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Compare Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management plans and capabilities

Note

The Vulnerability Management section in the Microsoft Defender portal is now located under Exposure management. With this change, you can now consume and manage security exposure data and vulnerability data in a unified location, to enhance your existing Vulnerability Management features. Learn more.

These changes are relevant for Preview customers (Microsoft Defender XDR + Microsoft Defender for Identity preview option).

Important

This article provides a summary of vulnerability management capabilities available across different Microsoft Defender product plans; however, it's not intended to be a service description or licensing contract document. For more detailed information, see the following resources:

This article helps clarify the Defender Vulnerability Management capabilities included in:

Note

Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management isn't currently available to Microsoft Defender for Business customers.

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Note

The Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management trial isn't currently available to US Government customers using GCC High, and DoD. For more information on purchase options available, see Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management.

Vulnerability Management capabilities for endpoints

The following table summarizes the availability of Defender Vulnerability Management capabilities for endpoints:

Capability Defender for Endpoint Plan 2 includes the following core Defender Vulnerability Management capabilities Defender Vulnerability Management Add-on provides the following premium Vulnerability Management capabilities for Defender for Endpoint Plan 2 Defender Vulnerability Management Standalone provides full Defender Vulnerability Management capabilities for any EDR solution
Device discovery Supported - Supported
Device inventory Supported - Supported
Vulnerability assessment Supported - Supported
Configuration assessment Supported - Supported
Risk based prioritization Supported - Supported
Remediation tracking Supported - Supported
Continuous monitoring Supported - Supported
Software inventory Supported - Supported
Software usages insights Supported - Supported
Security baselines assessment - Supported Supported
Block vulnerable applications - Supported Supported see note
Browser extensions assessment - Supported Supported
Digital certificate assessment - Supported Supported
Network share analysis - Supported Supported
Hardware and firmware assessment - Supported Supported
Authenticated scan for Windows - Supported Supported

Note

If you're using the standalone version of Defender Vulnerability Management, to use the "block vulnerable applications" feature, Microsoft Defender Antivirus must be configured in active mode. For more information, see Microsoft Defender Antivirus Windows.

Vulnerability Management capabilities for servers

For Microsoft Defender for Cloud customers, Defender Vulnerability Management is natively integrated within Defender for Cloud to perform vulnerability assessments for cloud-based virtual machines. Recommendations automatically populate in the Defender for Cloud portal.

Defender Vulnerability Management premium capabilities are available to server devices with Microsoft Defender for Servers Plan 2.

Note

Client devices require the Defender Vulnerability Management add-on license to access Defender Vulnerability Management premium capabilities.

To use the premium vulnerability management capabilities for your client devices, see Try Defender Vulnerability Management Add-on trial for Defender for Endpoint Plan 2 customers.

The capabilities are only available through the Microsoft Defender portal.

The following table lists the availability of Defender Vulnerability Management capabilities across the Defender for Servers plans.

Capability Defender For Servers Plan 1 Defender For Servers Plan 2
Vulnerability assessment Supported Supported
Configuration assessment Supported Supported
Risk based prioritization Supported Supported
Remediation tracking Supported Supported
Continuous monitoring Supported Supported
Software inventory Supported Supported
Software usages insights Supported Supported
Security baselines assessment - Supported
Block vulnerable applications - Supported
Browser extensions assessment - Supported
Digital certificate assessment - Supported
Network share analysis - Supported
Hardware and firmware assessment - Supported
Authenticated scan for Windows - Supportedsee note

Note

The Windows authenticated scan feature will be deprecated by the end of November 2025 and won't be supported beyond that date. For more information about this change, see the Windows authenticated scan deprecation FAQs.

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