# Endpoint detection and response: 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 mid-market B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/security/endpoint-detection-and-response

**Standing:** Microsoft Defender for Endpoint leads with 38% of first choices; verdict contested. 55 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) | 38% | 12% | 58 |
| 2 | [Microsoft Defender for Cloud](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/microsoft-defender-for-cloud/index.md) | 18% | 0% | 12 |
| 3 | [SentinelOne Singularity](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/sentinelone-singularity/index.md) | 9% | 13% | 61 |
| 4 | [CrowdStrike Falcon Insight](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/crowdstrike-falcon-insight/index.md) | 9% | 22% | 58 |
| 5 | [Huntress Managed EDR](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/huntress-managed-edr/index.md) | 7% | 4% | 26 |
| 7 | [Sophos Intercept X](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/sophos-intercept-x/index.md) | 2% | 12% | 34 |
| 8 | [Bitdefender GravityZone EDR](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/bitdefender-gravityzone-edr/index.md) | 2% | 14% | 29 |
| 15 | [Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/palo-alto-networks-cortex-xdr/index.md) | 0% | 17% | 23 |
| 16 | [Trend Micro](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/trend-micro/index.md) | 0% | 12% | 16 |
| 77 | [VMware Carbon Black](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/vmware-carbon-black/index.md) | 0% | 40% | 10 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 77 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 Endpoint; alternatives CrowdStrike Falcon Insight, SentinelOne Singularity, Sophos Intercept X
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: CrowdStrike, SentinelOne Singularity; alternatives Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Sophos Intercept X
- Perplexity Sonar: Huntress Managed EDR; alternatives Bitdefender GravityZone EDR, CrowdStrike Falcon Insight, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, SentinelOne Singularity
- Grok 4.20: CrowdStrike Falcon Insight, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, SentinelOne Singularity; alternatives Bitdefender GravityZone EDR, Sophos Intercept X
- Mistral Small: Bitdefender GravityZone EDR, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint; alternatives CrowdStrike Falcon Insight, Seceon aiXDR-PMax, Sophos Intercept X
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Huntress Managed EDR; alternatives CrowdStrike Falcon Insight, ESET PROTECT, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, SentinelOne Singularity
- Llama 4 Maverick: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint; alternatives CrowdStrike Falcon Insight, Seceon aiXDR-PMax, Sophos Intercept X
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint; alternatives SentinelOne Singularity, Sophos Intercept X
- Kimi K2: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint; alternatives CrowdStrike Falcon Insight, Huntress Managed EDR, SentinelOne Singularity
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Sophos Intercept X; alternatives Bitdefender GravityZone EDR, CrowdStrike Falcon Insight, SentinelOne Singularity
- MiniMax M2.5: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Seceon aiXDR-PMax; alternatives CrowdStrike Falcon Insight, SentinelOne Singularity, Sophos Intercept X
- GPT-6 Luna: CrowdStrike Falcon with Falcon Complete MDR; alternatives Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, SentinelOne Singularity
- Muse Glimmer 30B: CrowdStrike Falcon Insight; alternatives Bitdefender GravityZone EDR, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Seceon aiXDR-PMax, SentinelOne Singularity

## Sources the answers cite

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

- securityboulevard.com: 23 answers, 36 citations
- huntress.com: 20 answers, 27 citations
- iru.com: 20 answers, 21 citations
- reddit.com: 18 answers, 46 citations
- techrepublic.com: 16 answers, 17 citations
- acronis.com: 15 answers, 15 citations
- cyberpress.org: 13 answers, 13 citations
- microsoft.com: 12 answers, 22 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://iru.com/endpoint/edr/best-edr-solutions (19 answers)
- https://securityboulevard.com/2026/10/best-edr-for-mid-sized-businesses-compared (17 answers)
- https://techrepublic.com/article/best-edr-software (16 answers)
- https://securityboulevard.com/2026/09/best-edr-solutions-for-mid-sized-businesses-2026-guide (15 answers)
- https://huntress.com/edr-guide/best-edr-solutions (14 answers)
- https://cyberpress.org/edr-solutions-by-business-size (13 answers)
- https://consilien.com/news/best-edr-software-smb-2026 (11 answers)
- https://gbhackers.com/best-edr-solutions-compared (11 answers)
- https://acronis.com/en/blog/posts/best-edr-endpoint-detection-and-response-solutions-in-2026 (8 answers)
- https://expertinsights.com/endpoint-security/the-top-endpoint-detection-and-response-solutions (8 answers)

## Warned against

- CrowdStrike Falcon Insight: 13 of 58 labels negative. "While still market-leading, the July 2024 channel-file incident took down 8.5 million Windows machines and demonstrated a systemic risk" (Claude Haiku 4.5, negative prompt)
- Microsoft Defender for Endpoint: 7 of 58 labels negative. "many companies depend on a single provider like CrowdStrike, Microsoft Defender or SentinelOne, and that "banking on, or consolidating services with a single provider can create downstream risk"" (Muse Glimmer 30B, negative prompt)
- SentinelOne Singularity: 8 of 61 labels negative. "Top-tier market leaders (CrowdStrike, SentinelOne, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Palo Alto Cortex XDR) are effective, but you should avoid any vendor that does not permit strict deployment ring management" (Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt)
- VMware Carbon Black: 4 of 10 labels negative. "The products most consistently flagged by practitioners and independent tests are Datto EDR (operational issues, Kaseya support), Carbon Black (post-acquisition decline, complexity, false positives)" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt)

## Movement since October 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint at 38%.

- CrowdStrike Falcon Insight: 22% to 9%, −13. Cleared the floor by 2 points · rank 2 → 4 of 77.
- Microsoft Defender for Endpoint: 31% to 38%, +7. Inside the floor by 4 points · rank 1 of 77, unchanged.
- SentinelOne Singularity: 15% to 9%, −6. Inside the floor by 5 points · rank 3 of 77, unchanged.
- Sophos Intercept X: 6% to 2%, −4. Inside the floor by 7 points · rank 6 → 7 of 77.
- Microsoft Defender for Cloud: 15% to 18%, +3. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 4 → 2 of 77.
- Bitdefender GravityZone EDR: 4% to 2%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 7 → 8 of 77.
- CrowdStrike: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 51 → 11 of 77.
- Huntress Managed EDR: 6% to 7%, +1. Inside the floor by 10 points · rank 5 of 77, unchanged.
- Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 9 → 15 of 77.
- Trend Micro: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 13 → 16 of 77.
- VMware Carbon Black: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 53 → 77 of 77.

## 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.