Small businesses aren't flying under attackers' radar anymore… if they ever were. A few numbers set the stakes:

• 61% of small businesses have experienced a cyberattack or breach, and most attribute this to gaps in monitoring or response, not to a missing tool. 

• The average cost of an SMB breach varies widely by study—from contained incidents costing tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars to more than $1 million when downtime and recovery are included.

• Across the 5+ million endpoints Huntress protects, RMM abuse (attackers using legitimate remote-management tools against you) rose 277% year over year in 2026, and identity-based attacks now open the door to business email compromise almost as often as phishing does.

• Most small businesses don't have anyone dedicated to watching endpoint alerts, which is why detection without a response plan doesn't actually reduce risk

Endpoint protection for a small or growing business comes down to three non-negotiables.

1. Detection of real attacker behavior

Attacks won't show up as malware files that regular antivirus catches. Threat actors often abuse trusted tools such as PowerShell, WMI, and scheduled tasks, already built into Windows, to move through your network without dropping a single file worth flagging. These are called living-off-the-land (LOTL) attacks.

2. Human-led investigation and response

So you get an alert. Now what? If you don't have security analysts on staff, you need a provider whose SOC analysts research it, verify it, and act on it — not just forward it to you at 2 a.m.

3. Visibility into attacker behavior

You need to see exactly what happened: what process ran, what it touched, and where it tried to talk to. Without that, you're guessing whether the attack is actually over.

What separates the tools worth paying for: low-noise alerts, 24/7 coverage without adding headcount, and a plain-language explanation of what was done about it.

Huntress isn't the only option. Here's a quick pricing comparison on where other solutions stand.

Here's an honest look at the EDR platforms growing businesses most often consider, starting with the one built specifically for teams without dedicated security staff.

1. Huntress Managed EDR — best for SMBs and growing businesses without a dedicated security team

Huntress combines behavioral detection, built to catch living-off-the-land (LOTL) techniques like PowerShell and WMI abuse that signature-based antivirus misses — with a 24/7 AI-Centric SOC that investigates, validates, and acts on alerts for you. It's one of the only entries on this list where a human-led response is included by default, not an upsell — and unlike Arctic Wolf's MDR-first model, it doesn't require a five-figure annual contract minimum to get there.

• Best for: Small and mid-sized businesses without a 24/7 internal security team.

• Key features: Behavioral/LOTL detection, 24/7 SOC-included investigation and response, 8-minute average MTTR for EDR (3 minutes for identity threats), false-positive rate under 1%, optional Managed ITDR and Managed ISPM for Microsoft 365 hardening.

• Managed vs. DIY: Fully managed — Huntress's analysts respond on your behalf; you don't tune, triage, or staff a SOC.

• Pricing: Simple per-endpoint pricing with SOC support included at no extra cost (contact Huntress for a quote).

• Pros: No add-on tiers to get a fully managed outcome; low alert noise; built for lean IT teams and MSPs.

• Cons: Less of a fit for enterprises that already run a staffed, in-house SOC and want to self-manage every layer.

2. Microsoft Defender for Business — best for Microsoft 365-heavy SMBs on a budget

Defender for Business is often already in your Microsoft 365 subscription, and its detection engine draws on one of the largest threat-intelligence networks in the industry. What it doesn't include is a human being who investigates and acts on what it finds.

• Best for: SMBs already standardized on Microsoft 365 who want baseline protection with minimal added cost.

• Key features: Native Microsoft 365/Entra integration, automatic device discovery, Plan 1 (essential AV) and Plan 2 (EDR + automated investigation) tiers.

• Managed vs. DIY: DIY. Alerts require someone — internal staff or a partner like Huntress — to investigate and respond.

• Pricing: Often included in existing Microsoft 365 Business Premium plans; Plan 2 available as an add-on.

• Pros: Cost-effective, native integration, no new agent to deploy if you're already all-in on Microsoft.

• Cons: Generates alerts, not resolutions — many SMBs pair it with a managed provider to close that gap.

3. CrowdStrike Falcon — best for SMBs prepared to invest in enterprise-grade tooling

Falcon offers deep telemetry and threat intelligence but is positioned, priced, and supported as an enterprise platform.

• Best for: Growing SMBs anticipating enterprise-scale security needs and willing to pay for them.

• Key features: Rich telemetry, extensive API/integration options, low false-positive rate.

• Pros: Best-in-class detection depth.

• Cons: Cost and complexity are hard to justify without dedicated staff to manage it.

4. Sophos Intercept X — best for businesses already standardized on Sophos

• Best for: SMBs already using Sophos firewall and/or email security who want one vendor across the stack.

• Key features: CryptoGuard ransomware protection, bundled MDR option, tight integration with Sophos firewall/email.

• Pros: One vendor, one console, if you're already in the Sophos ecosystem.

• Cons: That same integration becomes lock-in if you ever want to switch just one piece.

5. Arctic Wolf — best for SMBs that want an MDR-style extension of their IT team

• Best for: SMBs that like the concept of an outsourced SOC and are comparing providers.

• Key features: 24/7 MDR coverage and positioning as an extension of your internal IT function.

• Pros: Genuine 24/7 coverage model.

• Cons: Significant overlap in capabilities with Huntress's included SOC, often at a higher price point.

6. Bitdefender GravityZone — best for SMBs with internal IT who don't need MDR bundled

• Best for: SMBs with some internal IT capacity who want strong detection without paying for a bundled SOC.

• Key features: Behavioral analytics, centralized console, competitive pricing.

• Pros: Good detection rates for the price.

• Cons: No built-in human response — your team owns triage.

For businesses with fewer than 1,000 endpoints, the most cost-effective EDR is usually a fully managed service priced per endpoint per month, not a standalone detection tool you have to staff yourself.

Here's why the math works out that way. A standalone EDR platform might look cheaper on the license line. But once you factor in what it costs to hire, train, or contract someone to monitor alerts around the clock, tune out false positives, and actually respond at 2 am, the "cheaper" tool usually ends up costing more — or just doesn't get watched at all, which is worse than not buying anything.

On paper, a couple of platforms in the table above list a lower per-endpoint price than Huntress. Once you add the cost of a separate MDR tier, an internal analyst's time, or a missed 2 a.m. alert, that gap closes fast, or reverses.

At under 1,000 endpoints, you're below the size where hiring a dedicated SOC analyst makes financial sense. That's the exact gap managed EDR is built to close: you get the detection technology and the 24/7 response team bundled into one predictable, per-endpoint price, instead of a platform bill plus a headcount bill.

What to check before you compare on price alone:

• Is response included, or is it a separate MDR add-on? Several platforms above price detection and response as two different products.

• What's the per-endpoint price at your actual endpoint count? Volume pricing tiers can flip the "cheapest" option once you're above a couple of hundred endpoints.

• What happens outside business hours? A tool that's cheap per endpoint but only staffed 9-to-5 isn't cost-effective if the breach happens at 11 p.m. on a Saturday.

Huntress Managed EDR starts at $8.99 per endpoint per month, with 24/7 human response included — no separate MDR tier to buy on top.

Pricing across the category ranges from around $3 per endpoint per month for basic antivirus alternatives to $25+ for full managed detection and response.

Don't throw money at a tool that generates alerts nobody understands. Endpoint security should either give you the visibility to stop attacks yourself or hand that job to people who will stop them for you. Solutions with human response built in can cost more upfront than a standalone tool — but alerts that nobody acts on cost more in the end.

Deploy to every endpoint

Cover everything, not just the systems you've decided matter most. Attackers go looking for your weakest endpoint, not your most important one.

Baseline before you tune

Learn what normal looks like on your network first. Skip this and you'll spend your days clicking through alerts that never mattered.

Test your run books

The best detection in the world is worthless if nobody knows who's supposed to respond, or what they're supposed to do, when the alert actually comes in.

Hunt proactively

Know what normal endpoint activity looks like so you know what to go looking for before you become a statistic, not after.

Choosing based on prevention scores alone

Lab tests measure how well a tool blocks known malware samples. Prevention is table stakes. Detection and response are what actually protect you once something gets past it.

Assuming more features means better protection

Every vendor ships a feature list long enough to need a certification to configure. Focus on whether a solution does the essential things well — not how many modules it has.

Ignoring response capabilities

Plenty of tools brag about what they block. Fewer talk about what happens once an attacker's already in. Response speed matters more than prevention rate.

The right endpoint protection detects real attacker behavior, includes human response on your behalf, and gives you clear visibility into what happened on your endpoints.

Huntress Managed EDR gives you enterprise-grade endpoint protection with human response built in the detection capabilities of the platforms above, backed by a team that handles the baseline tuning, threat hunting, and response for you. Our 24/7 SOC monitors your endpoints around the clock and responds the moment something's detected, so you don't need internal security staff to make sense of alerts or decide what happens next. No noise. No guessing. Just action when it matters.

Get a demo of the Huntress platform and see what it's like to have experts handling the threats instead of you.