Defender for IoT Licensing to Become More Expensive

• Microsoft Defender for IoT licensing is changing to a more expensive, annual-only licensing model.
• Existing customers can continue to use the earlier licensing model, which offered monthly or annual payment.

New Defender for IoT customers will no longer be offered a monthly consumption-based licensing model and will instead need to switch to a strikingly similar “site-based” licensing model. The new model appears to cost the same as the earlier licensing model for customers with a single site, but now requires annual licensing of each site that has operational technology (OT) devices an organization plans to secure.

In June 2023, Microsoft announced the change. While this change initially appears significant, it will only affect new customers for now.

Previously, Defender for IoT required a purchase of licenses in sets of 100 or more devices; these devices could have been at any site the organization wanted to secure. Licenses could be purchased monthly or annually, at the same price per month.