IT AI Index
Index › Cloud and infrastructure › September 2026 Edition

Cloud-native application protection

Asked as “CNAPP”, and as “cloud-native application protection platform”, on behalf of a mid-market B2B company. 50 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.
Standing
Wiz
Clear leader
46% of first choices, clear leader.
ShowinginAll 67 categories →

By buyer segment

The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment; they sit side by side and are never added together.
Small businessMicrosoft Defender for Cloud46%Clear leaderStanding →Mid-marketWiz46%Clear leaderThis pageEnterpriseWiz49%Clear leaderStanding →

01The standing

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, over all twelve models, for a mid-market B2B company. Ordered by share.
ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrant
01Wiz46%18%55endorsed leader
02Microsoft Defender for Cloud30%4%47endorsed leader
03Orca Security16%5%40accepted challenger
04Prisma Cloud2%32%38criticized challenger
05Orca2%20%10accepted challenger
Show the six products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
11FortiCNAPP0%43%14criticized challenger
10Aqua Security0%26%19criticized challenger
09CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security0%22%18accepted challenger
06Sysdig0%4%26accepted challenger
08SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security0%0%12accepted challenger
07Sysdig Secure0%0%12accepted challenger
Bars are the share of first choices, 0 to 100Every product with at least 10 labels here. Every product name links to its vendor page.
Head to head
Wiz vs Microsoft Defender for CloudWiz vs Orca SecurityMicrosoft Defender for Cloud vs Orca Security

Recommended versus criticized

Every product with at least 10 labels here, on both axes. The 30% line names a quadrant, not the verdict above: that one needs more than 40%.

Criticized challengerCriticized default
Negative label rate →
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10
11
Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative60%
Key
01Wiz46%
02Microsoft Defender for Cloud30%
03Orca Security16%
04Prisma Cloud2%
05Orca2%
06Sysdig0%
07Sysdig Secure0%
08SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security0%
09CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security0%
10Aqua Security0%
11FortiCNAPP0%

02What they warned about

Six of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Haiku 4.5, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Grok 4.1 Fast, Llama 4 Maverick, GLM 4.7 FlashX and MiniMax M2.5 changed. A high negative share on a product with few labels is a warning. A low share on a product with many labels is salience, not sentiment.
Wiz
18%
10 of 55 labels negative · 9 of 12 models · 1 hard negative
“Orca/Wiz | $7K+/mo (small) | Agentless full CNAPP | Avoid for tight budgets” Grok 4.1 Fast, budget prompt
Prisma Cloud
32%
12 of 38 labels negative · 8 of 12 models
“has suffered from this "franken-suite" reputation ... users still frequently cite a steep learning curve, disjointed reporting, and complex backend workflows” Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt
FortiCNAPP
43%
6 of 14 labels negative · 5 of 12 models · 2 hard negative
“I'd flag **Lacework/FortiCNAPP** and **Aqua** as the two with the most documented dissatisfaction” DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt
Aqua Security
26%
5 of 19 labels negative · 4 of 12 models · 1 hard negative
“I'd flag **Lacework/FortiCNAPP** and **Aqua** as the two with the most documented dissatisfaction” DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt

03What they cite

Citations exist only for the models that return a source list: twelve of the twelve in this edition, and all six flagship models on the expanded tier.

Sites the answers cite

68 of 72 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 12 of 12 models: citations where the model returns them, or the search results it consulted. 6 of those lists are Google grounding redirects that name no site and are left out of the counts. 789 links across 152 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page.

cyberpress.org
40 answers · 53 citations · 10 models
cybersecuritynews.com
36 answers · 39 citations · 10 models
expertinsights.com
vendor site · Expert Insights36 answers · 36 citations · 10 models
gbhackers.com
32 answers · 32 citations · 9 models
accuknox.com
vendor site · AccuKnox19 answers · 23 citations · 9 models
gartner.com
18 answers · 29 citations · 7 models
orca.security
vendor site · Orca18 answers · 26 citations · 8 models
cipherssecurity.com
18 answers · 23 citations · 10 models
wiz.io
vendor site · Wiz18 answers · 21 citations · 8 models
decryptiondigest.com
17 answers · 20 citations · 7 models
cloudsecurityalliance.org
16 answers · 25 citations · 9 models
uptycs.com
vendor site · Uptycs16 answers · 17 citations · 8 models

Pages the answers cite

The ten pages named in the most answers, by full address. A page here is one the models returned with a recommendation, not one the index endorses.

cybersecuritynews.com/best-cnapp-platforms
33 answers · 10 models
gbhackers.com/best-cnapp-compared
32 answers · 9 models
expertinsights.com/application-security/the-top-cloud-native-application-pr…
30 answers · 9 models
cyberpress.org/cnapp-platforms-by-business-size-2?amp=1
26 answers · 9 models
cyberpress.org/cnapp-platforms-by-business-size-2
22 answers · 8 models
gartner.com/reviews/market/cloud-native-application-protection-platforms
17 answers · 7 models
startupstash.com/top-cloud-native-application-protection-platforms
16 answers · 8 models
peerspot.com/categories/cloud-native-application-protection-platforms-cnapp
15 answers · 7 models
cipherssecurity.com/cnapp-buyers-guide-2026
13 answers · 9 models
aikido.dev/blog/top-cloud-native-application-protection-platforms-cnapp
12 answers · 7 models

04How they answered

Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.
ModelDirect“What is the best CNAPP for a mid-market B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which cloud-native application protection platform would you recommend to a mid-sized B2B company?”Comparative“What are the top CNAPPs and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best CNAPP for a company with a limited budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 500 person company evaluating a CNAPP. What should we look at?”Negative“Which CNAPPs should I avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5Orca Security
Two alternativesPrisma Cloud, Sysdig
against: WizOrca Security, WizChanged
Three alternativesAikido Security, FortiCNAPP, Microsoft Defender for Cloud
no first choiceMicrosoft Defender for Cloud
One alternativeAikido Security
no first choicenothing named
GPT-5.4 miniWiz
One alternativeSysdig Secure
against: Aqua SecurityWizHeld
Two alternativesMicrosoft Defender for Cloud, Prisma Cloud
no first choiceMicrosoft Defender for Cloud
One alternativeWiz
against: FortiCNAPP, Prisma Cloudno first choiceagainst: Aqua Security, Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps, Wiz
Gemini 3.5 FlashOrca Security
Four alternativesMicrosoft Defender for Cloud, Sysdig Secure, Upwind, Wiz
against: Palo Alto Networks Cortex CloudOrca Security, WizChanged
Four alternativesCrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security, SentinelOne Singularity, Sysdig, Upwind
Orca Security, Wiz
Three alternativesAqua Security, Sysdig Secure, Upwind
against: CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security, Palo Alto Networks Cortex CloudAikido Security
Four alternativesDeepfence ThreatMapper, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Prowler, Trivy
against: Orca Security, Prisma Cloud, WizOrca Security, Wiz
Two alternativesCrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security, SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security
against: Palo Alto Networks Cortex Cloudagainst: FortiCNAPP, Orca, Prisma Cloud, Wiz
Perplexity SonarWiz
Five alternativesCrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Orca Security, Prisma Cloud, Sysdig
WizHeld
Two alternativesMicrosoft Defender for Cloud, Sysdig
against: Prisma Cloudno first choiceMicrosoft Defender for Cloud, Orca Security
One alternativeAqua Security
against: CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security, Wizno first choicenothing named
Grok 4.1 FastOrca Security
Five alternativesAqua Security, FortiCNAPP, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Sysdig, Wiz
against: Prisma CloudWizChanged
Three alternativesMicrosoft Defender for Cloud, Orca Security, Sysdig Secure
against: Prisma CloudWiz
Five alternativesCrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Orca Security, Prisma Cloud, SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security
Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Four alternativesFalco, Prowler, Sweet Security, Trivy
against: FortiCNAPP, Orca, Sysdig, WizOrca, Wiz
Two alternativesMicrosoft Defender for Cloud, Prisma Cloud
against: Aqua Security, FortiCNAPP
Mistral SmallMicrosoft Defender for Cloud, Wiz
Two alternativesOrca Security, Sysdig Secure
Microsoft Defender for Cloud, WizHeld
Five alternativesData Theorem, Orca Security, Prisma Cloud, Sweet Security, Sysdig
Prisma Cloud, Wiz
One alternativeMicrosoft Defender for Cloud
Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Five alternativesFalco, Prowler, Trivy, Uptycs, Upwind
no first choicenothing named
DeepSeek V4 FlashWiz
Two alternativesMicrosoft Defender for Cloud, Orca Security
against: CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security, Prisma CloudWizHeld
Five alternativesCrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Orca Security, Sweet Security, Sysdig
against: Prisma CloudWiz
Five alternativesCrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Orca Security, Prisma Cloud, Sysdig Secure
Aikido Security, Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Five alternativesFalco, Orca Security, Prowler, Sweet Security, Trivy
no first choiceagainst: Aqua Security, FortiCNAPP, Wiz
Llama 4 Maverickno first choiceWizChanged
Seven alternativesData Theorem, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Orca, Prisma Cloud, Rapid7 InsightCloudSec, Sweet Security, Sysdig
no first choiceMicrosoft Defender for Cloud, Prisma Cloud, Wizno first choicenothing named
Qwen 3.7 FlashWiz
Three alternativesAikido Security, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Orca Security
against: Prisma CloudWizHeld
Three alternativesCrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Orca Security
against: Palo Alto NetworksWiz
Six alternativesAqua Security, CrowdStrike, Microsoft, Orca Security, Palo Alto Networks, Sysdig
Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Two alternativesAikido Security, Orca Security
no first choiceagainst: AWS Security Hub, Aqua Security, CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security, FortiCNAPP, Google Security Command Center, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Prisma Cloud, Wiz
Kimi K2Wiz
Two alternativesMicrosoft Defender for Cloud, Orca Security
WizHeld
Two alternativesMicrosoft Defender for Cloud, Orca Security
Orca Security, Wiz
Five alternativesAqua Security, CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Palo Alto Prisma Cloud / Cortex Cloud, Sysdig Secure
Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Five alternativesAikido Security, Cloudanix, Falco, Prowler, Trivy
Wiz
Three alternativesMicrosoft Defender for Cloud, Orca, Sysdig
against: AWS Security Hub + GuardDuty, Google Security Command Center, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Prisma Cloud, Wiz
GLM 4.7 FlashXMicrosoft Defender for Cloud, Wiz
Five alternativesOrca Security, Prisma Cloud, Rapid7 InsightCloudSec, SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security, Sysdig
WizChanged
One alternativeMicrosoft Defender for Cloud
against: Prisma CloudWiz
Four alternativesMicrosoft Defender for Cloud, Orca Security, Prisma Cloud, Sysdig
Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Seven alternativesCloudDefense.AI QINA, Falco, Fidelis Halo Cloud Secure, MoreSec CNPP, Orca Security, Prowler, Wiz
no first choiceagainst: Wiz
MiniMax M2.5Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Two alternativesOrca Security, Wiz
Orca Security, WizChanged
Three alternativesAikido Security, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Sysdig
Wiz
Four alternativesMicrosoft Defender for Cloud, Orca Security, Prisma Cloud, Sysdig
Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Three alternativesFalco, Prowler, Sweet Security
against: Orca Securityno first choicenothing named
Bold is the first choiceAlternatives are counted; the count opens them.What the answer argued against

05The record

One row per call: the version string exactly as returned, whether the model searched, sources cited, and latency. Full answer text is in the free responses file. Download the record
Seventy-two rows: every prompt, every model, every answer.
PromptModelVersion stringTime (UTC)SearchedSourcesLatency
Direct recommendationClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 12:15yes98 s
Direct recommendationGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 14:14yes410 s
Direct recommendationGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 10:55yes1824 s
Direct recommendationPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 09:49yes205 s
Direct recommendationGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 09:34yes1713 s
Direct recommendationMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 12:45yes87 s
Direct recommendationDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 09:29yes1920 s
Direct recommendationLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 09:34yes52 s
Direct recommendationQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 11:43yes1040 s
Direct recommendationKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 13:56yes1019 s
Direct recommendationGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 11:25yes11105 s
Direct recommendationMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 12:50yes866 s
ParaphraseClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 10:40yes169 s
ParaphraseGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 13:09yes14 s
ParaphraseGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 13:43yes1023 s
ParaphrasePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 13:39yes205 s
ParaphraseGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 12:15yes3216 s
ParaphraseMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 09:53yes55 s
ParaphraseDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 13:27yes1013 s
ParaphraseLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 11:06yes52 s
ParaphraseQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 12:07no049 s
ParaphraseKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 10:08yes1235 s
ParaphraseGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 10:01yes1269 s
ParaphraseMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 14:13yes516 s
ComparativeClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 11:19yes98 s
ComparativeGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 11:14yes57 s
ComparativeGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 12:33yes3033 s
ComparativePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 09:34yes2013 s
ComparativeGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 11:14yes2113 s
ComparativeMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 12:06yes811 s
ComparativeDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 10:36yes2428 s
ComparativeLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 12:05yes52 s
ComparativeQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 10:51yes1586 s
ComparativeKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 10:12yes2039 s
ComparativeGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 11:17yes9111 s
ComparativeMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 12:07yes525 s
Budget constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 10:15yes98 s
Budget constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 10:46yes47 s
Budget constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 12:18yes1421 s
Budget constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 13:26yes205 s
Budget constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 12:33yes3819 s
Budget constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 12:18yes54 s
Budget constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 09:52yes99 s
Budget constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 10:04yes52 s
Budget constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 12:44yes556 s
Budget constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 13:05yes1527 s
Budget constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 12:52yes1267 s
Budget constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 14:04yes516 s
Scale constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 12:38yes1710 s
Scale constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 12:00no08 s
Scale constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 13:53yes721 s
Scale constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 10:23yes208 s
Scale constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 12:44yes2011 s
Scale constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 13:06no09 s
Scale constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 11:52yes1725 s
Scale constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 10:53yes52 s
Scale constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 10:03no036 s
Scale constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 14:05yes1435 s
Scale constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 12:37yes14147 s
Scale constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 10:22yes919 s
Negative framingClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 10:59yes177 s
Negative framingGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 11:33yes45 s
Negative framingGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 10:33yes1932 s
Negative framingPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 14:02yes168 s
Negative framingGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 12:38yes2513 s
Negative framingMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 09:38yes58 s
Negative framingDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 12:40yes2828 s
Negative framingLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 12:56yes53 s
Negative framingQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 12:46yes15107 s
Negative framingKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 10:59yes1461 s
Negative framingGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 10:35yes2488 s
Negative framingMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 10:35yes1327 s

Normalization in this category

Every judgment call made between the raw labels and the numbers above, listed so it is visible and reversible.

Category-scoped readings
Aikido read as Aikido Security
Aqua read as Aqua Security
CrowdStrike Falcon read as CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security
Lacework read as FortiCNAPP
Lacework (now FortiCNAPP, acquired by Fortinet) read as FortiCNAPP
Lacework (now Fortinet) read as FortiCNAPP
Rapid7 read as Rapid7 InsightCloudSec
Rapid7 (InsightCloudSec) read as Rapid7 InsightCloudSec
SentinelOne read as SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security
Tenable read as Tenable Cloud Security
Unresolved, counted raw
Amazon Inspector
Cisco Panoptica
CloudDefense.AI
CloudDefense.AI QINA
Fidelis Security
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps
MoreSec CNPP
OpenCNAPP
Qualys TotalCloud
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.

Also in cloud and infrastructure

The other categories of this function, with the leader in each.
← CSPMContainer security →