# Attack surface management: what AI models recommend, October 2026

Gane Index, October 2026 Edition. Asked as "attack surface management platform" and as "external attack surface monitoring tool", six framings each, to fourteen models with search on, on behalf of a mid-market B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/security/attack-surface-management/2026-10

This is the permanent record of the October 2026 Edition, published October 1, 2026 and superseded since. The current standing: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/security/attack-surface-management/index.md

**Standing:** Intruder leads with 49% of first choices; verdict clear leader. 51 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [Intruder](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/intruder/index.md) | 49% | 3% | 34 |
| 2 | [Attaxion](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/attaxion/index.md) | 14% | 6% | 16 |
| 3 | [Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/microsoft-defender-external-attack-surface-management/index.md) | 10% | 18% | 39 |
| 4 | [CyCognito](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cycognito/index.md) | 6% | 26% | 39 |
| 5 | [UpGuard BreachSight](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/upguard-breachsight/index.md) | 6% | 18% | 17 |
| 6 | [Detectify](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/detectify/index.md) | 4% | 5% | 20 |
| 7 | [Tenable Attack Surface Management](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/tenable-attack-surface-management/index.md) | 2% | 17% | 18 |
| 8 | [CrowdStrike Falcon Surface](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/crowdstrike-falcon-surface/index.md) | 2% | 14% | 14 |
| 17 | [Wiz](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/wiz/index.md) | 0% | 27% | 15 |
| 23 | [Cortex Xpanse](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cortex-xpanse/index.md) | 0% | 42% | 36 |
| 87 | [Bitsight](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/bitsight/index.md) | 0% | 41% | 22 |
| 89 | [Censys ASM](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/censys-asm/index.md) | 0% | 42% | 31 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 99 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: CyCognito; alternatives Hadrian, Halo Security, Intruder
- GPT-5.4 mini: UpGuard BreachSight; alternatives CyCognito, Intruder, Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management, Tenable Attack Surface Management
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Intruder; alternatives Detectify, UpGuard BreachSight, runZero
- Perplexity Sonar: Intruder; alternatives Cortex Xpanse, Mandiant Attack Surface Management, UpGuard BreachSight
- Grok 4.20: Intruder; alternatives Bitsight, Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management, Rapid7 Surface Command
- Mistral Small: Intruder; alternatives Bitsight, Detectify
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Intruder; alternatives Censys ASM, CrowdStrike Falcon Surface, CyCognito, Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management
- Llama 4 Maverick: Intruder; alternatives Bitsight, Qualys External Attack Surface Management
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Intruder; alternatives Rapid7
- Kimi K2: Intruder; alternatives Detectify, Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management, UpGuard BreachSight
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Intruder; alternatives CyCognito, UpGuard BreachSight
- MiniMax M2.5: CyCognito, Intruder; alternatives Mandiant Attack Surface Management
- GPT-6 Luna: Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management; alternatives Censys ASM, CrowdStrike Falcon Exposure Management, Rapid7 Surface Command
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Intruder, UpGuard BreachSight; alternatives Attaxion, Halo Security

## Sources the answers cite

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

- synack.com: 44 answers, 44 citations
- paloaltonetworks.com: 35 answers, 47 citations
- upguard.com: 34 answers, 45 citations
- heimdalsecurity.com: 32 answers, 33 citations
- wiz.io: 31 answers, 37 citations
- guideflow.com: 30 answers, 30 citations
- attaxion.com: 28 answers, 40 citations
- ionix.io: 25 answers, 34 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://synack.com/blog/best-attack-surface-management-tools (44 answers)
- https://heimdalsecurity.com/blog/best-attack-surface-management-software (32 answers)
- https://guideflow.com/blog/attack-surface-management-software (30 answers)
- https://attaxion.com/top-external-attack-surface-management-vendors (28 answers)
- https://paloaltonetworks.com/cyberpedia/asm-tools-comparison (28 answers)
- https://upguard.com/blog/best-attack-surface-management-software-solutions (26 answers)
- https://wiz.io/academy/cloud-security/attack-surface-management-tools (25 answers)
- https://atlassystems.com/blog/attack-surface-management-tools (19 answers)
- https://intruder.io/blog/attack-surface-management-tools (17 answers)
- https://esecurityplanet.com/networks/attack-surface-management-tools (16 answers)

## Warned against

- Censys ASM: 13 of 31 labels negative. "For security teams that need to reduce external exposure, act on findings, and close exploitable gaps across subsidiaries and supply chain, Censys is the wrong tool." (Muse Glimmer 30B, negative prompt)
- Cortex Xpanse: 15 of 36 labels negative. "notably high percentage of negative labels (56% criticized) ... limited internal context, high cost" (Mistral Small, negative prompt)
- CyCognito: 10 of 39 labels negative. "Also flagged as a criticized challenger (39% negative labels)" (Mistral Small, negative prompt)
- Bitsight: 9 of 22 labels negative. "Similar concerns to SecurityScorecard: Opaque methodology: Critics question how scores are calculated" (MiniMax M2.5, negative prompt)

## Movement since September 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: Intruder at 53%.

- Intruder: 59% to 53%, −6. Inside the floor by 5 points · rank 1 of 97, unchanged.
- Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management: 2% to 7%, +5. Inside the floor by 6 points · rank 5 → 3 of 97.
- CyCognito: 2% to 7%, +5. Inside the floor by 6 points · rank 9 → 4 of 97.
- Detectify: 7% to 2%, −5. Inside the floor by 6 points · rank 3 → 6 of 97.
- Censys ASM: 5% to 0%, −5. Inside the floor by 6 points · rank 4 → 96 of 97.
- Attaxion: 11% to 14%, +3. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 2 of 97, unchanged.
- UpGuard BreachSight: 2% to 5%, +3. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 6 → 5 of 97.
- CrowdStrike Falcon Surface: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 26 → 7 of 97.
- Tenable Attack Surface Management: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 17 → 8 of 97.
- Synack: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 13 → 12 of 97.
- Mandiant Attack Surface Management: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 20 → 14 of 97.
- Wiz: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 14 → 16 of 97.

## Record

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