# Endpoint detection and response for small business buyers: 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 small B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/security/endpoint-detection-and-response/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This is the permanent record of the October 2026 Edition, published October 1, 2026 and superseded since.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/endpoint-detection-and-response/smb/index.md

**Standing:** Microsoft Defender for Cloud leads with 47% of first choices; verdict clear leader. 49 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [Microsoft Defender for Cloud](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/microsoft-defender-for-cloud/index.md) | 47% | 2% | 49 |
| 2 | [Huntress Managed EDR](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/huntress-managed-edr/index.md) | 29% | 2% | 45 |
| 3 | [SentinelOne Singularity](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/sentinelone-singularity/index.md) | 10% | 12% | 59 |
| 4 | [Microsoft Defender for Endpoint](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/microsoft-defender-for-endpoint/index.md) | 4% | 11% | 19 |
| 5 | [CrowdStrike Falcon Insight](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/crowdstrike-falcon-insight/index.md) | 2% | 25% | 53 |
| 6 | [Bitdefender GravityZone EDR](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/bitdefender-gravityzone-edr/index.md) | 2% | 0% | 24 |
| 10 | [Sophos Intercept X](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/sophos-intercept-x/index.md) | 0% | 8% | 24 |
| 11 | [ESET PROTECT](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/eset-protect/index.md) | 0% | 0% | 13 |
| 13 | [CrowdStrike](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/crowdstrike/index.md) | 0% | 20% | 15 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 49 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: Huntress Managed EDR; alternatives ESET PROTECT, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, SentinelOne's Singularity platform, ThreatDown EDR
- GPT-5.4 mini: Microsoft Defender for Cloud; alternatives CrowdStrike Falcon Insight
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Huntress Managed EDR; alternatives Bitdefender GravityZone EDR, CrowdStrike Falcon Insight, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, SentinelOne Singularity
- Perplexity Sonar: CrowdStrike Falcon Insight; alternatives Acronis Cyber Protect, Huntress Managed EDR
- Grok 4.20: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, SentinelOne Singularity; alternatives Bitdefender GravityZone EDR, CrowdStrike Falcon Insight, ESET PROTECT, Huntress Managed EDR
- Mistral Small: SentinelOne Singularity; alternatives Acronis Cyber Protect, CrowdStrike Falcon Insight
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Huntress Managed EDR, Microsoft Defender for Cloud; alternatives CrowdStrike Falcon Insight, SentinelOne Singularity
- Llama 4 Maverick: no first choice
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Microsoft Defender for Cloud; alternatives Bitdefender GravityZone EDR, CrowdStrike Falcon Insight, SentinelOne Singularity
- Kimi K2: Microsoft Defender for Cloud; alternatives CrowdStrike Falcon Insight, Huntress Managed EDR, SentinelOne Singularity
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: SentinelOne Singularity; alternatives CrowdStrike Falcon Insight, Huntress Managed EDR, Microsoft Defender for Cloud
- MiniMax M2.5: Heimdal MXDR, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint; alternatives CrowdStrike Falcon Insight
- GPT-6 Luna: Microsoft Defender for Cloud; alternatives CrowdStrike Falcon Insight, Huntress Managed EDR
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Huntress Managed EDR, Microsoft Defender for Cloud; alternatives CrowdStrike Falcon Insight, SentinelOne Singularity

## Sources the answers cite

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

- cnicsolutions.com: 41 answers, 41 citations
- huntress.com: 39 answers, 74 citations
- techrepublic.com: 35 answers, 36 citations
- sentinelone.com: 32 answers, 43 citations
- learn.g2.com: 32 answers, 33 citations
- g2.com: 28 answers, 44 citations
- consilien.com: 26 answers, 26 citations
- zipsec.com: 25 answers, 25 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://cnicsolutions.com/cybersecurity-threat-protection/detection-response/best-endpoint-protection-edr-solutions-for-smbs (38 answers)
- https://techrepublic.com/article/best-edr-software (33 answers)
- https://huntress.com/internal-it-cybersecurity-guide/best-endpoint-protection-for-small-businesses (31 answers)
- https://learn.g2.com/best-edr-software (31 answers)
- https://consilien.com/news/best-edr-software-smb-2026 (26 answers)
- https://zipsec.com/blog/edr-for-small-business (25 answers)
- https://kaseya.com/blog/best-edr-solutions (24 answers)
- https://sentinelone.com/cybersecurity-101/endpoint-security/best-edr-solutions-for-small-business (23 answers)
- https://cyberpress.org/edr-solutions-by-business-size (20 answers)
- https://g2.com/categories/endpoint-detection-response-edr/small-business (20 answers)

## Warned against

- CrowdStrike Falcon Insight: 13 of 53 labels negative. "Unless you have a dedicated security person or are using it through a managed detection and response (MDR) service that handles tuning, avoid it for a small team." (DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt)
- SentinelOne Singularity: 7 of 59 labels negative. "avoid SentinelOne unless you purchase it with their managed Vigilance (MDR) service" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt)
- Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR: 3 of 5 labels negative. "Other Enterprise-Heavy Platforms (e.g., Palo Alto Cortex XDR, Cybereason): Expensive custom quotes tailored for large orgs; poor support for small accounts" (Grok 4.20, negative prompt)
- Symantec Endpoint Security: 3 of 3 labels negative. "Small businesses and smaller partners frequently complain about poor support response times and painful renewal processes." (Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt)

## Movement since September 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
New leader: Huntress Managed EDR (44%) to Microsoft Defender for Cloud (39%). Margin 7 points, within noise.

- Huntress Managed EDR: 44% to 32%, −12. Cleared the floor by 1 point · rank 1 → 2 of 45.
- Microsoft Defender for Cloud: 36% to 39%, +3. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 2 → 1 of 45.
- Microsoft Defender for Endpoint: 2% to 5%, +3. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 6 → 4 of 45.
- SentinelOne Singularity: 10% to 12%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 3 of 45, unchanged.
- Bitdefender GravityZone EDR: 4% to 2%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 4 → 5 of 45.
- CrowdStrike Falcon Insight: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 11 → 6 of 45.
- Cynet: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 8 → 7 of 45.
- Sophos Intercept X: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 5 → 10 of 45.
- ESET PROTECT: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 10 → 11 of 45.
- CrowdStrike: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 23 → 13 of 45.

## 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.