Cybersecurity · head to head
Microsoft Defender vs OpsLevel
Microsoft Defender
Cybersecurity
Always-on protection for you and your family's data and devices
- From
- $12/month
- Free plan
- No
OpsLevel
Developer Tools
Internal developer portal that scores service ownership and production readiness
- From
- On request
- Free plan
- No
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Microsoft Defender defender Suite requires existing Microsoft 365 E3 or equivalent base licensing; OpsLevel opsLevel does not publish prices at all, not even a starting figure, so you cannot size a budget or compare against Backstage's zero licence cost without entering a sales cycle.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Microsoft Defender and OpsLevel actually diverge.
| Attribute | Microsoft Defender | OpsLevel |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $12/month | On request |
| Pricing model | subscription | quote |
| Category | Cybersecurity | Developer Tools |
Identical on both: free tier (No), platforms (Web), user rating (Not yet rated).
What each one covers
Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.
Only in Microsoft Defender
Nothing recorded that OpsLevel does not also cover.
Only in OpsLevel
- Service catalogue
- Scorecards and rubric
- Checks
- Campaigns
- Self-service actions
- Slack and Teams integration
- Catalogue auto-enrichment
- Deployment on request
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Microsoft Defender
- Endpoint security and threat protectionnot OpsLevel
- Identity and access securitynot OpsLevel
- Email threat protectionnot OpsLevel
- SaaS application security monitoringnot OpsLevel
OpsLevel
- A platform team that needs to prove every production service has a named owner and an on-call rota before an auditnot Microsoft Defender
- Driving a fleet-wide migration such as a runtime upgrade across 400 services with a deadline and visible progressnot Microsoft Defender
- Giving developers a paved road to create a new service from a template without waiting on the platform teamnot Microsoft Defender
- An organisation where an incident took an hour to route because nobody could identify the owning teamnot Microsoft Defender
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Microsoft Defender
- Defender Suite requires existing Microsoft 365 E3 or equivalent base licensing
- Some Defender products use pay-as-you-go pricing with variable costs
- Prices vary based on Microsoft agreements, requiring sales contact for custom quotes
OpsLevel
- OpsLevel does not publish prices at all, not even a starting figure, so you cannot size a budget or compare against Backstage's zero licence cost without entering a sales cycle.
- The Standard plan caps at 50 users, which is below the size at which service ownership becomes a real problem, so most genuine buyers land on Enterprise and its unpublished pricing.
- Scores are only as honest as the metadata teams maintain; where ownership records go stale the rubric produces confident numbers about a catalogue that no longer reflects reality, and leadership acts on them.
- It reports on quality rather than producing it, so it can generate friction between platform teams who set the rubric and product teams who see it as a scoreboard imposed on them without extra headcount to fix the findings.
- As a hosted product it needs read access to source control, cloud accounts and observability tooling, which is a meaningful vendor review in regulated environments; on-premises exists but only on the Enterprise tier.
Pricing, plan by plan
Microsoft Defender
$12/month- Microsoft Defender Suite$12/month
- Endpoint protection
- Identity threat detection
- Email security
- Microsoft 365 E5 with Defender$60/month
- Includes Defender Suite
- Microsoft Teams included
- Comprehensive security and compliance
- Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management Add-on$2/month
- Vulnerability scanning and management
- One-month free trial available
- Annual commitment required
OpsLevel
On request- Standard$undefined/year
- Up to 50 users
- Unlimited catalogued components
- Scorecards, campaigns and the global rubric
- Enterprise$undefined/year
- Unlimited users
- Custom integrations
- Customisable dashboards
Which should you pick?
Choose Microsoft Defender if
Nothing in the data separates Microsoft Defender from OpsLevel on the points above - pick on price and on how each one feels to use.
Questions people ask
- Is Microsoft Defender or OpsLevel better?
- Neither clearly leads. Microsoft Defender starts at $12/month and OpsLevel at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Microsoft Defender or OpsLevel?
- Microsoft Defender starts at $12/month and OpsLevel at On request.
- Does Microsoft Defender or OpsLevel run on more platforms?
- Both run on Web, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
- What is Microsoft Defender best used for?
- Microsoft Defender is most often used for endpoint security and threat protection, identity and access security, email threat protection, saas application security monitoring. Of those, endpoint security and threat protection and identity and access security are not what OpsLevel is typically brought in for.
- What can Microsoft Defender do that OpsLevel cannot?
- OpsLevel covers Service catalogue, Scorecards and rubric, Checks, Campaigns.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Microsoft Defender: How much does Microsoft Defender Suite cost?
Microsoft Defender Suite costs $12/user/month (paid yearly), but requires existing Microsoft 365 E3 or equivalent base licensing. It includes endpoint protection, identity threat detection, email security, and SaaS application monitoring.
SourceOpsLevel: How much does OpsLevel cost?
It does not publish pricing. Billing is per developer using the portal, with volume discounts, and a quote requires a sales conversation.
Microsoft Defender: What add-ons are available for Microsoft Defender?
Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management Add-on costs $2/user/month with annual commitment and includes a one-month free trial. Additional pay-as-you-go products include External Attack Surface Management, Cloud Security Posture Management, and Sentinel.
SourceOpsLevel: How does it compare with Backstage?
Backstage has no licence fee but you staff a team to build and run it. OpsLevel is hosted with checks, campaigns and scorecards out of the box, and you pay per developer instead.
Microsoft Defender: Is Defender included in Microsoft 365 E5?
Yes, Microsoft Defender Suite is included in Microsoft 365 E5 at $60/user/month (paid yearly with Teams). Prices may vary based on Microsoft agreements, requiring contact with Sales for customized quotes.
SourceOpsLevel: Does it require writing catalogue YAML by hand?
No. It auto-discovers and enriches entries from connected systems, though teams still curate ownership and metadata.
OpsLevel: Can it run on premises?
Yes, but only on the Enterprise plan.
Related pages
More on Microsoft Defender
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