# Deception technology: what AI models recommend, October 2026

Gane Index, October 2026 Edition. Asked as "deception technology platform" and as "honeypot and decoy tool", six framings each, to fourteen models with search on, on behalf of a mid-market B2B company. Added to the October 2026 Edition on October 4, 2026. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/security/deception-technology/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This is the permanent record of the October 2026 Edition, published October 1, 2026 and superseded since.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/deception-technology/index.md

**Standing:** Thinkst Canary leads with 36% of first choices; verdict contested. 47 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [Thinkst Canary](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/thinkst-canary/index.md) | 36% | 5% | 40 |
| 2 | [Acalvio ShadowPlex](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/acalvio-shadowplex/index.md) | 9% | 14% | 42 |
| 3 | [Tracebit](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/tracebit/index.md) | 6% | 17% | 18 |
| 6 | [OpenCanary](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/opencanary/index.md) | 4% | 0% | 17 |
| 8 | [Fortinet FortiDeceptor](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/fortinet-fortideceptor/index.md) | 2% | 8% | 13 |
| 9 | [T-Pot](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/t-pot/index.md) | 2% | 9% | 11 |
| 15 | [Illusive Networks](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/illusive-networks/index.md) | 2% | 42% | 12 |
| 22 | [Attivo Networks](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/attivo-networks/index.md) | 0% | 18% | 11 |
| 23 | [CounterCraft](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/countercraft/index.md) | 0% | 21% | 14 |
| 26 | [Fidelis Deception](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/fidelis-deception/index.md) | 0% | 21% | 14 |
| 32 | [Zscaler Deception](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/zscaler-deception/index.md) | 0% | 33% | 12 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 91 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: Deceptive Bytes; alternatives Acalvio 360 Deception, Illusive, Thinkst Canary
- GPT-5.4 mini: Thinkst Canary; alternatives Acalvio ShadowPlex
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Thinkst Canary; alternatives SentinelOne Singularity Hologram, Tracebit
- Perplexity Sonar: Acalvio ShadowPlex; alternatives Fortinet FortiDeceptor, Thinkst Canary
- Grok 4.20: Acalvio ShadowPlex; alternatives Fortinet FortiDeceptor, Thinkst Canary
- Mistral Small: Acalvio ShadowPlex, Attivo Networks ThreatDefend
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Tracebit; alternatives Acalvio ShadowPlex, Fidelis Deception, FortiDeceptor
- Llama 4 Maverick: no first choice
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Honeypot.io; alternatives Attivo Networks, Cymulate, Microsoft Defender XDR
- Kimi K2: Thinkst Canary; alternatives TrapEye, Trapster
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Rapid7 InsightIDR Deception; alternatives Acalvio ShadowPlex, Fortinet FortiDeceptor
- MiniMax M2.5: Acalvio ShadowPlex, Illusive Networks
- GPT-6 Luna: Tracebit; alternatives Acalvio ShadowPlex, Thinkst Canary, Zscaler Deception
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Fortinet FortiDeceptor, Rapid7 Incident Command; alternatives Acalvio ShadowPlex, Proofpoint Shadow, Thinkst Canary

## Sources the answers cite

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

- acalvio.com: 49 answers, 113 citations
- guideflow.com: 41 answers, 44 citations
- linkedin.com: 33 answers, 36 citations
- expertinsights.com: 29 answers, 29 citations
- devopsschool.com: 24 answers, 24 citations
- sourceforge.net: 22 answers, 35 citations
- g2.com: 22 answers, 30 citations
- slashdot.org: 21 answers, 24 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://guideflow.com/blog/deception-technology-software (34 answers)
- https://linkedin.com/pulse/cyber-deception-technology-cisos-guide-choosing-right-anand-akela-zbmlc (33 answers)
- https://expertinsights.com/network-security/best-deception-technology-companies (29 answers)
- https://acalvio.com/preemptive-security/competitive-intelligence-cyber-deception (28 answers)
- https://devopsschool.com/blog/top-10-deception-technology-tools-features-pros-cons-comparison (24 answers)
- https://sourceforge.net/software/deception-technology (20 answers)
- https://acalvio.com/agentic-ai-security/deception-technology-buyers-guide-10-selection-criteria (16 answers)
- https://acalvio.com/agentic-ai-security/deception-technology-solutions-an-enterprise-buyers-framework-for-2026 (14 answers)
- https://canary.tools/ (14 answers)
- https://cybersecuritynews.com/deception-tools (13 answers)

## Warned against

- Illusive Networks: 5 of 12 labels negative. "Pure network-wide standalone deception from Illusive is essentially sunsetted" (Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt)
- Acalvio ShadowPlex: 6 of 42 labels negative. "look out for architectural red flags when evaluating active deception platforms (such as those from Acalvio, CounterCraft, or Fidelis Security)" (Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt)
- Zscaler Deception: 4 of 12 labels negative. "one listed dislike says endpoint decoys created unnecessary network noise. That's a reason to test the feature in your own network—not, by itself, a reason to reject the product." (GPT-6 Luna, negative prompt)
- CounterCraft: 3 of 14 labels negative. "look out for architectural red flags when evaluating active deception platforms (such as those from Acalvio, CounterCraft, or Fidelis Security)" (Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt)

## 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.