While it doesn’t offer remote management, ESET Small Business Security lets you monitor the health of all company computers and even offers a version specifically configured for server protection.
When your business is small, running it from a corner of your dining room table might be a practical solution. Eventually, though, you’ll need to expand. Likewise, the security suite that you use for your personal computer may not be effective as a business security suite. ESET Small Business Security is designed for this kind of very small business—too small to have an IT department or a security team. It builds on ESET’s top-tier security and offers specific options for business use. That said, Bitdefender Ultimate Small Business Security also offers support for mobile devices, identity theft protection for employees, and dark web monitoring of business details, making it an Editors’ Choice winner. And if you want a strong emphasis on remote management, Avast Premium Business Security is our other top pick.How Much Does ESET Small Business Security Cost?
There’s no fixed size for a small business, but 20-25 employees seems to be a common figure. Pricing for Bitdefender and ESET caps out at 25 employees, while Malwarebytes for Teams and Norton Small Business Premium cap out at 20. With pricing that goes up to 999 employees, Avast Premium Business Security and AVG Internet Security Business Edition don’t match this pattern, but I’d be surprised if their actual installations didn’t average around 20-25 employees each.
ESET’s pricing starts at $179.99 per year for five devices, which is $154.99 plus $5 per device. That pattern holds until you hit 10 devices. For 10 to 25 devices, the price is simple—$20.50 per device. That means you’d pay $512.50 at the 25-device level. That price looks to be considerably less than Bitdefender’s $799.99 per year. However, Bitdefender’s pricing is based on the number of employees and covers twice as many devices as employees.
With Malwarebytes, that same $799.99 per year gets you security protection for 20 devices, not 25. Norton is looking like a bargain at $399.99 for 20 devices. Yes, that’s just a tad less than ESET, which would run $410 per year for 20 devices.
As for Avast and AVG, the price per device decreases as the number of devices increases, but their protection remains expensive. Ignoring first-year discounts (as I always do), both Avast and AVG would cost more than $1,000 per year to cover 25 devices. And who’s going to pay $23k-ish per year for 999 licenses?Getting Started With ESET Small Business Security
When you purchase a subscription to protect your business with ESET, you will receive an email containing an activation key and a link to manage your subscription. You then simply go online and associate the subscription with your ESET online account or create one if you don’t already have one.
From the online console, you can download protection for the device you’re using or email a link to protect another Windows, macOS, or Android device. When installing on a desktop computer, you must actively choose whether the antivirus should remove PUAs (potentially unwanted applications). These are apps that, although not actively malicious, may exhibit undesirable behaviors or include associated programs. During testing, I found that ESET detected many of my malware samples as PUAs. You should definitely enable PUA detection.
Installed on Windows, this suite closely resembles ESET Home Security Premium. A large banner across the top reflects the security status. You want to see a green banner labeled “You are protected.” Below the banner are seven large buttons representing these security features: Anti-Theft, Browser Privacy & Security, ESET Folder Guard, Network Inspector, Safe Banking & Browsing, Secure Data, and VPN. You can drag these buttons around to change their order, if you so desire.
Along the left side of the window is a menu providing access to various app features: Overview, Computer Scan, Update, Tools, Setup, Help and Support, and ESET Home Account.Antivirus Abilities
Naturally, this suite includes all the protective features found in ESET NOD32 Antivirus. You can peruse that review for an in-depth look at the core antivirus features. Given that my review of the standalone antivirus is nearly two years old, I reran all my tests, and the results did not change significantly.
A full antivirus scan on my standard virtual machine testbed completed in 87 minutes, which is significantly faster than the current average of 113 minutes. ESET clearly did some optimization during that scan, as a repeat scan finished in just seven minutes, cutting more than 90% from the initial scan time.
Independent antivirus testing labs around the world test dozens of protective solutions and regularly report on their capabilities. I follow five such labs, and four of the five included ESET in their latest reports. ESET holds perfect scores from AV-Test Institute, AV-Comparatives, AVLab Cybersecurity Foundation, and MRG-Effitas. My aggregate lab score algorithm maps all results to a 10-point scale and returns an overall score. With only perfect results, ESET has an admirable lab score of 10 out of 10.
Sophos Home Premium also has a 10-point aggregate score, as does Webroot, but these are based on results from one lab and two labs, respectively. I consider ESET’s score better because it’s derived from four labs. On that basis, Norton is the big winner, with perfect scores from all five labs. Avast and Microsoft Defender Antivirus also appeared in the latest reports from all five, scoring 9.6 and 9.4, respectively.
When I opened my folders full of malware samples, ESET eliminated 30% of them on sight, little change from 31% when last tested, and still very low. McAfee and UltraAV detected 100% of the samples before they could ever launch, and Malwarebytes managed 99%. It’s worth noting that, as before, ESET only wiped out half of my ransomware samples on sight, whereas most competitors eliminate them all or nearly all.
Continuing the test, I launched all the surviving samples. ESET caught all but one of the ransomware samples at this stage; however, the one that slipped past completely wiped out the virtual machine testbed. It also detected a significant number of other malware types, achieving a total detection rate of 87%. It lost points in several cases by allowing the malware to install one or more executable files, resulting in an overall score of 8.1 points. Challenged with this same sample set, McAfee and UltraAV detected 100% and scored a perfect 10 points. Malwarebytes scored 9.9, while Avast, AVG, Norton, and Webroot all scored 9.7.
For another window into antivirus effectiveness, I challenge each security app by attempting to visit web pages that literally host malware downloads. Starting with a feed supplied by the testing experts at MRG-Effitas, I launch each URL in turn and note whether the antivirus blocks access to the URL, wipes out the malware download, or takes no action.
After running through hundreds of samples, I found that ESET blocked 42% of dangerous URLs. In most cases, it displayed a red-bordered warning that it had found dangerous content, though for a few cases it used a yellow border to flag content it considered “potentially unwanted.” It eliminated another 55% by identifying and removing the malware, bringing the total to 97% protection.
That 97% score is good, and matches the latest scores from G Data, McAfee, Total Defense, and Webroot. Even so, others have done better. In their own malicious URL tests, Avira, Guardio, and Sophos all scored 100%.
The same browser extension that identifies dangerous websites also steers your surfing away from phishing sites. These frauds masquerade as legitimate sites, including those of banks and financial institutions, as well as dating and gaming sites. Anyone who, fooled by the fakery, logs in to the phishing site has given away their credentials to the fraudsters. Yes, you can train yourself to spot the fakes, but most antivirus apps, ESET included, aim to help you.
For the phishing test, I use recently reported frauds scraped from websites that collect examples of phishing. I include both verified phishing messages and reports that are too new for commonly used blacklists. I also compare the antivirus app’s response with the built-in phishing protection in Chrome, Edge, and Firefox.
ESET had scored in the low 90s for the last several years. This time around, and the time before, it achieved 100% accuracy, detecting every single instance of phishing fraud. AVG, Avira, Guardio, McAfee, and Webroot also scored 100%, as did Norton Genie, which focuses on phishing, and Surfshark One, which has VPN protection at its core.Ransomware Protection
I mentioned that in my malware blocking test, ESET detected fewer than half of my ransomware samples on sight. That’s uncommon. Almost all recent antivirus apps have wiped out the complete set of ransomware samples in a trice. Worse, one of the samples completely evaded ESET’s detection, going on to wipe the test virtual machine completely.
For a deeper look into ransomware protection, I turned off the regular real-time antivirus, restored all the samples, and (for safety) cut the test system off from the internet. The wiper ransomware sample sailed past ESET’s detection, and a whole-disk encrypting sample also slipped past. Of the dozen file-encrypting ransomware samples (the most common type), ESET’s additional detection layers successfully fended off eight attacks, leaving four that bypassed ESET and encrypted important files.
The Folder Guard feature backstops ransomware detection by blocking all changes to files in protected folders unless the program making the change is authorized. Folder Guard is off by default, and even when you turn it on, it does nothing until you configure the list of protected folders, which is initially blank. If you’re unsure what to add, start with Documents, Music, Pictures, and Videos for each user account.
With Folder Guard on patrol, I repeated my test on the four sneaky ransomware samples that had evaded other protective layers. Folder Guard caught and terminated three of the four.
