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Staphylococcus aureus is considered an extracellular pathogen, yet the bacterium is able to survive within and escape from host cells. An agr/sae mutant of strain USA300 is unable to escape from macrophages but can replicate and survive within. We questioned whether such “non‐toxic” S. aureus resembles the less pathogenic coagulase‐negative Staphylococcal (CoNS) species like S. epidermidis, S. carnosus, S. lugdunensis, S. capitis, S. warneri, or S. pettenkoferi. We show that the CoNS are more efficiently killed in macrophage‐like THP‐1 cells or in human primary macrophages. Mutations in katA, copL, the regulatory system graRS, or sigB did not impact bacterial survival in THP‐1 cells. Deletion of the superoxide dismutases impaired S. aureus survival in primary macrophages but not in THP‐1 cells. However, expression of the S. aureus‐specific sodM in S. epidermidis was not sufficient to protect this …