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

Gane Index, November 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/smb

**Standing:** Huntress Managed EDR leads with 83% of first choices; verdict clear leader. 46 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) | 83% | 0% | 56 |
| 2 | [Sophos MDR](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/sophos-mdr/index.md) | 2% | 8% | 52 |
| 3 | [Arctic Wolf Managed Detection and Response](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/arctic-wolf-managed-detection-and-response/index.md) | 2% | 36% | 33 |
| 5 | [CrowdStrike Falcon Complete](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/crowdstrike-falcon-complete/index.md) | 2% | 33% | 21 |
| 10 | [Cynet 360](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cynet-360/index.md) | 0% | 6% | 17 |
| 11 | [Blackpoint Cyber](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/blackpoint-cyber/index.md) | 0% | 6% | 16 |
| 13 | [Expel MDR](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/expel-mdr/index.md) | 0% | 19% | 21 |
| 14 | [Field Effect MDR](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/field-effect-mdr/index.md) | 0% | 0% | 10 |
| 15 | [ThreatDown MDR](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/threatdown-mdr/index.md) | 0% | 8% | 12 |
| 17 | [Red Canary](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/red-canary/index.md) | 0% | 31% | 13 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 55 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, Sophos MDR
- GPT-5.4 mini: Huntress Managed EDR; alternatives CrowdStrike Falcon Complete, Rapid7 MDR, Sophos MDR, ThreatDown MDR
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Huntress Managed EDR; alternatives Blackpoint Cyber, Expel MDR, Red Canary, Sophos MDR
- Perplexity Sonar: Huntress Managed EDR; alternatives ESET PROTECT MDR, Sophos MDR
- Grok 4.20: Huntress Managed EDR; alternatives Blackpoint Cyber, Blumira, Cynet 360, ThreatDown MDR
- Mistral Small: Arctic Wolf Managed Detection and Response; alternatives AgileBlue, Huntress Managed EDR, Sophos MDR, eSentire MDR
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Huntress Managed EDR; alternatives CrowdStrike Falcon Complete, Sophos MDR
- Llama 4 Maverick: Huntress Managed EDR; alternatives Arctic Wolf Managed Detection and Response, CrowdStrike Falcon Complete, Field Effect MDR, Rapid7 MDR
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Huntress Managed EDR; alternatives ESET PROTECT MDR, SentinelOne Vigilance Respond, Sophos MDR
- Kimi K2: Huntress Managed EDR; alternatives Arctic Wolf Managed Detection and Response, Red Canary
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: ESET PROTECT MDR, Huntress Managed EDR; alternatives At‑Bay, Blumira
- MiniMax M2.5: Huntress Managed EDR; alternatives Blumira, Field Effect MDR, Sophos MDR
- GPT-6 Luna: Huntress Managed EDR; alternatives Sophos MDR
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Huntress Managed EDR; alternatives Arctic Wolf entry tier, Field Effect MDR, Sophos MDR

## 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:

- mdrproviders.io: 42 answers, 55 citations
- consilien.com: 26 answers, 26 citations
- cybersecuritynews.com: 24 answers, 24 citations
- gbhackers.com: 22 answers, 22 citations
- huntress.com: 19 answers, 27 citations
- mdrcost.com: 19 answers, 20 citations
- expel.com: 15 answers, 26 citations
- g2.com: 15 answers, 21 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://mdrproviders.io/providers/size/smb (40 answers)
- https://consilien.com/news/best-mdr-providers-smb-2026 (25 answers)
- https://cybersecuritynews.com/best-mdr-services (24 answers)
- https://gbhackers.com/best-mdr-services-compared (22 answers)
- https://mdrcost.com/small-business (16 answers)
- https://at-bay.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/At-Bay-MDR-Buyers-Guide-for-Small-Businesses.pdf (15 answers)
- https://expel.com/cyberspeak/what-should-i-look-for-choosing-mdr-provider (15 answers)
- https://defendify.com/blog/managed-detection-and-response-providers (11 answers)
- https://expertinsights.com/endpoint-security/the-top-managed-detection-and-response-mdr-solutions (11 answers)
- https://business.att.com/content/dam/attbusiness/guides/mdr-evaluators-guide.pdf (10 answers)

## Warned against

- Arctic Wolf Managed Detection and Response: 12 of 33 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)
- CrowdStrike Falcon Complete: 7 of 21 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)
- SentinelOne Singularity MDR: 4 of 9 labels negative. "Avoid services (e.g., some from CrowdStrike, SentinelOne, or Sophos MDR) that mandate licensing their" (Muse Glimmer 30B, negative prompt)
- Sophos MDR: 4 of 52 labels negative. "Avoid services (e.g., some from CrowdStrike, SentinelOne, or Sophos MDR) that mandate licensing their" (Muse Glimmer 30B, negative prompt)

## Movement since October 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: Huntress Managed EDR at 83%.

- Huntress Managed EDR: 78% to 83%, +5. Inside the floor by 6 points · rank 1 of 55, unchanged.
- Sophos MDR: 4% to 2%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 2 of 55, unchanged.
- CrowdStrike Falcon Complete: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 49 → 5 of 55.
- Cynet 360: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 4 → 10 of 55.
- Field Effect MDR: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 7 → 14 of 55.
- ThreatDown MDR: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 10 → 15 of 55.
- Arctic Wolf Managed Detection and Response: 2% to 2%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 3 of 55, unchanged.
- ESET PROTECT MDR: 2% to 2%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 5 → 4 of 55.
- SentinelOne Singularity MDR: 2% to 2%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 6 → 8 of 55.
- Blackpoint Cyber: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 12 → 11 of 55.
- Expel MDR: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 13 of 55, unchanged.
- Red Canary: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 14 → 17 of 55.

## 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.