Attack surface management · RankedMicrosoft Defender External Attack Surface Management
Strongest at enterprise. Ranked 18 of 106 for small business buyers.
The standing depends on who is buying. Every model is asked the same questions for each company size.
Intruder is first at 35%.
Intruder is first at 29%. 1 of 14 models made it the first choice when asked directly.
Cortex Xpanse is first at 44%.
Why models recommend it
“If you already use CrowdStrike or Microsoft 365/Azure: Start a Proof of Concept (PoC) with Microsoft Defender EASM”Gemini 3.5 Flash · Paraphrase question · first choice
“For most modern enterprises, CyCognito and Microsoft EASM are currently leading the market”Qwen 3.7 Flash · Comparative question · first choice
“Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management is often the most pragmatic starting point”GLM 4.7 FlashX · Paraphrase question · first choice
“I'd start with Microsoft Defender EASM—if you already use Azure or Microsoft security tools.”GPT-6 Luna · Direct question · first choice
What gives them pause
“Better suited for organizations heavily invested in Microsoft stack”Kimi K2 · Paraphrase question · warning
“Complex to configure (typical Microsoft complexity), generates significant false positives, requires existing Microsoft licensing”Kimi K2 · Negative question · warning
“Strongly Azure/Microsoft-centric—poor fit if you're not heavily invested in their ecosystem”Grok 4.20 · Negative question · warning
“be cautious if your environment is multi-cloud or you need strong non-Microsoft workflows”Perplexity Sonar · Negative question · warning
Also on the shortlist
The products named in the same answers as Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management, over the 161 answers that named it, and how often each was the first choice instead.
| Product | Named together | Picked instead | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 106 | 12 | Compare → | |
| 102 | 36 | Compare → | |
| 66 | 3 | Compare → | |
| 64 | 3 | Compare → | |
| 54 | 30 | Compare → | |
| 41 | 4 | View → | |
| 39 | 17 | Compare → | |
| 37 | 5 | Compare → | |
| 33 | 2 | View → | |
| 28 | 0 | View → |
What the models named instead of Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management →
A side-by-side page exists where both products are among a category's top eight.
At a glance
Stated on Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management's own site, not checked by Gane.
- Also from Microsoft Defender
- Microsoft Defender ATP, Microsoft Defender Attack Simulation Training, Microsoft Defender Experts, Microsoft Defender Experts for XDR, Microsoft Defender TI, Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence and 14 more
How this is measured
Fourteen AI models from 12 labs are asked the same buying questions six ways, for three company sizes. Standings refresh every edition.
Gane sells AI visibility software. No company can pay to change a result.
Read the method →Sources returned with these answers
Fourteen of the fourteen models returned a source list in this edition: five return the pages they cited and nine the search results they consulted. These counts come from 158 of the 161 answers that named Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management and are not a share of its labels.
Domains cited
465 of the 465 domain citations in answers naming Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management came from a third party's page.
Pages cited
Pages are listed as the models cited them.
By model
| Model | First choice | Alternative | Mention | Warning | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| GPT-5.4 mini | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Perplexity Sonar | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| Grok 4.20 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| Mistral Small | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| Llama 4 Maverick | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 5 |
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Kimi K2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| MiniMax M2.5 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| GPT-6 Luna | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| Muse Glimmer 30B | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 4 |