# Application shielding for small business buyers: what AI models recommend, November 2026

Gane Index, November 2026 Edition. Asked as "app shielding tool" and as "runtime application self-protection for mobile apps", six framings each, to fourteen models with search on, on behalf of a small B2B company. Added to the November 2026 Edition. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/developer/application-shielding/smb

**Standing:** Appdome leads with 23% of first choices; verdict contested. 47 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [Appdome](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/appdome/index.md) | 23% | 25% | 56 |
| 2 | freeRASP | 11% | 10% | 10 |
| 4 | [Guardsquare DexGuard / iXGuard](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/guardsquare-dexguard-ixguard/index.md) | 9% | 22% | 50 |
| 5 | [DoveRunner AppSealing](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/doverunner-appsealing/index.md) | 6% | 10% | 20 |
| 8 | [Jscrambler](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/jscrambler/index.md) | 2% | 12% | 26 |
| 9 | [PreEmptive Dotfuscator](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/preemptive-dotfuscator/index.md) | 2% | 14% | 14 |
| 10 | [ProGuard](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/proguard/index.md) | 2% | 20% | 10 |
| 31 | [Promon SHIELD](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/promon-shield/index.md) | 0% | 40% | 20 |
| 87 | [OneSpan Mobile Application Shielding](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/onespan-mobile-application-shielding/index.md) | 0% | 50% | 16 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 90 products named; products with the same share are tied, and the order among them carries no meaning. The table lists those with at least 10 labels.

## Each model's first choice on the direct prompt

- Claude Haiku 4.5: Appdome; alternatives AppSealing, DashO, DoveRunner AppSealing
- GPT-5.4 mini: Appdome; alternatives Guardsquare DexGuard / iXGuard, Microsoft's App Wrapping Tool, OneSpan Mobile Application Shielding, Promon SHIELD
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: AppSealing; alternatives App Attest API, Appdome, Google Play Integrity API, Guardsquare DexGuard / iXGuard
- Perplexity Sonar: Appdome; alternatives DoveRunner AppSealing, Jscrambler, Promon Shield for Desktop
- Grok 4.20: Jscrambler; alternatives Appdome, Guardsquare DexGuard / iXGuard
- Mistral Small: Appdome; alternatives DoveRunner AppSealing, Guardsquare DexGuard / iXGuard, Jscrambler, Promon SHIELD
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Appdome; alternatives DoveRunner AppSealing, Guardsquare DexGuard / iXGuard
- Llama 4 Maverick: no first choice
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Appdome, Guardsquare DexGuard / iXGuard; alternatives DoveRunner AppSealing
- Kimi K2: PreEmptive Dotfuscator; alternatives Jscrambler, Obfuscar, ProGuard
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Guardsquare DexGuard / iXGuard; alternatives Appdome, Cloudflare Application Security, DoveRunner AppSealing, Jscrambler
- MiniMax M2.5: DoveRunner AppSealing; alternatives Appdome, Guardsquare DexGuard / iXGuard, Jscrambler
- GPT-6 Luna: Promon Shield Studio; alternatives Appdome, Guardsquare DexGuard / iXGuard
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Appdome; alternatives DoveRunner Mobile App Shielding, Guardsquare DexGuard / iXGuard

## Sources the answers cite

73 of 84 answers came back with a source list, from 14 of 14 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- g2.com: 54 answers, 117 citations
- guideflow.com: 37 answers, 37 citations
- softwaresuggest.com: 33 answers, 39 citations
- sourceforge.net: 29 answers, 40 citations
- guardsquare.com: 22 answers, 53 citations
- appdome.com: 21 answers, 37 citations
- preemptive.com: 21 answers, 26 citations
- nerdisa.com: 19 answers, 19 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://guideflow.com/blog/application-shielding-software (36 answers)
- https://softwaresuggest.com/application-shielding-software (31 answers)
- https://g2.com/categories/application-shielding/small-business (30 answers)
- https://g2.com/categories/application-shielding (23 answers)
- https://nerdisa.com/best-application-shielding-software (19 answers)
- https://luciq.ai/blog/top-mobile-app-protection-and-shielding-tools (13 answers)
- https://sourceforge.net/software/application-shielding/for-small-business (12 answers)
- https://capterra.co.uk/software/1028023/appdome (11 answers)
- https://guardsquare.com/pricing (11 answers)
- https://guardsquare.com/ (10 answers)

## Warned against

- OneSpan Mobile Application Shielding: 8 of 16 labels negative. "Avoid Promon SHIELD, OneSpan, and Zimperium unless your app is a banking/fintech app" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, budget prompt)
- Appdome: 14 of 56 labels negative. "Avoid Appdome if you have a tight budget – despite the marketing, the usable commercial pricing typically starts around $50k/year" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, budget prompt)
- Guardsquare DexGuard / iXGuard: 11 of 50 labels negative. "Overly Complex or Enterprise-Focused Tools (e.g., Guardsquare DexGuard/iXGuard, Promon SHIELD, Digital.ai, or Arxan)... Why avoid for small biz?" (Grok 4.20, negative prompt)
- Promon SHIELD: 8 of 20 labels negative. "Overly Complex or Enterprise-Focused Tools (e.g., Guardsquare DexGuard/iXGuard, Promon SHIELD, Digital.ai, or Arxan)... Why avoid for small biz?" (Grok 4.20, negative prompt)

## Movement since October 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: Appdome at 23%.

- AppTego: 15% to 2%, −13. Cleared the floor by 2 points · rank 2 → 12 of 90.
- freeRASP: 2% to 11%, +9. Inside the floor by 2 points · rank 19 → 2 of 90.
- Guardsquare DexGuard / iXGuard: 0% to 9%, +9. Inside the floor by 2 points · rank 24 → 4 of 90.
- AppSealing: 8% to 4%, −4. Inside the floor by 7 points · rank 4 → 7 of 90.
- Promon SHIELD: 4% to 0%, −4. Inside the floor by 7 points · rank 8 → 31 of 90.
- DoveRunner AppSealing: 8% to 6%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 3 → 5 of 90.
- Jscrambler: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 20 → 8 of 90.
- PreEmptive Dotfuscator: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 22 → 9 of 90.
- LIAPP: 4% to 2%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 7 → 11 of 90.
- DexGuard: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 35 → 21 of 90.
- Appdome: 23% to 23%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 1 of 90, unchanged.
- Approov: 4% to 4%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 6 of 90, unchanged.

## Record

- Method: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/methodology
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as Gane Index, November 2026 Edition, www.gane.ai/index/it.