# Attack surface management for small business buyers: what AI models recommend, November 2026

Gane Index, November 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/2026-11/smb

**Standing:** Intruder leads with 35% of first choices; verdict contested. 54 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) | 35% | 2% | 54 |
| 2 | [Attaxion](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/attaxion/index.md) | 19% | 3% | 37 |
| 3 | [Attack Surface Scan](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/attack-surface-scan/index.md) | 9% | 0% | 10 |
| 4 | [UpGuard BreachSight](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/upguard-breachsight/index.md) | 6% | 4% | 26 |
| 5 | [Censys ASM](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/censys-asm/index.md) | 6% | 23% | 26 |
| 7 | [Detectify](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/detectify/index.md) | 2% | 9% | 34 |
| 8 | [SurfaceLoop](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/surfaceloop/index.md) | 2% | 0% | 12 |
| 9 | [Aikido Security](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/aikido-security/index.md) | 2% | 10% | 10 |
| 11 | [Shodan](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/shodan/index.md) | 2% | 18% | 11 |
| 18 | [Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/microsoft-defender-external-attack-surface-management/index.md) | 2% | 49% | 39 |
| 103 | [Bitsight](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/bitsight/index.md) | 0% | 70% | 10 |
| 104 | [Tenable Attack Surface Management](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/tenable-attack-surface-management/index.md) | 0% | 56% | 16 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 106 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, IntelliBreach; alternatives Halo Security, Intruder
- GPT-5.4 mini: Intruder; alternatives Aikido Security, CTM360, Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Intruder; alternatives Detectify, Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management, ProjectDiscovery Cloud Platform
- Perplexity Sonar: Intruder; alternatives Detectify, Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management, UpGuard BreachSight
- Grok 4.20: Intruder; alternatives Attaxion, Detectify, SurfaceLoop, UpGuard BreachSight
- Mistral Small: Aikido Security, Intruder; alternatives Detectify
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Intruder; alternatives Aikido Security, Censys ASM, Detectify, Halo Security
- Llama 4 Maverick: UpGuard BreachSight; alternatives Aikido Security, Attaxion, CyCognito, ManageEngine Vulnerability Manager Plus
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Attaxion; alternatives Intruder, UpGuard BreachSight
- Kimi K2: Intruder; alternatives Attack Surface Scan, Attaxion, Detectify, UpGuard BreachSight
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Intruder; alternatives Aikido Security, Wiz
- MiniMax M2.5: ManageEngine Vulnerability Manager Plus; alternatives Attaxion, Intruder, UpGuard BreachSight
- GPT-6 Luna: Intruder; alternatives Detectify, Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management
- Muse Glimmer 30B: UpGuard BreachSight; alternatives Attaxion, SurfaceLoop

## 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: 41 answers, 57 citations
- upguard.com: 33 answers, 50 citations
- attaxion.com: 29 answers, 43 citations
- circleid.com: 29 answers, 30 citations
- cyble.com: 23 answers, 23 citations
- surfaceloop.com: 21 answers, 39 citations
- attacksurfacescan.com: 19 answers, 22 citations
- intruder.io: 18 answers, 28 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://g2.com/categories/attack-surface-management/small-business (33 answers)
- https://circleid.com/posts/best-attack-surface-monitoring-tools (28 answers)
- https://attaxion.com/top-external-attack-surface-management-vendors (24 answers)
- https://cyble.com/knowledge-hub/top-attack-surface-management-services (23 answers)
- https://upguard.com/blog/attack-surface-management-vendors-compared (22 answers)
- https://surfaceloop.com/blog/best-easm-tools-small-business (16 answers)
- https://guideflow.com/blog/attack-surface-management-software (15 answers)
- https://upguard.com/blog/best-attack-surface-management-software-solutions (15 answers)
- https://checkpoint.com/cyber-hub/tools-vendors/best-attack-surface-management-platforms-2026 (13 answers)
- https://comparitech.com/net-admin/best-attack-surface-monitoring-tools (13 answers)

## Warned against

- Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management: 19 of 39 labels negative. ""Enterprise-heavy tools (e.g., Microsoft Defender EASM, CrowdStrike Falcon Surface) were excluded" for SMB fit" (Muse Glimmer 30B, negative prompt)
- CyCognito: 21 of 30 labels negative. "Enterprise-Focused Platforms (CyCognito, Tenable ASM, Mandiant) - Why to avoid: These platforms are "somewhat expensive, particularly for small to medium businesses"" (GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt)
- Cortex Xpanse: 25 of 29 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." (Muse Glimmer 30B, negative prompt)
- Tenable Attack Surface Management: 9 of 16 labels negative. "Why to avoid: These platforms are "somewhat expensive, particularly for small to medium businesses"" (GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt)

## Movement since October 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: Intruder at 35%.

- Intruder: 26% to 35%, +9. Inside the floor by 2 points · rank 1 of 106, unchanged.
- Attack Surface Scan: 0% to 9%, +9. New · not ranked in October 2026 · rank 3 of 106.
- Detectify: 7% to 2%, −5. Inside the floor by 6 points · rank 3 → 7 of 106.
- Halo Security: 5% to 0%, −5. Inside the floor by 6 points · rank 4 → 19 of 106.
- UpGuard BreachSight: 3% to 6%, +3. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 7 → 4 of 106.
- SurfaceLoop: 5% to 2%, −3. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 5 → 8 of 106.
- Tenable Attack Surface Management: 3% to 0%, −3. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 10 → 104 of 106.
- Shodan: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 57 → 11 of 106.
- Wiz: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 20 → 47 of 106.
- CyCognito: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 21 → 105 of 106.
- Censys ASM: 5% to 6%, +1. Inside the floor by 10 points · rank 6 → 5 of 106.
- Aikido Security: 3% to 2%, −1. Inside the floor by 10 points · rank 9 of 106, 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.