# Endpoint detection and response for small business buyers: what AI models recommend, November 2026

Gane Index, November 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/2026-11/smb

**Standing:** Microsoft Defender for Cloud leads with 56% of first choices; verdict clear leader. 57 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) | 56% | 3% | 60 |
| 2 | [Huntress Managed EDR](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/huntress-managed-edr/index.md) | 30% | 3% | 64 |
| 3 | [SentinelOne Singularity](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/sentinelone-singularity/index.md) | 9% | 17% | 59 |
| 4 | [Microsoft Defender for Endpoint](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/microsoft-defender-for-endpoint/index.md) | 4% | 24% | 17 |
| 6 | [Bitdefender GravityZone EDR](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/bitdefender-gravityzone-edr/index.md) | 0% | 4% | 27 |
| 7 | [Sophos Intercept X](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/sophos-intercept-x/index.md) | 0% | 4% | 26 |
| 8 | [ThreatDown EDR](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/threatdown-edr/index.md) | 0% | 9% | 11 |
| 10 | [CrowdStrike Falcon Insight](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/crowdstrike-falcon-insight/index.md) | 0% | 44% | 48 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 57 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: no first choice
- GPT-5.4 mini: Microsoft Defender for Cloud; alternatives CrowdStrike Falcon Insight, SentinelOne Singularity
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint; alternatives CrowdStrike Falcon Insight, SentinelOne Singularity, Sophos Intercept X
- Perplexity Sonar: Huntress Managed EDR; alternatives Bitdefender GravityZone EDR, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, SentinelOne Singularity, Sophos Intercept X
- Grok 4.20: Microsoft Defender for Cloud; alternatives Bitdefender GravityZone EDR, Huntress Managed EDR, SentinelOne Singularity, ThreatDown EDR
- Mistral Small: Huntress Managed EDR, Microsoft Defender for Cloud; alternatives CrowdStrike Falcon Insight, SentinelOne Singularity
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Huntress Managed EDR, Microsoft Defender for Cloud; alternatives SentinelOne Singularity
- Llama 4 Maverick: Microsoft Defender for Cloud; alternatives CrowdStrike Falcon Insight, Huntress Managed EDR, SentinelOne Singularity
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: SentinelOne Singularity; alternatives Huntress Managed EDR, Microsoft Defender for Cloud
- Kimi K2: Huntress Managed EDR; alternatives Bitdefender GravityZone EDR, CrowdStrike Falcon Insight, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, SentinelOne Singularity
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Microsoft Defender for Cloud, SentinelOne Singularity; alternatives CrowdStrike Falcon Insight, Huntress Managed EDR
- MiniMax M2.5: SentinelOne Singularity; alternatives Huntress Managed EDR, Microsoft Defender for Cloud
- GPT-6 Luna: Microsoft Defender for Cloud; alternatives Huntress Managed EDR
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Microsoft Defender for Cloud; alternatives CrowdStrike Falcon Insight, Huntress Managed EDR, SentinelOne Singularity

## Sources the answers cite

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

- huntress.com: 49 answers, 78 citations
- simplyit.biz: 28 answers, 28 citations
- softwareadvice.com: 27 answers, 32 citations
- zipsec.com: 23 answers, 23 citations
- cnicsolutions.com: 22 answers, 22 citations
- reddit.com: 21 answers, 43 citations
- techrepublic.com: 21 answers, 21 citations
- unio.digital: 20 answers, 22 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://huntress.com/internal-it-cybersecurity-guide/best-endpoint-protection-for-small-businesses (35 answers)
- https://simplyit.biz/resources/edr-vendor-comparison-small-business-2026 (27 answers)
- https://softwareadvice.com/security/edr-comparison/small-business (25 answers)
- https://zipsec.com/blog/edr-for-small-business (23 answers)
- https://cnicsolutions.com/cybersecurity-threat-protection/detection-response/best-endpoint-protection-edr-solutions-for-smbs (19 answers)
- https://cyberpress.org/edr-solutions-by-business-size (19 answers)
- https://techrepublic.com/article/best-edr-software (19 answers)
- https://unio.digital/blog/best-edr-solutions-small-business (18 answers)
- https://huntress.com/edr-guide/best-edr-solutions (16 answers)
- https://consilien.com/news/best-edr-software-smb-2026 (13 answers)

## Warned against

- CrowdStrike Falcon Insight: 21 of 48 labels negative. "It is not recommended for small businesses without a dedicated security team or managed detection and response (MDR) service." (Llama 4 Maverick, negative prompt)
- SentinelOne Singularity: 10 of 59 labels negative. "Known for high CPU resource consumption, which can be problematic for smaller, less powerful systems" (Mistral Small, negative prompt)
- Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR: 8 of 9 labels negative. "Criticized for excessive false positives and poor support, with users describing it as "flipping terrible"" (Mistral Small, negative prompt)
- Trellix EDR: 5 of 6 labels negative. "Avoid platforms with widespread user complaints about effectiveness, support, performance, or cost (e.g., Trellix/McAfee, Acronis, Malwarebytes for Business in some contexts)." (GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt)

## Movement since October 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: Microsoft Defender for Cloud at 56%.

- Microsoft Defender for Cloud: 47% to 56%, +9. Inside the floor by 2 points · rank 1 of 57, unchanged.
- Bitdefender GravityZone EDR: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 6 of 57, unchanged.
- CrowdStrike Falcon Insight: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 5 → 10 of 57.
- Huntress Managed EDR: 29% to 30%, +1. Inside the floor by 10 points · rank 2 of 57, unchanged.
- SentinelOne Singularity: 10% to 9%, −1. Inside the floor by 10 points · rank 3 of 57, unchanged.
- Microsoft Defender for Endpoint: 4% to 4%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 4 of 57, unchanged.
- Sophos Intercept X: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 10 → 7 of 57.
- ThreatDown EDR: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 12 → 8 of 57.
- ESET PROTECT: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 11 → 9 of 57.
- CrowdStrike: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 13 → 32 of 57.

## 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.