Payroll Watchdog
Comparison

IRONSCALES vs Microsoft Defender for Office 365

IRONSCALES logo
IRONSCALES
Per-seat BEC and account-takeover protection priced for SMBs and the MSPs that serve them
VERIFIED JUL 7, 2026
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 logo
Microsoft Defender for Office 365
The BEC baseline you may already be paying for inside Microsoft 365
VERIFIED JUL 7, 2026
Pricing modelsubscriptionsubscription
Starting pointPer-user monthly subscription across three tiers (Protect, Email Protect, Complete Protect)Bundled into Microsoft 365 Business Premium ($22/user/mo), so many SMBs already own Plan 1
Best forSmall and mid-size businesses (and their MSPs) that want dedicated, per-seat BEC and account-takeover protection without an enterprise contract.Microsoft 365 shops that should turn on and tune the BEC-relevant protection they already own before buying anything dedicated.
CountriesUnited States, United Kingdom, Canada, AustraliaUnited States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia
Editorial score7.7/107/10

IRONSCALES

Pros
  • The most straightforwardly SMB-priced dedicated option, per-seat tiers starting under $4
  • Account-takeover coverage catches BEC sent from a genuinely compromised (not just spoofed) mailbox
  • MSP program makes it easy to adopt if you outsource IT
Cons
  • No per-seat pricing on IRONSCALES' own site, the figures come from third-party listings
  • No free tier, just a trial, unlike Sublime's free 100 mailboxes
  • Account-takeover, Teams protection, and awareness training are gated to the top tier

Microsoft Defender for Office 365

Pros
  • You may already own Plan 1 inside Business Premium, protection you've paid for and can simply switch on
  • Native to Microsoft 365, so there's no third-party routing or MX change to deploy
  • Covers the broad email threat surface (malware, malicious URLs, impersonation), not only BEC
Cons
  • A broad email-security add-on, not a purpose-built behavioral payroll-diversion tool
  • The payload-free 'change my direct deposit' email is where behavioral specialists (Sublime, Abnormal) still catch more
  • Real value takes configuring the anti-phishing and impersonation policies, the defaults alone leave gaps
United StatesUnited KingdomCanadaAustralia