# Endpoint detection and response: what AI models recommend, October 2026

Gane Index, October 2026 Edition. Asked as "EDR platform" and as "endpoint detection and response 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/endpoint-detection-and-response/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This is the permanent record of the October 2026 Edition, published October 1, 2026 and superseded since.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/endpoint-detection-and-response/index.md

**Standing:** Microsoft Defender for Endpoint leads with 31% 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 | [Microsoft Defender for Endpoint](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/microsoft-defender-for-endpoint/index.md) | 31% | 12% | 60 |
| 2 | [CrowdStrike Falcon Insight](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/crowdstrike-falcon-insight/index.md) | 22% | 19% | 57 |
| 3 | [SentinelOne Singularity](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/sentinelone-singularity/index.md) | 15% | 9% | 56 |
| 4 | [Microsoft Defender for Cloud](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/microsoft-defender-for-cloud/index.md) | 15% | 0% | 10 |
| 5 | [Huntress Managed EDR](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/huntress-managed-edr/index.md) | 6% | 0% | 33 |
| 6 | [Sophos Intercept X](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/sophos-intercept-x/index.md) | 6% | 5% | 39 |
| 7 | [Bitdefender GravityZone EDR](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/bitdefender-gravityzone-edr/index.md) | 4% | 4% | 26 |
| 9 | [Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/palo-alto-networks-cortex-xdr/index.md) | 0% | 10% | 20 |
| 51 | [CrowdStrike](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/crowdstrike/index.md) | 0% | 55% | 11 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 53 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: Sophos Intercept X; alternatives Bitdefender GravityZone EDR, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, SentinelOne Singularity
- GPT-5.4 mini: CrowdStrike Falcon Insight; alternatives Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, SentinelOne Singularity
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: SentinelOne Singularity; alternatives CrowdStrike Falcon Insight, Huntress Managed EDR, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
- Perplexity Sonar: Sophos Intercept X; alternatives Bitdefender GravityZone EDR, CrowdStrike Falcon Insight, Huntress Managed EDR, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
- Grok 4.20: Sophos Intercept X; alternatives Bitdefender GravityZone EDR, Huntress Managed EDR, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, SentinelOne Singularity
- Mistral Small: CrowdStrike Falcon Insight, SentinelOne Singularity; alternatives Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Sophos Intercept X
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint; alternatives Bitdefender GravityZone EDR, CrowdStrike Falcon Insight, Cynet, SentinelOne Singularity
- Llama 4 Maverick: Bitdefender GravityZone EDR; alternatives CrowdStrike Falcon Insight
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: CrowdStrike Falcon Insight; alternatives Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, SentinelOne Singularity, Sophos Intercept X
- Kimi K2: SentinelOne Singularity; alternatives CrowdStrike Falcon Insight, Huntress Managed EDR, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Sophos Intercept X
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint; alternatives CrowdStrike Falcon Insight, SentinelOne Singularity
- MiniMax M2.5: CrowdStrike Falcon Insight, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint; alternatives Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR, SentinelOne Singularity, Sophos Intercept X
- GPT-6 Luna: Sophos Endpoint with MDR; alternatives CrowdStrike Falcon Insight, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
- Muse Glimmer 30B: CrowdStrike Falcon Insight, SentinelOne Singularity; alternatives Bitdefender GravityZone EDR, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Sophos Intercept X

## Sources the answers cite

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

- huntress.com: 35 answers, 55 citations
- kaseya.com: 35 answers, 36 citations
- senseon.io: 26 answers, 26 citations
- sentinelone.com: 24 answers, 41 citations
- cybersecuritynews.com: 24 answers, 26 citations
- acronis.com: 22 answers, 22 citations
- gbhackers.com: 21 answers, 22 citations
- learn.g2.com: 19 answers, 21 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://kaseya.com/blog/best-edr-solutions (35 answers)
- https://senseon.io/blog/best-edr-solutions (26 answers)
- https://acronis.com/en/blog/posts/best-edr-endpoint-detection-and-response-solutions-in-2026 (21 answers)
- https://cybersecuritynews.com/best-edr-solutions (21 answers)
- https://gbhackers.com/best-edr-solutions-compared (21 answers)
- https://learn.g2.com/best-edr-software (19 answers)
- https://huntress.com/edr-guide/best-edr-solutions (18 answers)
- https://techrepublic.com/article/best-edr-software (18 answers)
- https://decryptiondigest.com/blog/best-edr-platforms-2026 (16 answers)
- https://expertinsights.com/endpoint-security/the-top-endpoint-detection-and-response-solutions (15 answers)

## Warned against

- CrowdStrike Falcon Insight: 11 of 57 labels negative. "Premium options like CrowdStrike Falcon (~$100+/endpoint/year) ... are more expensive and enterprise-focused—skip unless scaling up." (Grok 4.20, budget prompt)
- Microsoft Defender for Endpoint: 7 of 60 labels negative. "Commonly cited limitations are platform scope and detection depth... it may not perform as well in non-Windows environments." (Muse Glimmer 30B, negative prompt)
- VMware Carbon Black: 6 of 9 labels negative. "One user explicitly stated: "If your boss pitches Carbon Black, quit"" (GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt)
- CrowdStrike: 6 of 11 labels negative. "Why Caution is Advised: While technically powerful, the massive global Windows outage in July 2024 ... demonstrated a critical risk with their architecture." (Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt)

## Movement since September 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint at 36%.

- Bitdefender GravityZone EDR: 20% to 4%, −16. Cleared the floor by 5 points · rank 2 → 7 of 50.
- Microsoft Defender for Endpoint: 22% to 36%, +14. Cleared the floor by 3 points · rank 1 of 50, unchanged.
- Huntress Managed EDR: 14% to 6%, −8. Inside the floor by 3 points · rank 4 → 5 of 50.
- Sophos Intercept X: 0% to 6%, +6. Inside the floor by 5 points · rank 9 → 6 of 50.
- CrowdStrike: 6% to 0%, −6. Inside the floor by 5 points · rank 7 → 48 of 50.
- CrowdStrike Falcon Insight: 16% to 21%, +5. Inside the floor by 6 points · rank 3 → 2 of 50.
- SentinelOne Singularity: 8% to 13%, +5. Inside the floor by 6 points · rank 6 → 3 of 50.
- Microsoft Defender for Cloud: 14% to 13%, −1. Inside the floor by 10 points · rank 5 → 4 of 50.
- Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 10 → 8 of 50.
- Cynet: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 11 → 9 of 50.
- Trend Micro: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 12 → 13 of 50.
- ThreatDown EDR: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 15 → 47 of 50.

## 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.