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This is the permanent record of the October 2026 Edition, published October 1, 2026 and superseded since.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

**Standing:** Huntress Managed EDR leads with 78% of first choices; verdict clear leader. 51 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [Huntress Managed EDR](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/huntress-managed-edr/index.md) | 78% | 0% | 61 |
| 2 | [Sophos MDR](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/sophos-mdr/index.md) | 4% | 2% | 42 |
| 3 | [Arctic Wolf Managed Detection and Response](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/arctic-wolf-managed-detection-and-response/index.md) | 2% | 25% | 28 |
| 4 | [Cynet 360](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cynet-360/index.md) | 2% | 0% | 10 |
| 5 | [ESET PROTECT MDR](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/eset-protect-mdr/index.md) | 2% | 0% | 10 |
| 6 | [SentinelOne Singularity MDR](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/sentinelone-singularity-mdr/index.md) | 2% | 20% | 15 |
| 13 | [Expel MDR](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/expel-mdr/index.md) | 0% | 8% | 13 |
| 14 | [Red Canary](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/red-canary/index.md) | 0% | 0% | 10 |
| 49 | [CrowdStrike Falcon Complete](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/crowdstrike-falcon-complete/index.md) | 0% | 60% | 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 Arctic Wolf Managed Detection and Response, Expel MDR, Red Canary
- GPT-5.4 mini: Field Effect MDR, ThreatDown MDR; alternatives Rapid7 MDR, eSentire MDR
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Huntress Managed EDR; alternatives Arctic Wolf Managed Detection and Response, Blackpoint Cyber, Guardz, Sophos MDR
- Perplexity Sonar: Huntress Managed EDR; alternatives SentinelOne Singularity MDR, Sophos MDR
- Grok 4.20: Huntress Managed EDR; alternatives ESET PROTECT MDR, Red Canary, Sophos MDR
- Mistral Small: Huntress Managed EDR; alternatives ESET PROTECT MDR, Kaseya, Sophos MDR
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Huntress Managed EDR; alternatives Arctic Wolf Managed Detection and Response, ESET PROTECT MDR, Sophos MDR
- Llama 4 Maverick: Huntress Managed EDR
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Huntress Managed EDR, SentinelOne Singularity MDR; alternatives CrowdStrike Falcon Complete, Sophos Intercept X
- Kimi K2: Huntress Managed EDR; alternatives Arctic Wolf Managed Detection and Response, Expel MDR
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Huntress Managed EDR; alternatives Sophos MDR, Todyl MXDR
- MiniMax M2.5: ESET PROTECT MDR, Huntress Managed EDR; alternatives Sophos MDR
- GPT-6 Luna: Sophos MDR; alternatives Arctic Wolf Managed Detection and Response, Blackpoint Cyber, Huntress Managed EDR
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Huntress MDR; alternatives Arctic Wolf Managed Detection and Response, ESET PROTECT MDR, Sophos MDR entry

## 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:

- gbhackers.com: 37 answers, 39 citations
- huntress.com: 36 answers, 66 citations
- kaseya.com: 36 answers, 40 citations
- mdrproviders.io: 30 answers, 54 citations
- intezer.com: 26 answers, 29 citations
- cybersecuritynews.com: 24 answers, 25 citations
- bellatorcyber.com: 21 answers, 26 citations
- channelinsider.com: 21 answers, 22 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://gbhackers.com/best-mdr-services-compared (37 answers)
- https://kaseya.com/blog/best-mdr-providers (36 answers)
- https://huntress.com/cybersecurity-insights/managed-detection-response-vendors (26 answers)
- https://cybersecuritynews.com/best-mdr-services (24 answers)
- https://mdrproviders.io/providers/size/mid-market (24 answers)
- https://mdrproviders.io/providers/size/smb (22 answers)
- https://channelinsider.com/security/tools-and-platforms/mdr-services (21 answers)
- https://expertinsights.com/endpoint-security/the-top-managed-detection-and-response-mdr-solutions (20 answers)
- https://learn.g2.com/top-mdr-providers (18 answers)
- https://intezer.com/guides/mdr-providers (17 answers)

## Warned against

- CrowdStrike Falcon Complete: 9 of 15 labels negative. "CrowdStrike, SentinelOne and Bitdefender run their own platforms which you must license. If you already own endpoint, email or cloud tools you will be forced to rip-and-replace or pay twice." (Muse Glimmer 30B, negative prompt)
- Arctic Wolf Managed Detection and Response: 7 of 28 labels negative. "Arctic Wolf is the classic example. It starts with a flat ~ $15,000/yr Aurora Platform base fee ... For a tight budget under $5,000/yr it is not workable." (Muse Glimmer 30B, negative prompt)
- SentinelOne Singularity MDR: 3 of 15 labels negative. "Avoid services (e.g., some from CrowdStrike, SentinelOne, or Sophos MDR) that mandate licensing their proprietary platforms" (Grok 4.20, negative prompt)
- CrowdStrike: 3 of 7 labels negative. "Avoid services (e.g., some from CrowdStrike, SentinelOne, or Sophos MDR) that mandate licensing their proprietary platforms alongside the MDR." (Grok 4.20, negative prompt)

## Movement since September 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: Huntress Managed EDR at 82%.

- Huntress Managed EDR: 88% to 82%, −6. Inside the floor by 5 points · rank 1 of 42, unchanged.
- Sophos MDR: 5% to 0%, −5. Inside the floor by 6 points · rank 2 → 10 of 42.
- Arctic Wolf Managed Detection and Response: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 12 → 2 of 42.
- Cynet 360: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 16 → 3 of 42.
- SentinelOne Singularity MDR: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 13 → 5 of 42.
- Expel MDR: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 7 → 11 of 42.
- Blackpoint Cyber: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 6 → 13 of 42.
- CrowdStrike Falcon Complete: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 42 of 42, unchanged.

## 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.