned Git repository with its requirements installed. Cloud credentials must already be configured, such as through a provider CLI. The multi-threaded tool keeps configuration settings in memory while running, and the setup guide warns that a resource-limited VM such as AWS t2.micro may have its process killed. The repository uses GPL-2.0.