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

Gane Index, October 2026 Edition. Asked as "MDR service" and as "managed detection and response provider", 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/managed-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This is the permanent record of the October 2026 Edition, published October 1, 2026 and superseded since.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/managed-detection-and-response/index.md

**Standing:** Arctic Wolf Managed Detection and Response leads with 37% of first choices; verdict contested. 46 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [Arctic Wolf Managed Detection and Response](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/arctic-wolf-managed-detection-and-response/index.md) | 37% | 8% | 40 |
| 2 | [Huntress Managed EDR](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/huntress-managed-edr/index.md) | 35% | 0% | 30 |
| 3 | [Sophos MDR](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/sophos-mdr/index.md) | 13% | 0% | 47 |
| 4 | [Expel MDR](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/expel-mdr/index.md) | 4% | 0% | 17 |
| 5 | [CrowdStrike Falcon Complete](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/crowdstrike-falcon-complete/index.md) | 2% | 22% | 27 |
| 10 | [eSentire MDR](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/esentire-mdr/index.md) | 0% | 0% | 17 |
| 11 | [Rapid7 MDR](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/rapid7-mdr/index.md) | 0% | 5% | 21 |
| 12 | [SentinelOne Singularity MDR](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/sentinelone-singularity-mdr/index.md) | 0% | 9% | 22 |
| 13 | [Red Canary](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/red-canary/index.md) | 0% | 0% | 14 |
| 17 | [CrowdStrike](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/crowdstrike/index.md) | 0% | 33% | 12 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 65 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: Arctic Wolf Managed Detection and Response; alternatives Rapid7 MDR, Sophos MDR
- GPT-5.4 mini: CrowdStrike Falcon Complete; alternatives Cyderes MDR, Microsoft Defender Experts for XDR
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Arctic Wolf Managed Detection and Response; alternatives Expel MDR, Red Canary, Sophos MDR
- Perplexity Sonar: Arctic Wolf Managed Detection and Response; alternatives Rapid7 MDR, Sophos MDR, eSentire MDR
- Grok 4.20: Arctic Wolf Managed Detection and Response; alternatives CrowdStrike Falcon Complete, Red Canary
- Mistral Small: ESET PROTECT MDR; alternatives Arctic Wolf Managed Detection and Response, Expel MDR, Sophos MDR
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Arctic Wolf Managed Detection and Response; alternatives CrowdStrike Falcon Complete, Sophos MDR, eSentire MDR
- Llama 4 Maverick: Arctic Wolf Managed Detection and Response; alternatives Rapid7 MDR, eSentire MDR
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Arctic Wolf Managed Detection and Response; alternatives Daylight Security, Huntress Managed EDR, SentinelOne Singularity MDR, Sophos MDR
- Kimi K2: Arctic Wolf Managed Detection and Response, Sophos MDR; alternatives Rapid7 MDR, eSentire MDR
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Arctic Wolf Managed Detection and Response; alternatives Huntress Managed EDR, Sophos MDR
- MiniMax M2.5: Huntress Managed EDR; alternatives Arctic Wolf Managed Detection and Response, Sophos MDR
- GPT-6 Luna: Sophos MDR; alternatives Arctic Wolf Managed Detection and Response, Expel MDR, Falcon Complete, Microsoft Defender Experts for XDR
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Arctic Wolf Managed Detection and Response; alternatives CrowdStrike Falcon MDR, Rapid7 MDR, SentinelOne Singularity MDR, Sophos MDR

## 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:

- intezer.com: 35 answers, 41 citations
- mdrproviders.io: 27 answers, 58 citations
- huntress.com: 27 answers, 36 citations
- kaseya.com: 22 answers, 22 citations
- paloaltonetworks.com: 21 answers, 26 citations
- expel.com: 20 answers, 24 citations
- checkthat.ai: 20 answers, 21 citations
- gbhackers.com: 19 answers, 20 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://intezer.com/guides/mdr-providers (28 answers)
- https://huntress.com/cybersecurity-insights/managed-detection-response-vendors (24 answers)
- https://kaseya.com/blog/best-mdr-providers (22 answers)
- https://mdrproviders.io/providers/size/mid-market (19 answers)
- https://gbhackers.com/best-mdr-services-compared (17 answers)
- https://checkthat.ai/answers/what-are-the-best-managed-detection-and-response-solutions (16 answers)
- https://cynet.com/security-foundations/managed-detection-and-response/mdr-solutions-why-they-are-critical-and-how-to-choose (16 answers)
- https://expel.com/cyberspeak/what-should-i-look-for-choosing-mdr-provider (15 answers)
- https://learn.g2.com/top-mdr-providers (15 answers)
- https://paloaltonetworks.com/cyberpedia/mdr-solutions (15 answers)

## Warned against

- CrowdStrike Falcon Complete: 6 of 27 labels negative. "What to Avoid on a Tight Budget ... Premium pricing; requires committing to their platform" (Kimi K2, budget prompt)
- CrowdStrike: 4 of 12 labels negative. "Be cautious about providers where "full value requires broad CrowdStrike platform adoption" and high cost is tied to using their stack" (Muse Glimmer 30B, negative prompt)
- Arctic Wolf Managed Detection and Response: 3 of 40 labels negative. "Excellent quality, but requires ~$25K–$44K minimum annual contract—not great for small budgets" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, budget prompt)
- SentinelOne Singularity MDR: 2 of 22 labels negative. "What to Avoid on a Tight Budget ... Requires you to already own SentinelOne EDR" (Kimi K2, budget prompt)

## Movement since September 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: Arctic Wolf Managed Detection and Response at 38%.

- eSentire MDR: 11% to 0%, −11. Cleared the floor by 0 points · rank 4 → 10 of 63.
- Huntress Managed EDR: 26% to 35%, +9. Inside the floor by 2 points · rank 2 of 63, unchanged.
- SentinelOne Singularity MDR: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 7 → 12 of 63.
- CrowdStrike: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 8 → 18 of 63.
- Arctic Wolf Managed Detection and Response: 39% to 38%, −1. Inside the floor by 10 points · rank 1 of 63, unchanged.
- Sophos MDR: 11% to 10%, −1. Inside the floor by 10 points · rank 3 of 63, unchanged.
- Expel MDR: 4% to 5%, +1. Inside the floor by 10 points · rank 5 → 4 of 63.
- CrowdStrike Falcon Complete: 2% to 2%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 6 → 5 of 63.
- Rapid7 MDR: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 11 of 63, unchanged.
- Red Canary: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 10 → 13 of 63.
- Ontinue: 0% to 0%, ±0. Not named this edition · was rank 12 of 42.

## 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.