IT AI Index
September 2026 Edition · The permanent record of this edition. The unqualified address always carries the latest edition.
Index › Cloud and infrastructure › CSPM › Small business › September 2026 Edition

Cloud security posture management for small business buyers

Asked as “cloud security posture management platform”, and as “CSPM tool”, on behalf of a small B2B company. 52 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.
Standing
Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Contested
31% of first choices, contested.
ShowinginAll 67 categories in the September 2026 Edition →

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 Cloud31%ContestedThis pageMid-marketWiz43%Clear leaderStanding →EnterpriseWiz58%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 small B2B company. Ordered by share.
ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrant
01Microsoft Defender for Cloud31%10%60endorsed leader
02Prowler27%0%56accepted challenger
03AWS Security Hub12%8%25accepted challenger
04Wiz10%52%56criticized challenger
05Orca Security6%33%33criticized challenger
06Aikido Security4%0%12accepted challenger
Show the six products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
11Lacework FortiCNAPP0%77%13criticized challenger
10Orca0%75%12criticized challenger
12Prisma Cloud0%68%38criticized challenger
09Snyk0%30%10criticized challenger
08Google Security Command Center0%18%11accepted challenger
07Datadog Cloud Security Management0%5%20accepted 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 ProwlerWiz vs Microsoft Defender for CloudProwler vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud

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
12
Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative50%
Key
01Microsoft Defender for Cloud31%
02Prowler27%
03AWS Security Hub12%
04Wiz10%
05Orca Security6%
06Aikido Security4%
07Datadog Cloud Security Management0%
08Google Security Command Center0%
09Snyk0%
10Orca0%
11Lacework FortiCNAPP0%
12Prisma Cloud0%

02What they warned about

Three of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Haiku 4.5, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Perplexity Sonar, Mistral Small, DeepSeek V4 Flash, Llama 4 Maverick, Qwen 3.7 Flash, Kimi K2 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.
Prisma Cloud
68%
26 of 38 labels negative · 11 of 12 models · 11 hard negative
“geared towards regulated enterprises and has a high pricing tier ... which may be too expensive for small businesses” Llama 4 Maverick, negative prompt
Wiz
52%
29 of 56 labels negative · 10 of 12 models · 7 hard negative
“**Wiz**: Excellent for multi-cloud visibility ... pricing medians around $100K+/year ... often unrealistic for sub-50 person teams” Grok 4.1 Fast, negative prompt
Lacework FortiCNAPP
77%
10 of 13 labels negative · 7 of 12 models · 6 hard negative
“Reddit security professionals have explicitly advised "stay away" during this transition.” DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt
Orca
75%
9 of 12 labels negative · 7 of 12 models · 2 hard negative
“Wiz and Orca** are quote-only, typically enterprise-priced” DeepSeek V4 Flash, budget 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

67 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. 839 links across 162 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page.

cyberpress.org
49 answers · 72 citations · 10 models
cloudaware.com
vendor site · Cloudaware40 answers · 45 citations · 10 models
orca.security
vendor site · Orca37 answers · 40 citations · 10 models
complyjet.com
vendor site · ComplyJet35 answers · 35 citations · 10 models
cybersecuritynews.com
33 answers · 33 citations · 10 models
gbhackers.com
32 answers · 32 citations · 9 models
busistack.com
28 answers · 28 citations · 8 models
techrepublic.com
20 answers · 20 citations · 6 models
g2.com
15 answers · 22 citations · 8 models
aikido.dev
vendor site · Aikido15 answers · 16 citations · 7 models
expertinsights.com
vendor site · Expert Insights15 answers · 16 citations · 6 models
ituonline.com
14 answers · 28 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.

cloudaware.com/blog/top-cloud-security-posture-management-vendors
39 answers · 10 models
orca.security/resources/blog/best-cspm-tools
36 answers · 10 models
complyjet.com/blog/best-cspm-tools
35 answers · 10 models
gbhackers.com/best-cspm-compared
32 answers · 9 models
cybersecuritynews.com/best-cspm-tools
30 answers · 9 models
busistack.com/best-cloud-security-posture-management-tools-2026
28 answers · 8 models
cyberpress.org/cspm-tools-by-business-size-2?amp=1
28 answers · 8 models
cyberpress.org/cspm-tools-by-business-size-2
27 answers · 10 models
techrepublic.com/article/best-cspm-tools
20 answers · 6 models
expertinsights.com/cloud-security/the-top-cloud-security-posture-management…
15 answers · 6 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 cloud security posture management platform for a small B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which CSPM tool would you recommend to a small business that sells to other businesses?”Comparative“What are the top cloud security posture management platforms for a small team and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best cloud security posture management platform for a small company with a tight budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 30 person company evaluating a cloud security posture management platform. What should we look at?”Negative“Which cloud security posture management platforms should a small business avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5Aikido Security
Seven alternativesCloud Custodian, CloudSploit, Cyscale, Powerpipe, Prowler, ScoutSuite, Steampipe
no first choiceChanged
Four alternativesAikido Security, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Prowler, Sovereign Observer
Aikido Security, Orca Security
Two alternativesMicrosoft Defender for Cloud, Snyk
Scrut Automation
Two alternativesAikido Security, Microsoft Defender for Cloud
no first choiceagainst: Prisma Cloud
GPT-5.4 miniAWS Security Hub
Two alternativesMicrosoft Defender for Cloud, Wiz
AWS Security HubHeld
Two alternativesPrisma Cloud, Wiz
AWS Security Hub, Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Three alternativesCheck Point CloudGuard, Prowler, Wiz
against: Prisma CloudMicrosoft Defender for Cloud
One alternativeAWS Security Hub
against: Orca, Prisma Cloud, Wizno first choiceagainst: AWS Security Hub, Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Gemini 3.5 FlashCyscale
Four alternativesDrata, Fencer, Prowler, Vanta
against: Prisma Cloud, WizDrata, VantaChanged
Two alternativesAikido Security, Prowler
Aikido Security
Three alternativesAWS Security Hub, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Prowler
against: Orca Security, WizAWS Security Hub, Prowler
Three alternativesCyscale, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Steampipe
against: Orca, Prisma Cloud, WizOrca Security, Wiz
Five alternativesDatadog Cloud Security Management, Drata, Prowler, Secureframe, Vanta
against: AWS Security Hub, Google Security Command Center, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Orca Security, Prisma Cloud, Wiz
Perplexity SonarMicrosoft Defender for Cloud, Prowler
Two alternativesCloudaware, Wiz
Aikido SecurityChanged
Two alternativesDatadog Cloud Security Management, Orca Security
Wiz
Four alternativesDatadog Cloud Security Management, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Orca Security, Prowler
Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Prowler
Two alternativesAikido Security, Scrut Automation
no first choiceagainst: CrowdStrike, Darktrace, Prisma Cloud, Snyk, Sysdig, Tenable Cloud Security, Wiz
Grok 4.1 FastMicrosoft Defender for Cloud
Two alternativesProwler, Trend Micro Cloud One Conformity
against: Prisma Cloud, WizMicrosoft Defender for CloudHeld
One alternativeProwler
against: Orca Security, WizProwler
Two alternativesDatadog Cloud Security Management, Microsoft Defender for Cloud
against: Orca Security, Prisma Cloud, WizProwler
Two alternativesAWS Security Hub, Microsoft Defender for Cloud
against: Orca, Prisma Cloud, WizMicrosoft Defender for Cloud, Wiz
Four alternativesDatadog Cloud Security Management, Orca Security, Prisma Cloud, Prowler
against: CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security, Lacework FortiCNAPP, Orca Security, Prisma Cloud, Wiz
Mistral SmallMicrosoft Defender for Cloud, Prowler
Two alternativesCloudaware, Snyk
Prowler, WizChanged
One alternativeMicrosoft Defender for Cloud
Prowler
Two alternativesOrca Security, Wiz
against: Lacework FortiCNAPPProwler
Three alternativesAWS Config, AWS Security Hub, Microsoft Defender for Cloud
no first choiceagainst: Palo Alto Networks Cortex Cloud, Snyk
DeepSeek V4 FlashMicrosoft Defender for Cloud, Prowler
One alternativeAikido Security
against: CrowdStrike, Orca, Prisma Cloud, Tenable Cloud Security, WizProwlerChanged
Three alternativesCrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Orca Security
against: Datadog Cloud Security Management, Prisma Cloud, WizOrca Security
Three alternativesMicrosoft Defender for Cloud, Prowler, Wiz
against: Palo Alto Prisma Cloud / Cortex CloudMicrosoft Defender for Cloud, Prowler
Two alternativesDatadog Cloud Security Management, Native Cloud Tools
against: CrowdStrike, Lacework FortiCNAPP, Orca, Prisma Cloud, WizAWS Security Hub
One alternativeMicrosoft Defender for Cloud
against: Lacework FortiCNAPP, Orca, Prisma Cloud, Wizagainst: CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security, Lacework FortiCNAPP, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Orca Security, Prisma Cloud, Wiz
Llama 4 Maverickno first choiceProwlerChanged
One alternativeWiz
no first choiceProwler
Two alternativesCloudaware, Orca
no first choiceagainst: Lacework FortiCNAPP, Prisma Cloud, Wiz
Qwen 3.7 FlashWiz
Four alternativesAWS Security Hub, Datadog Cloud Security Management, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Orca Security
against: Prisma CloudDrataChanged
Four alternativesOrca Security, Prowler, Vanta, Wiz
Orca Security, Wiz
Three alternativesDatadog Cloud Security Management, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Prowler
Sovereign Observer
Four alternativesAWS Security Hub, Aikido Security, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Prowler
against: Prisma Cloud, WizAWS Security Hub, Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Three alternativesAqua Security, Snyk, Wiz
against: Orca, Prisma Cloudagainst: AWS GuardDuty/Security Hub, Checkmarx, Google Security Command Center, Lacework FortiCNAPP, McAfee/McAfee MVISION, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Norton, Rapid7, Snyk, Symantec, Tenable Vulnerability Management
Kimi K2Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Three alternativesDatadog Cloud Security Management, Orca Security, Prowler
against: Lacework FortiCNAPP, Prisma Cloud, WizMicrosoft Defender for Cloud, Orca SecurityChanged
One alternativeProwler
against: WizProwler
Four alternativesCloudaware, Datadog Cloud Security Management, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Native Cloud Tools
against: Orca Security, WizProwler
One alternativeMicrosoft Defender for Cloud
against: Orca, Prisma Cloud, WizAWS Security Hub
Seven alternativesCloudflare CASB, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Orca Security, Prowler, Tenable Cloud Security, Uptycs, Wiz
against: Lacework FortiCNAPP, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Orca Security, Prisma Cloud, Wiz
GLM 4.7 FlashXMicrosoft Defender for Cloud
Two alternativesDatadog Cloud Security Management, Prowler
against: Orca, WizMicrosoft Defender for CloudHeld
Three alternativesDatadog Cloud Security Management, Prowler, Sovereign Observer
against: Orca Security, WizMicrosoft Defender for Cloud
Three alternativesDatadog Cloud Security Management, Orca Security, Prowler
against: WizMicrosoft Defender for Cloud, Prowler
Two alternativesAWS Security Hub, Uptycs
against: CSPM.io, Cloudflare CASB, Cyscaleno first choiceagainst: Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Orca Security, Prisma Cloud, Wiz
MiniMax M2.5Orca Security
Four alternativesAWS Security Hub, Google Security Command Center, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Prowler
against: Check Point CloudGuard, Prisma Cloud, WizWizChanged
Five alternativesCloudanix, Datadog Cloud Security Management, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Prowler, Trend Micro Cloud One
Prowler
Three alternativesMicrosoft Defender for Cloud, Orca Security, Wiz
Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Two alternativesFidelis Halo Cloud Secure, Prowler
no first choiceagainst: Check Point CloudGuard, CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security, Lacework FortiCNAPP, Orca Security, Prisma Cloud, Wiz
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 13:11yes1312 s
Direct recommendationGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 12:54yes37 s
Direct recommendationGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 12:51yes2028 s
Direct recommendationPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 09:35yes206 s
Direct recommendationGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 13:09yes3819 s
Direct recommendationMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 13:50yes55 s
Direct recommendationDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 14:01yes2728 s
Direct recommendationLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 11:55yes54 s
Direct recommendationQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 14:15no033 s
Direct recommendationKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 09:32yes1254 s
Direct recommendationGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 14:00yes23122 s
Direct recommendationMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 11:59yes587 s
ParaphraseClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 14:02yes1613 s
ParaphraseGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 09:31yes36 s
ParaphraseGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 09:39yes1528 s
ParaphrasePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 13:15yes205 s
ParaphraseGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 14:08yes3216 s
ParaphraseMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 11:34yes55 s
ParaphraseDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 13:22yes813 s
ParaphraseLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 11:51yes53 s
ParaphraseQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 12:48yes876 s
ParaphraseKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 10:13yes1524 s
ParaphraseGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 12:17yes1636 s
ParaphraseMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 11:04yes560 s
ComparativeClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 13:01yes1515 s
ComparativeGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 10:03yes99 s
ComparativeGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 11:43yes1630 s
ComparativePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 12:55yes208 s
ComparativeGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 13:56yes2217 s
ComparativeMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 10:10yes56 s
ComparativeDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 12:46yes1629 s
ComparativeLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 12:32yes52 s
ComparativeQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 11:11yes660 s
ComparativeKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 11:23yes8111 s
ComparativeGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 12:47yes2793 s
ComparativeMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 12:37yes819 s
Budget constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 10:22yes98 s
Budget constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 10:36yes36 s
Budget constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 11:07yes1325 s
Budget constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 09:37yes205 s
Budget constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 11:22yes3518 s
Budget constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 10:30yes54 s
Budget constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 12:33yes816 s
Budget constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 11:31yes53 s
Budget constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 11:40yes1491 s
Budget constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 12:21yes2029 s
Budget constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 10:16yes1222 s
Budget constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 12:53yes1039 s
Scale constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 13:50no08 s
Scale constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 11:01no011 s
Scale constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 11:21yes1530 s
Scale constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 09:42yes207 s
Scale constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 10:36yes1914 s
Scale constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 12:05no06 s
Scale constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 10:35yes1425 s
Scale constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 10:31yes58 s
Scale constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 11:52yes1050 s
Scale constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 13:13yes1542 s
Scale constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 09:26yes1383 s
Scale constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 14:04yes522 s
Negative framingClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 11:09yes99 s
Negative framingGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 10:58yes35 s
Negative framingGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 10:42yes1524 s
Negative framingPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 12:11yes206 s
Negative framingGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 13:02yes2725 s
Negative framingMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 10:26yes1210 s
Negative framingDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 09:23yes2725 s
Negative framingLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 10:02yes54 s
Negative framingQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 12:12no044 s
Negative framingKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 13:25yes2841 s
Negative framingGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 10:58yes2488 s
Negative framingMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 10:59yes1773 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
Aikido Cloud read as Aikido Security
Aqua read as Aqua Security
Check Point read as Check Point CloudGuard
CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud read as CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security
Datadog read as Datadog Cloud Security Management
Datadog Cloud Security read as Datadog Cloud Security Management
Datadog Security read as Datadog Cloud Security Management
Lacework read as Lacework FortiCNAPP
Lacework (FortiCNAPP) read as Lacework FortiCNAPP
Lacework / FortiCNAPP read as Lacework FortiCNAPP
Lacework/FortiCNAPP read as Lacework FortiCNAPP
Microsoft Defender read as Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Palo Alto read as Prisma Cloud
Palo Alto Networks (Prisma Cloud) read as Prisma Cloud
SentinelOne read as SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security
Tenable read as Tenable Cloud Security
Unresolved, counted raw
AWS Config
AWS: Security Hub + Config + CloudTrail
Fencer
Fugue
McAfee/McAfee MVISION
Powerpipe
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.
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