I'm the sole day-to-day IT person at a growing SaaS company with around 80 employees, although our CTO and another colleague can help during emergencies. We recently upgraded everyone from Microsoft 365 Business Basic to Business Premium to use features such as Intune and Conditional Access.
We currently use N-able N-sight as our RMM, and it includes SentinelOne. I still want an RMM for managing third-party application patches, remote support, background access, and similar tasks. However, Business Premium includes Microsoft Defender for Business, which appears to provide strong endpoint detection and response capabilities.
I'm trying to decide whether it makes sense to keep paying for an RMM bundle that includes SentinelOne, or whether Defender for Business can replace it. I'm also considering whether we need a managed detection and response service, since I can't realistically monitor and respond to security alerts around the clock. What should I evaluate before dropping SentinelOne, and are there any licensing or feature limitations I should know about?
4 Answers
The most important comparison is not just whether both products are labeled EDR. Check policy coverage, ransomware protection, tamper protection, device isolation, alert quality, investigation tools, licensing, and how well each platform integrates with your Microsoft environment. Also test Defender on representative endpoints rather than assuming the default configuration is sufficient.
If you have servers, verify their licensing separately. Defender for Business on user devices does not automatically cover every server scenario, and some advanced hunting and response capabilities may require higher-tier Microsoft security licenses.
Business Premium already gives you Defender for Business, so it’s reasonable to run a controlled comparison before renewing SentinelOne. Keep the RMM if you need it for remote access and non-Microsoft patching; the RMM and EDR serve different purposes.
For Windows and driver updates, Microsoft Autopatch may cover much of the Microsoft update workload. For third-party software, a separate patching tool may be useful—some products support smaller environments at little or no additional cost. Also check whether your remote support requirements are covered by Intune Remote Help or another tool, because that may affect which RMM features you actually need.
A managed detection and response provider may be worth considering, especially with one person handling daily IT. Services such as Huntress, SentinelOne’s managed offering, or other MDR providers can monitor alerts, investigate suspicious activity, and perform initial containment while you handle recovery and business decisions.
That does not necessarily mean you need both SentinelOne and Defender. Some MDR providers work with Defender, while others require a particular Defender or EDR license level. Get a clear answer on supported licensing, response permissions, after-hours coverage, and whether they manage the Microsoft security stack before comparing prices.
We do have two people who can help in an emergency, but I’m still trying to avoid unnecessary spending. The main question is whether Defender can replace SentinelOne while we keep the RMM for patching and remote support. A properly scoped trial and a feature-by-feature cost comparison seem like the safest next steps.
Defender for Business and SentinelOne are both EDR products, so either can detect and sometimes automatically quarantine threats. The bigger question is whether someone is actively monitoring alerts and responding to them. That human-operated service is MDR, not EDR.
For a small IT team, a combination such as Defender plus an MDR provider can be more useful than simply choosing one endpoint agent over another. Compare the actual detection coverage, remediation workflow, integrations, reporting, and who is responsible for responding at night or during time off.
Exactly—an EDR can isolate a device or block a threat automatically, but investigation, threat hunting, and deciding what to do next are still someone’s responsibility. MDR is the part that adds human analysts and active response.
Does Intune Remote Help support remote PowerShell or full remote desktop in the same way an RMM does? That distinction would matter before removing the existing RMM.