# Endpoint protection for enterprise buyers: what AI models recommend, September 2026

Gane Index, September 2026 Edition. Asked as "endpoint protection platform" and as "business antivirus and endpoint security tool", six framings each, to twelve models with search on, on behalf of an enterprise B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/operations/endpoint-protection/2026-09/enterprise

This is the permanent record of the September 2026 Edition, published September 17, 2026 and superseded since. The current standing: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/operations/endpoint-protection/enterprise/index.md

**Standing:** Microsoft Defender for Endpoint leads with 46% of first choices; verdict clear leader. 56 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [Microsoft Defender for Endpoint](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/microsoft-defender-for-endpoint/index.md) | 46% | 5% | 55 |
| 2 | [CrowdStrike Falcon](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/crowdstrike-falcon/index.md) | 30% | 13% | 47 |
| 3 | [SentinelOne Singularity](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/sentinelone-singularity/index.md) | 9% | 10% | 29 |
| 4 | [CrowdStrike](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/crowdstrike/index.md) | 5% | 27% | 15 |
| 5 | [SentinelOne Singularity Endpoint](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/sentinelone-singularity-endpoint/index.md) | 2% | 7% | 27 |
| 10 | [Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/palo-alto-networks-cortex-xdr/index.md) | 0% | 6% | 35 |
| 11 | [Sophos Intercept X](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/sophos-intercept-x/index.md) | 0% | 7% | 27 |
| 12 | [Bitdefender GravityZone](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/bitdefender-gravityzone/index.md) | 0% | 9% | 23 |
| 13 | [Trend Micro Apex One](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/trend-micro-apex-one/index.md) | 0% | 0% | 11 |
| 14 | [ESET PROTECT](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/eset-protect/index.md) | 0% | 27% | 15 |
| 55 | [Trellix Endpoint Security Suite](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/trellix-endpoint-security-suite/index.md) | 0% | 40% | 10 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 58 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: CrowdStrike Falcon, SentinelOne Singularity; alternatives Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR
- GPT-5.4 mini: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint; alternatives Bitdefender GravityZone, Check Point Harmony Endpoint, CrowdStrike, Fortinet
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: CrowdStrike Falcon, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint; alternatives Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR, SentinelOne Singularity, Trend Micro Apex One
- Perplexity Sonar: CrowdStrike Falcon; alternatives Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR, SentinelOne Singularity Endpoint
- Grok 4.20: CrowdStrike Falcon; alternatives Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, SentinelOne Singularity, Sophos Intercept X
- Mistral Small: CrowdStrike Falcon, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint; alternatives Bitdefender GravityZone, ESET PROTECT, SentinelOne Singularity
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: CrowdStrike, Microsoft; alternatives Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR, SentinelOne Singularity Endpoint, Sophos Intercept X
- Llama 4 Maverick: no first choice
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: CrowdStrike Falcon; alternatives Microsoft Defender XDR, SentinelOne Singularity Endpoint, Sophos Intercept X
- Kimi K2: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Trend Micro Vision One™ – XDR
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: CrowdStrike Falcon, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint; alternatives Bitdefender GravityZone, Cynet 360, Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR, SentinelOne Singularity
- MiniMax M2.5: CrowdStrike Falcon, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint; alternatives Sophos Intercept X, Trend Micro Apex One

## Sources the answers cite

65 of 72 answers came back with a source list, from 12 of 12 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- gbhackers.com: 35 answers, 55 citations
- gartner.com: 29 answers, 38 citations
- deel.com: 22 answers, 25 citations
- microsoft.com: 17 answers, 27 citations
- huntress.com: 17 answers, 26 citations
- cybersecuritynews.com: 17 answers, 23 citations
- venn.com: 17 answers, 17 citations
- sentinelone.com: 16 answers, 25 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://gbhackers.com/best-business-antivirus-compared (31 answers)
- https://gartner.com/reviews/market/endpoint-protection-platforms (24 answers)
- https://gbhackers.com/best-edr-solutions-compared (22 answers)
- https://deel.com/blog/best-endpoint-protection-for-business (21 answers)
- https://venn.com/learn/endpoint-security/endpoint-security-solutions (17 answers)
- https://expertinsights.com/endpoint-security/the-top-endpoint-security-solutions-for-business (15 answers)
- https://docs.broadcom.com/doc/kuppingercole-leadership-compass-endpoint-protection-detection-and-response-2024 (12 answers)
- https://iru.com/endpoint/compare/endpoint-security-software (12 answers)
- https://cyberpress.org/business-antivirus-by-business-size (11 answers)
- https://guideflow.com/blog/best-endpoint-protection-software (11 answers)

## Warned against

- CrowdStrike Falcon: 6 of 47 labels negative. "offer strong security capabilities but typically come with per-endpoint per-year costs ranging from $18 to $35, which can add significant and less predictable expenses at scale" (Mistral Small, budget prompt)
- CrowdStrike: 4 of 15 labels negative. "The July 2024 faulty content update took out ~8.5 million Windows systems globally... created real single-vendor dependency / systemic risk" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt)
- Symantec Endpoint Security: 3 of 8 labels negative. "Verdict: Avoid unless you are a premier Broadcom strategic partner with guaranteed white-glove support." (Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt)
- ESET PROTECT: 4 of 15 labels negative. "MITRE detection at 55.9%—middling at best... Not ideal for high-velocity SOCs in large orgs." (Grok 4.20, negative prompt)

## Record

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