# Attack surface management for small business buyers: 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 small B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/security/attack-surface-management/2026-10/smb

This is the permanent record of the October 2026 Edition, published October 1, 2026 and superseded since.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/smb/index.md

**Standing:** Intruder leads with 26% of first choices; verdict contested. 58 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) | 26% | 0% | 44 |
| 2 | [Attaxion](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/attaxion/index.md) | 19% | 0% | 27 |
| 3 | [Detectify](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/detectify/index.md) | 7% | 17% | 30 |
| 4 | [Halo Security](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/halo-security/index.md) | 5% | 0% | 11 |
| 5 | [SurfaceLoop](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/surfaceloop/index.md) | 5% | 0% | 11 |
| 6 | [Censys ASM](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/censys-asm/index.md) | 5% | 38% | 16 |
| 7 | [UpGuard BreachSight](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/upguard-breachsight/index.md) | 3% | 17% | 24 |
| 8 | [PortWarden](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/portwarden/index.md) | 3% | 0% | 11 |
| 10 | [Tenable Attack Surface Management](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/tenable-attack-surface-management/index.md) | 3% | 60% | 15 |
| 11 | [Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/microsoft-defender-external-attack-surface-management/index.md) | 2% | 36% | 28 |
| 20 | [Wiz](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/wiz/index.md) | 2% | 54% | 13 |
| 21 | [CyCognito](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cycognito/index.md) | 2% | 72% | 25 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 98 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: Attaxion, Detectify; alternatives CyCognito, Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management
- GPT-5.4 mini: Rapid7 Surface Command; alternatives Censys Attack Surface Management
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Intruder; alternatives Aikido Security, Detectify, UpGuard BreachSight
- Perplexity Sonar: CyCognito; alternatives Detectify
- Grok 4.20: SurfaceLoop; alternatives Attaxion, Intruder
- Mistral Small: Halo Security, Intruder; alternatives Aikido Security, Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management, Scrut Automation
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Intruder; alternatives Attaxion, Detectify, runZero
- Llama 4 Maverick: no first choice
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Intruder; alternatives Detectify, UpGuard BreachSight, runZero
- Kimi K2: Attaxion, Intruder; alternatives Attack Surface Agency, PortWarden, UpGuard BreachSight
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Attaxion, Intruder; alternatives Detectify, PortWarden, SurfaceLoop
- MiniMax M2.5: no first choice; alternatives Intruder
- GPT-6 Luna: Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management; alternatives Intruder
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Attaxion, SurfaceLoop; alternatives HostedScan, ManageEngine Vulnerability Manager Plus, Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management, UpGuard BreachSight

## Sources the answers cite

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

- synack.com: 41 answers, 41 citations
- g2.com: 35 answers, 52 citations
- wiz.io: 33 answers, 38 citations
- guideflow.com: 33 answers, 33 citations
- attaxion.com: 32 answers, 52 citations
- paloaltonetworks.com: 29 answers, 33 citations
- upguard.com: 25 answers, 32 citations
- scanreview.io: 25 answers, 28 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://synack.com/blog/best-attack-surface-management-tools (41 answers)
- https://guideflow.com/blog/attack-surface-management-software (33 answers)
- https://attaxion.com/top-external-attack-surface-management-vendors (29 answers)
- https://g2.com/categories/attack-surface-management/small-business (27 answers)
- https://paloaltonetworks.com/cyberpedia/asm-tools-comparison (25 answers)
- https://scanreview.io/managed/small-business (25 answers)
- https://wiz.io/academy/cloud-security/attack-surface-management-tools (24 answers)
- https://geekflare.com/cybersecurity/best-attack-surface-monitoring (23 answers)
- https://thectoclub.com/tools/best-attack-surface-management-tools (23 answers)
- https://gane.ai/index/it/security/attack-surface-management/smb (22 answers)

## Warned against

- Cortex Xpanse: 20 of 21 labels negative. "Avoid or be cautious about platforms like Palo Alto Cortex Xpanse / Mandiant ASM and CyCognito unless you have a dedicated security team and a significant budget." (GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt)
- Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management: 10 of 28 labels negative. ""Enterprise-heavy tools (e.g., Microsoft Defender EASM, CrowdStrike Falcon Surface) were excluded" for SMB fit" (Muse Glimmer 30B, negative prompt)
- CyCognito: 18 of 25 labels negative. "small businesses should likely steer clear because pricing is not public and could lead to unexpectedly large bills" (Mistral Small, negative prompt)
- CrowdStrike Falcon Surface: 7 of 9 labels negative. "Not suitable for small businesses" and "Potentially cost-prohibitive for small businesses." (Muse Glimmer 30B, negative prompt)

## Movement since September 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: Intruder at 29%.

- Intruder: 52% to 29%, −23. Cleared the floor by 12 points · rank 1 of 92, unchanged.
- Attaxion: 2% to 16%, +14. Cleared the floor by 3 points · rank 7 → 2 of 92.
- runZero: 10% to 0%, −10. Inside the floor by 1 point · rank 2 → 24 of 92.
- Halo Security: 0% to 6%, +6. Inside the floor by 5 points · rank 27 → 4 of 92.
- Censys ASM: 2% to 6%, +4. Inside the floor by 7 points · rank 10 → 5 of 92.
- PortWarden: 0% to 4%, +4. Inside the floor by 7 points · rank 17 → 7 of 92.
- Detectify: 6% to 8%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 3 of 92, unchanged.
- Aikido Security: 2% to 4%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 8 of 92, unchanged.
- Tenable Attack Surface Management: 2% to 4%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 15 → 9 of 92.
- bspeka: 4% to 2%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 5 → 11 of 92.
- Wiz: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 53 → 17 of 92.
- Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 14 → 20 of 92.

## 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.