# Vulnerability management platforms: what AI models recommend, October 2026

Gane Index, October 2026 Edition. Asked as "vulnerability management platform" and as "vulnerability scanning and management 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/vulnerability-management-platforms/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This is the permanent record of the October 2026 Edition, published October 1, 2026 and superseded since.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/vulnerability-management-platforms/index.md

**Standing:** Rapid7 InsightVM leads with 30% of first choices; verdict contested. 57 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [Rapid7 InsightVM](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/rapid7-insightvm/index.md) | 30% | 19% | 63 |
| 2 | [Tenable Vulnerability Management](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/tenable-vulnerability-management/index.md) | 16% | 30% | 61 |
| 3 | [Intruder](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/intruder/index.md) | 11% | 0% | 26 |
| 4 | [Qualys VMDR](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/qualys-vmdr/index.md) | 9% | 26% | 65 |
| 5 | [ManageEngine Vulnerability Manager Plus](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/manageengine-vulnerability-manager-plus/index.md) | 7% | 10% | 29 |
| 6 | [Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/microsoft-defender-vulnerability-management/index.md) | 4% | 13% | 23 |
| 7 | [Vicarius vRx](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/vicarius-vrx/index.md) | 4% | 0% | 11 |
| 8 | [Tenable Nessus](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/tenable-nessus/index.md) | 4% | 30% | 23 |
| 9 | [OpenVAS](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/openvas/index.md) | 4% | 31% | 16 |
| 16 | [Wiz](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/wiz/index.md) | 0% | 17% | 12 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 78 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: Rapid7 InsightVM; alternatives ManageEngine Vulnerability Manager Plus, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Tenable Vulnerability Management, Vicarius vRx
- GPT-5.4 mini: Rapid7 InsightVM; alternatives Qualys VMDR, Tenable Vulnerability Management
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: SecPod SanerNow, Vicarius vRx; alternatives CrowdStrike Falcon Spotlight, Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management, Nucleus Security, Rapid7 InsightVM
- Perplexity Sonar: Rapid7 InsightVM; alternatives ManageEngine Vulnerability Manager Plus, Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Qualys VMDR
- Grok 4.20: Rapid7 InsightVM; alternatives Intruder, ManageEngine Vulnerability Manager Plus, Qualys VMDR, Tenable Vulnerability Management
- Mistral Small: Rapid7 InsightVM; alternatives Intruder, ManageEngine Vulnerability Manager Plus, SureCloud
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Rapid7 InsightVM, Vicarius vRx; alternatives Intruder, Tenable Vulnerability Management
- Llama 4 Maverick: Intruder; alternatives ManageEngine Vulnerability Manager Plus, Rapid7's Insight platform
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Rapid7 InsightVM; alternatives Qualys VMDR, Tenable Vulnerability Management
- Kimi K2: Intruder, Rapid7 InsightVM; alternatives Qualys VMDR
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Qualys VMDR; alternatives ManageEngine Vulnerability Manager Plus, Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management, Tenable Vulnerability Management
- MiniMax M2.5: Rapid7 InsightVM; alternatives Intruder, Tenable One
- GPT-6 Luna: Tenable Vulnerability Management; alternatives Qualys VMDR, Rapid7 InsightVM
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Rapid7 InsightVM; alternatives Intruder, ManageEngine Vulnerability Manager Plus

## 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:

- vicarius.io: 45 answers, 78 citations
- techrepublic.com: 33 answers, 33 citations
- motadata.com: 30 answers, 30 citations
- orca.security: 30 answers, 30 citations
- riskwatch.com: 29 answers, 29 citations
- comparitech.com: 28 answers, 28 citations
- axis-intelligence.com: 23 answers, 23 citations
- sprinto.com: 21 answers, 21 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://techrepublic.com/article/top-vulnerability-management-tools (33 answers)
- https://motadata.com/blog/vulnerability-management-tools (29 answers)
- https://riskwatch.com/vulnerability-management-software (29 answers)
- https://orca.security/resources/blog/best-vulnerability-management-tools (28 answers)
- https://comparitech.com/net-admin/best-vulnerability-management-tools (26 answers)
- https://axis-intelligence.com/best-vulnerability-management-tools-tested (23 answers)
- https://sprinto.com/blog/vulnerability-management-tools (21 answers)
- https://surecloud.com/blog-hub/vulnerability-management-software-compared (19 answers)
- https://upguard.com/blog/top-vendor-vulnerability-tools (19 answers)
- https://vicarius.io/articles/10-consolidated-vulnerability-management-platforms-for-mid-market-security-and-it-teams (19 answers)

## Warned against

- Tenable Vulnerability Management: 18 of 61 labels negative. "Full‑featured enterprise tools (Rapid7, Qualys, Tenable.io) without a dedicated security team" (GLM 4.7 FlashX, budget prompt)
- Qualys VMDR: 17 of 65 labels negative. "Full‑featured enterprise tools (Rapid7, Qualys, Tenable.io) without a dedicated security team" (GLM 4.7 FlashX, budget prompt)
- Rapid7 InsightVM: 12 of 63 labels negative. "What to Avoid on a Limited Budget - Full‑featured enterprise tools (Rapid7, Qualys, Tenable.io)" (GLM 4.7 FlashX, budget prompt)
- Tenable Nessus: 7 of 23 labels negative. "Avoid trying to scrape out a "Free" version of Nessus; Tenable discontinued its unlimited community scanner" (Qwen 3.7 Flash, budget prompt)

## Movement since September 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: Rapid7 InsightVM at 29%.

- Rapid7 InsightVM: 45% to 29%, −16. Cleared the floor by 5 points · rank 1 of 75, unchanged.
- Qualys VMDR: 0% to 8%, +8. Inside the floor by 3 points · rank 11 → 4 of 75.
- OpenVAS: 9% to 2%, −7. Inside the floor by 4 points · rank 4 → 12 of 75.
- Tenable Vulnerability Management: 7% to 12%, +5. Inside the floor by 6 points · rank 5 → 3 of 75.
- Intruder: 16% to 12%, −4. Inside the floor by 7 points · rank 2 of 75, unchanged.
- Vicarius vRx: 2% to 4%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 9 → 6 of 75.
- ManageEngine Vulnerability Manager Plus: 9% to 8%, −1. Inside the floor by 10 points · rank 3 → 5 of 75.
- Tenable Nessus: 5% to 4%, −1. Inside the floor by 10 points · rank 6 → 7 of 75.
- Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management: 2% to 2%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 7 → 11 of 75.
- Orca Security: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 13 → 15 of 75.
- Wiz: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 12 → 16 of 75.

## 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.