# Penetration testing as a service for small business buyers: what AI models recommend, November 2026

Gane Index, November 2026 Edition. Asked as "penetration testing service" and as "pentest-as-a-service 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/penetration-testing-as-a-service/smb

**Standing:** Stingrai leads with 22% 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 | [Stingrai](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/stingrai/index.md) | 22% | 0% | 27 |
| 2 | [Astra Security](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/astra-security/index.md) | 17% | 0% | 37 |
| 3 | [Cobalt](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cobalt/index.md) | 13% | 7% | 44 |
| 4 | [BreachLock](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/breachlock/index.md) | 13% | 0% | 28 |
| 5 | [Kobalt.io](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/kobalt-io/index.md) | 7% | 0% | 16 |
| 6 | [Bright Defense](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/bright-defense/index.md) | 7% | 0% | 10 |
| 14 | [Intruder](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/intruder/index.md) | 0% | 0% | 18 |
| 15 | [Raxis](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/raxis/index.md) | 0% | 0% | 10 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 98 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: TraceSecurity; alternatives Bright Defense, Cobalt, Packetlabs, Software Secured
- GPT-5.4 mini: Cobalt; alternatives Astra Security, HackerOne PTaaS, Oneleet
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Astra Security, BreachLock; alternatives Bright Defense, Cobalt, Software Secured
- Perplexity Sonar: Bright Defense; alternatives Astra Security, Cobalt, Packetlabs, Raxis
- Grok 4.20: Astra Security; alternatives BreachLock, Cobalt, Cybri, Stingrai
- Mistral Small: Atlant Security, Stingrai; alternatives Astra Security, Packetlabs, Raxis, Secarma
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Kobalt.io, Stingrai; alternatives BreachLock, Software Secured
- Llama 4 Maverick: Stingrai
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Stingrai; alternatives Atlant Security, BreachLock, Cobalt, Netragard
- Kimi K2: Astra Security; alternatives BreachLock, Bug Circuit, Cobalt, Cybri
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Astra Security; alternatives BreachLock, Cobalt, Stingrai, TurboPentest
- MiniMax M2.5: Astra Security, Bright Defense; alternatives Acunetix, Cobalt, Intruder
- GPT-6 Luna: Kobalt.io; alternatives Cobalt
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Stingrai; alternatives Acunetix, Astra Security, BreachLock, Cobalt

## Sources the answers cite

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

- stingrai.io: 44 answers, 81 citations
- atlantsecurity.com: 29 answers, 34 citations
- reddit.com: 27 answers, 40 citations
- techrepublic.com: 20 answers, 22 citations
- netragard.com: 15 answers, 16 citations
- cobalt.io: 14 answers, 29 citations
- deepstrike.io: 13 answers, 17 citations
- pentestingproviders.com: 13 answers, 13 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://stingrai.io/blog/best-penetration-testing-companies-small-businesses-2026 (32 answers)
- https://stingrai.io/blog/best-penetration-testing-companies-startups-2026 (30 answers)
- https://atlantsecurity.com/blog/top-penetration-testing-companies (26 answers)
- https://techrepublic.com/article/best-penetration-testing-companies (18 answers)
- https://cobalt.io/platform/pricing (12 answers)
- https://netragard.com/blog/best-penetration-testing-companies (11 answers)
- https://reddit.com/r/msp/comments/znf99o/small_business_pen_testing (11 answers)
- https://pentestingproviders.com/best/affordable-penetration-testing (10 answers)
- https://underdefense.com/blog/penetration-testing-services (10 answers)
- https://objectstorage.us-ashburn-1.oraclecloud.com/n/idjn99rg9axo/b/it-services/o/com-nyc-listicle/phase3/pentest-services-for-small-business-111/.html (9 answers)

## Warned against

- Tenable Nessus: 6 of 9 labels negative. "Some low-cost vendors run an automated tool (like Nessus, Qualys, or Burp Suite) and hand you a 50-page PDF of raw scan results, calling it a "pen test."" (Gemini 3.5 Flash, scale prompt)
- Bishop Fox: 4 of 5 labels negative. "Avoid for Small B2B" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, direct prompt)
- NetSPI: 3 of 5 labels negative. "Avoid for Small B2B" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, direct prompt)
- OpenVAS: 3 of 3 labels negative. "A vendor runs an automated tool (like Nessus, Qualys, or OpenVAS) ... Why Avoid It: A vulnerability scan is not a penetration test." (Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt)

## Movement since October 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
New leader: Cobalt (17%) to Stingrai (22%). Margin 9 points, within noise.

- Stingrai: 0% to 22%, +22. Cleared the floor by 11 points · rank 29 → 1 of 98.
- Bright Defense: 17% to 7%, −10. Inside the floor by 1 point · rank 2 → 6 of 98.
- Acunetix: 9% to 0%, −9. Inside the floor by 2 points · rank 5 → 18 of 98.
- Astra Security: 11% to 17%, +6. Inside the floor by 5 points · rank 4 → 2 of 98.
- Kobalt.io: 2% to 7%, +5. Inside the floor by 6 points · rank 13 → 5 of 98.
- Cobalt: 17% to 13%, −4. Inside the floor by 7 points · rank 1 → 3 of 98.
- Pentest-Tools.com: 2% to 4%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 11 → 8 of 98.
- Bugcrowd PTaaS: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 10 → 27 of 98.
- UnderDefense: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 9 → 83 of 98.
- BreachLock: 13% to 13%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 3 → 4 of 98.
- Intruder: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 18 → 14 of 98.
- Raxis: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 28 → 15 of 98.

## 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.