# Vulnerability management platforms for small business buyers: what AI models recommend, November 2026

Gane Index, November 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 small B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/security/vulnerability-management-platforms/smb

**Standing:** Intruder leads with 45% of first choices; verdict clear leader. 53 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [Intruder](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/intruder/index.md) | 45% | 0% | 56 |
| 2 | [Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/microsoft-defender-vulnerability-management/index.md) | 9% | 8% | 36 |
| 3 | [OpenVAS](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/openvas/index.md) | 8% | 33% | 43 |
| 4 | [Tenable Vulnerability Management](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/tenable-vulnerability-management/index.md) | 8% | 44% | 45 |
| 5 | [Action1](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/action1/index.md) | 6% | 0% | 22 |
| 6 | [Defendify](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/defendify/index.md) | 6% | 0% | 18 |
| 7 | [Tenable Nessus](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/tenable-nessus/index.md) | 6% | 41% | 27 |
| 9 | [ManageEngine Vulnerability Manager Plus](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/manageengine-vulnerability-manager-plus/index.md) | 2% | 18% | 17 |
| 10 | [ESET Vulnerability & Patch Management](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/eset-vulnerability-patch-management/index.md) | 2% | 0% | 10 |
| 14 | [NinjaOne](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/ninjaone/index.md) | 0% | 0% | 13 |
| 79 | [Rapid7 InsightVM](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/rapid7-insightvm/index.md) | 0% | 48% | 33 |
| 82 | [Qualys VMDR](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/qualys-vmdr/index.md) | 0% | 58% | 43 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 82 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: Intruder; alternatives Automox, NinjaOne, OpenVAS
- GPT-5.4 mini: Tenable Vulnerability Management; alternatives Action1, Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Intruder; alternatives Amazon Inspector, CrowdStrike Falcon Spotlight, GitHub Dependabot, Google Security Command Center
- Perplexity Sonar: Intruder; alternatives Action1, Aikido Security, ManageEngine Vulnerability Manager Plus, Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management
- Grok 4.20: Tenable Vulnerability Management; alternatives Action1, ESET Vulnerability & Patch Management
- Mistral Small: Intruder, Tenable Nessus; alternatives Defendify, NinjaOne
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Intruder; alternatives Action1, Defendify, Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management
- Llama 4 Maverick: Intruder
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management; alternatives ESET Essential Security, Intruder, OpenVAS
- Kimi K2: Defendify, Intruder; alternatives Action1
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Intruder; alternatives ESET Vulnerability & Patch Management, NinjaOne, Tenable Nessus
- MiniMax M2.5: Defendify, Intruder; alternatives Action1, Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management
- GPT-6 Luna: Microsoft Defender for Cloud; alternatives Qualys VMDR, Tenable Vulnerability Management
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Intruder; alternatives Defendify, Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management, Qualys VMDR, Tenable Vulnerability Management

## Sources the answers cite

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

- softwareadvice.com: 40 answers, 55 citations
- g2.com: 30 answers, 51 citations
- axis-intelligence.com: 30 answers, 30 citations
- spotsaas.com: 29 answers, 32 citations
- linfordco.com: 25 answers, 25 citations
- defendify.com: 21 answers, 27 citations
- getapp.com: 19 answers, 24 citations
- tenable.com: 17 answers, 30 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://axis-intelligence.com/best-vulnerability-management-tools-tested (30 answers)
- https://softwareadvice.com/vulnerability-management/small-business (28 answers)
- https://linfordco.com/blog/choosing-vulnerability-assessment-tools (25 answers)
- https://spotsaas.com/list/vulnerability-management-software/for-small-business (23 answers)
- https://defendify.com/blog/best-vulnerability-management-tools (21 answers)
- https://softwareadvice.com/vulnerability-management (21 answers)
- https://sprinto.com/blog/vulnerability-management-tools (17 answers)
- https://costbench.com/best/vulnerability-management-for-smb (15 answers)
- https://g2.com/categories/vulnerability-scanner/small-business (13 answers)
- https://motadata.com/blog/vulnerability-management-tools (13 answers)

## Warned against

- Qualys VMDR: 25 of 43 labels negative. "the asset-based, per-host pricing and the operational overhead is the pattern that makes Qualys VMDR and similar VMDR suites costly for a lean IT team" (Muse Glimmer 30B, negative prompt)
- Tenable Vulnerability Management: 20 of 45 labels negative. "Primary concern: High cost — starts around $4,000/year for 100 assets... Better suited for organizations with dedicated security teams" (MiniMax M2.5, negative prompt)
- OpenVAS: 14 of 43 labels negative. "Tools like OpenVAS (Greenbone) are popular because they are free, but they are notoriously difficult to maintain." (Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt)
- Rapid7 InsightVM: 16 of 33 labels negative. "Avoid traditional enterprise platforms (Qualys VMDR, Rapid7 InsightVM, Tenable One)" (Gemini 3.5 Flash, budget prompt)

## Movement since October 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: Intruder at 45%.

- Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management: 0% to 9%, +9. Inside the floor by 2 points · rank 16 → 2 of 82.
- ManageEngine Vulnerability Manager Plus: 9% to 2%, −7. Inside the floor by 4 points · rank 2 → 9 of 82.
- Defendify: 0% to 6%, +6. New · not ranked in October 2026 · rank 6 of 82.
- Rapid7 InsightVM: 5% to 0%, −5. Inside the floor by 6 points · rank 7 → 79 of 82.
- Tenable Vulnerability Management: 4% to 8%, +4. Inside the floor by 7 points · rank 9 → 4 of 82.
- Qualys VMDR: 4% to 0%, −4. Inside the floor by 7 points · rank 10 → 82 of 82.
- OpenVAS: 5% to 8%, +3. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 6 → 3 of 82.
- ESET Vulnerability & Patch Management: 4% to 2%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 8 → 10 of 82.
- NinjaOne: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 11 → 14 of 82.
- Vicarius vRx: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 12 → 26 of 82.
- Action1: 5% to 6%, +1. Inside the floor by 10 points · rank 4 → 5 of 82.
- Tenable Nessus: 5% to 6%, +1. Inside the floor by 10 points · rank 3 → 7 of 82.

## 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.