Attack surface management · November 2026 Edition
Cortex Xpanse vs Tenable Attack Surface Management
Zero of fourteen models named Cortex Xpanse first on the direct prompt; zero named Tenable Attack Surface Management. Cortex Xpanse was named by twelve of the fourteen models and Tenable Attack Surface Management by fourteen and Cortex Xpanse carries 31 labels and Tenable Attack Surface Management 22, so the shares are not directly comparable.
Named in one category this edition.
Named in one category this edition.
First-choice share4%2%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate45%18%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#7#8A position in a field of 12; printed, not drawn.
Labels3122A count; the two differ.
The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, Cortex Xpanse reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management was named alongside these two in ten of the fourteen direct answers. Intruder vs Cortex Xpanse · Intruder vs Tenable Attack Surface Management · Attaxion vs Cortex Xpanse
Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all fourteen models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category; every quote names the model and the prompt it came from. Both figures come from the attack surface management page.
By framing
How many of the fourteen models made each the first choice, per way of asking, and how many argued against it.
Cortex XpanseFirst choices, of fourteen modelsTenable Attack Surface Management
Direct005 against Cortex Xpanse
Paraphrase113 against Cortex Xpanse · 1 against Tenable Attack Surface Management
Comparative60
Budget-constrained001 against Cortex Xpanse
Scale-constrained102 against Cortex Xpanse · 1 against Tenable Attack Surface Management
Negative003 against Cortex Xpanse · 2 against Tenable Attack Surface Management
Bars are first choices, 0 to 14 each sideModels that argued againstA model can name both, so the two sides of a row do not sum to fourteen.
Across every category in the November 2026 Edition, Cortex Xpanse and Tenable Attack Surface Management were named in the same answer fifty-three times, of the 119 answers naming Cortex Xpanse and the 81 naming Tenable Attack Surface Management. In those answers Tenable Attack Surface Management took the first choice two times and Cortex Xpanse twenty-five.
Every model, every framing
The eighty-four answers behind the chart above, one cell each: where Cortex Xpanse and Tenable Attack Surface Management stood in it.
| Model | Direct | Paraphrase | Comparative | Budget-constrained | Scale-constrained | Negative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | | |||||
| GPT-5.4 mini | | |||||
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | | |||||
| Perplexity Sonar | | | | | ||
| Grok 4.20 | | | | | | |
| Mistral Small | | | ||||
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | | | | | | |
| Llama 4 Maverick | | |||||
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | | |||||
| Kimi K2 | | | | | ||
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | | | | | ||
| MiniMax M2.5 | | |||||
| GPT-6 Luna | ||||||
| Muse Glimmer 30B | |
Cortex Xpanse Tenable Attack Surface Management first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Cortex Xpanse on the left and Tenable Attack Surface Management on the right.The direct prompt
The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where Cortex Xpanse and Tenable Attack Surface Management stood in it.
Neither was the first choice, one was named
1 of 14 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.Claude Haiku 4.5Intruder alternatives: CrowdStrike Falcon Surface, CyCognito, Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management, Tenable Attack Surface Management, UpGuard BreachSight
Neither was named
13 of 14 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.GPT-5.4 miniCensys ASM alternatives: IONIX, Intruder, Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management
Gemini 3.5 FlashCyCognito alternatives: Censys ASM, Detectify, Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management, UpGuard BreachSight
Perplexity SonarIntruder alternatives: Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management, UpGuard BreachSight
Grok 4.20Intruder alternatives: CrowdStrike Falcon Exposure Management, CyCognito, Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management
Mistral SmallCyCognito, Intruder alternatives: Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management
DeepSeek V4 FlashUpGuard BreachSight alternatives: CyCognito, Intruder, Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management
Llama 4 Maverickno first choice
Qwen 3.7 FlashTenable Vulnerability Management alternatives: Censys ASM, Dive, Rapid7
Kimi K2Intruder alternatives: CyCognito, Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management, SynScan
GLM 4.7 FlashXIntruder alternatives: CyCognito, SecurityScorecard
MiniMax M2.5Intruder alternatives: Attaxion, Halo Security
GPT-6 LunaMicrosoft Defender External Attack Surface Management alternatives: Censys ASM, CyCognito
Muse Glimmer 30BIntruder alternatives: CyCognito, Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management
Bold names in an answer are the products the judge labeled a first choice; a model naming several gives each of them that label. The full answer text for every row is in the record.
By buyer segment
The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment and they are never added together. The figures above are the mid-market standing, which is the one the category orders by.
Small business
Level: the same share of first choices.
Cortex Xpanse0%#14 of 14Tenable Attack Surface Management0%#12 of 14Mid-marketThe figures above
Cortex Xpanse leads by two points.
Cortex Xpanse4%#7 of 12Tenable Attack Surface Management2%#8 of 12Enterprise
Cortex Xpanse leads by thirty-seven points.
Cortex Xpanse44%#1 of 10Tenable Attack Surface Management7%#3 of 10What the models said about Cortex Xpanse
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of eight in this category shown.
“What to Avoid ... Enterprise-focused; ~$95,000/year starting price” Kimi K2 · paraphrase prompt · hard negative
“Enterprise tools like Palo Alto Cortex Xpanse, Censys, and Mandiant ASM are powerful but often assume six-figure budgets” Kimi K2 · direct prompt · soft negative
“General high-cost or complex platforms (e.g., Cortex Xpanse, Mandiant ASM, CrowdStrike Falcon Exposure Management)” Grok 4.20 · negative prompt · soft negative
“Strong in automated discovery, risk prioritization, and response. Excellent for broad internet-facing assets and integrations.” Grok 4.20 · scale prompt · first choice
“A leading Cyber Asset Attack Surface Management (CAASM) tool, recognized as a Leader in Forrester's 2024 ASM Wave.” Mistral Small · comparative prompt · first choice
“Cortex Xpanse represents the enterprise benchmark for internet-scale external attack surface management” MiniMax M2.5 · comparative prompt · first choice
What the models said about Tenable Attack Surface Management
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of eight in this category shown.
“economically attractive when you already use the corresponding ecosystem, but avoid assuming that an existing EDR or vulnerability-management deployment automatically provides complete external discovery” Perplexity Sonar · negative prompt · soft negative
“they can feel complex and expensive for mid-sized teams (better suited to enterprises with dedicated resources)” Grok 4.20 · paraphrase prompt · soft negative
“Users note room for improvement in integration with other tools” DeepSeek V4 Flash · negative prompt · soft negative
“I'd usually recommend Tenable One Attack Surface Management as the default starting point” GPT-5.4 mini · paraphrase prompt · first choice
“Tenable One Attack Surface Management link external findings to existing vulnerability and exposure management workflows” Muse Glimmer 30B · comparative prompt · alternative
“suits organizations that have already invested in the Tenable vulnerability management ecosystem” MiniMax M2.5 · comparative prompt · alternative
Also compared
Intruder vs Cortex XpanseIntruder vs Tenable Attack Surface ManagementAttaxion vs Cortex XpanseAttaxion vs Tenable Attack Surface ManagementCyCognito vs Cortex XpanseCyCognito vs Tenable Attack Surface ManagementMicrosoft Defender External Attack Surface Management vs Cortex XpanseMicrosoft Defender External Attack Surface Management vs Tenable Attack Surface ManagementCensys ASM vs Cortex XpanseCensys ASM vs Tenable Attack Surface ManagementUpGuard BreachSight vs Cortex XpanseUpGuard BreachSight vs Tenable Attack Surface ManagementAll twenty-eight head-to-head pages and the full ASM standing
Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category, each against each. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.