AI Indexes
IT AI Index
September 2026 Edition, published September 17, 2026 · The permanent record of that edition, superseded since. The current standing is on the category page →
Index › Cloud and infrastructure › Container security › Small business › September 2026 Edition

Container and Kubernetes security for small business buyers

Asked as “container security platform”, and as “Kubernetes security tool”, on behalf of a small B2B company. 67 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.
Standing · first-choice share
22%
Contested · Kubescape 19%
22Trivy19Kubescape19Snyk Container39others

22% of first choices, contested.

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.

The 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
01Trivy22%7%59accepted challenger
02Snyk Container19%4%49accepted challenger
03Kubescape19%0%36accepted challenger
04Falco12%11%46accepted challenger
05Sysdig Secure6%36%50criticized challenger
06Wiz4%38%16criticized challenger
07Aikido Security3%0%17accepted challenger
08Microsoft Defender for Cloud3%43%14criticized challenger
09SUSE NeuVector1%0%11accepted challenger
10Orca Security1%18%11accepted challenger
11Aqua Security1%45%51criticized challenger
12Prisma Cloud1%61%36criticized challenger
Show the two products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
14Anchore0%8%12accepted challenger
13Calico0%0%10accepted challenger
Bars are the share of first choices, 0 to 100Every product with at least 10 labels here. Every product name links to its product page.
All twenty-eight head-to-head pages: the top eight products, each against each

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
13
14
Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative40%
Key
01Trivy22%
02Snyk Container19%
03Kubescape19%
04Falco12%
05Sysdig Secure6%
06Wiz4%
07Aikido Security3%
08Microsoft Defender for Cloud3%
09SUSE NeuVector1%
10Orca Security1%
11Aqua Security1%
12Prisma Cloud1%
13Calico0%
14Anchore0%

What they warned about

Zero of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Haiku 4.5, GPT-5.4 mini, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Perplexity Sonar, Grok 4.20, Mistral Small, DeepSeek V4 Flash, Llama 4 Maverick, Qwen 3.7 Flash, Kimi K2, 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.
Aqua Security
45%
23 of 51 labels negative · 11 of 12 models · 6 hard negative
“Examples to Avoid/Caution: **Prisma Cloud (Palo Alto Networks)**, **Aqua Security**, and **Sysdig Secure**.” Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt
Sysdig Secure
36%
18 of 50 labels negative · 11 of 12 models · 3 hard negative
“Examples to Avoid/Caution: **Prisma Cloud (Palo Alto Networks)**, **Aqua Security**, and **Sysdig Secure**.” Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt
Prisma Cloud
61%
22 of 36 labels negative · 10 of 12 models · 7 hard negative
“**Why to avoid:** ... enterprise-focused, expensive (custom quote only), complex to configure**, and has a steep learning curve.” DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt
Microsoft Defender for Cloud
43%
6 of 14 labels negative · 6 of 12 models · 2 hard negative
“small-business feedback often points to cost, setup complexity, and usability challenges” GPT-5.4 mini, negative prompt

What they cite

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

Sites the answers cite

74 of 84 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 14 of 12 models: citations where the model returns them, or the search results it consulted. 1007 links across 186 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page.

vendor site · CyberPress54 answers · 89 citations · 12 models
36 answers · 36 citations · 11 models
35 answers · 40 citations · 12 models
vendor site · G233 answers · 55 citations · 12 models
33 answers · 33 citations · 12 models
vendor site · Portainer27 answers · 28 citations · 10 models
26 answers · 26 citations · 10 models
22 answers · 33 citations · 11 models
20 answers · 20 citations · 8 models
vendor site · Checkmarx18 answers · 24 citations · 9 models
vendor site · SentinelOne17 answers · 30 citations · 7 models
17 answers · 21 citations · 9 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.

Search against answers

Each company's standing in the answers beside its site's footprint in Google search, one row a site: the products the models named on it with their shares, and the share they add up to; monthly searches on Google, and DataForSEO's estimate of AI search demand (modeled from search signals, directional, not a count of queries to any assistant), for the most-searched of the company's and its products' names (the name is in each row's hover text); estimated monthly organic visits to the site; and its best position in Google's top ten for “best container security platform”, “container security platform”, “container security platforms”. US estimates from DataForSEO and Google's Ads Transparency Center. A small company's site, or a mid-sized company's site for its flagship, is marked company; a product on a large parent's site (Google, Microsoft) has no site figures. A column with no figures for this category is left out, and an empty cell means none were seen, not none exist. Two measurements side by side: neither is read as the cause of the other.
Company and productsShareOwn site citedName searches, GoogleAI search demand, est.Organic visitsPaid search a month, est.Google ads, last 30 daysBest Google position
Trivy trivy.dev22%2075,4001823,093
Snyk snyk.io
Snyk Container 19%
19%10912,10058161,651 company60
Kubescape kubescape.io19%752601150
Falco falco.org12%10127,1004,242383
Sysdig Secure sysdig.com6%256110250,599$1,06749
Wiz wiz.io4%68840,50016,751102,573$6,8561203
Aikido aikido.dev
Aikido Security 3%
3%3422,400516,442 company$936120
Microsoft Defender microsoft.com
Microsoft Defender for Cloud 3%
3%56918,1003,525145,358,109 company$12,455103
SUSE NeuVector suse.com1%3220059,6151039
Orca Security orca.security1%4011,900103125,483$44127

Google's top ten for the three searches hold 20 sites; 2 of them are among the sites the models cited here (checkmarx.com, sentinelone.com). The first result for “best container security platform” is guptadeepak.com.

How 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.
ShowHide
ModelDirect“What is the best container security platform for a small B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which Kubernetes security tool would you recommend to a small business that sells to other businesses?”Comparative“What are the top container security platforms for a small team and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best container security platform for a small company with a tight budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 30 person company evaluating a container security platform. What should we look at?”Negative“Which container security platforms should a small business avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5Snyk Container
Two alternativesSysdig Secure, Wiz
KubescapeChanged
Three alternativesAqua Security, Calico, Falco
Docker Scout, Trivy
Three alternativesFalco, Orca Security, Wiz
against: Aqua Security, Sysdig Secure
Trivy
Four alternativesAikido Security, Falco, SUSE NeuVector, Snyk Container
no first choiceagainst: Anchore, Check Point CloudGuard, Prisma Cloud, Red Hat Advanced Cluster Security for Kubernetes, Trivy
GPT-5.4 miniSysdig Secure
Two alternativesAikido Security, Microsoft Defender for Cloud
KyvernoChanged
Two alternativesFalco, Trivy
Snyk Container
Three alternativesChainguard, Sysdig Secure, Trivy
Falco, Trivyagainst: Sysdig Secureno first choiceagainst: Calico Cloud, Check Point CloudGuard, CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security, FortiCNAPP, Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Gemini 3.5 FlashSnyk Container
Three alternativesAikido Security, Docker Scout, Trivy
against: Prisma Cloud, Sysdig Secure, Wiz
KubescapeChanged
One alternativeTrivy
against: Prisma Cloud, Wiz
Trivy
Three alternativesARMO Platform, Aikido Security, Snyk Container
against: Falco
Aikido Security, SUSE NeuVector
Five alternativesAmazon GuardDuty, Docker Scout, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Snyk Container, Trivy
against: Prisma Cloud, Sysdig Secure, Wiz
Aikido Security
Four alternativesAWS Inspector, GCP Container Analysis, Jit, Plexicus
against: Harbor, Orca Security, Snyk Container, Wiz
against: Aqua Security, CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security, Prisma Cloud, Sysdig Secure, Wiz
Perplexity SonarMicrosoft Defender for Cloud
Four alternativesFalco, Kubescape, Trivy, Wiz
KubescapeChanged
Three alternativesAqua Security, Falco, Prisma Cloud
Trivy
Five alternativesAikido Security, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Snyk Container, Sysdig Secure, Wiz
Falco, Trivy
Four alternativesAikido Security, Cloudanix, Google Cloud Container Security, Kubescape
no first choiceagainst: Aqua Security, JFrog Xray, Prisma Cloud, Qualys Container Security, Sysdig Secure, Tenable container security offerings
Grok 4.20Snyk Container
Five alternativesAqua Security, Falco, Kubescape, Sysdig Secure, Trivy
KubescapeChanged
Three alternativesAqua Security, Falco, Sysdig Secure
Snyk Container
Five alternativesAqua Security, Falco, Kubescape, Sysdig Secure, Trivy
against: Prisma Cloud
Trivy
Four alternativesFalco, Harbor, Kubescape, SUSE NeuVector
against: Qualys, Snyk Container, Sysdig Secure
Snyk Container
Seven alternativesAqua Security, Datadog Cloud Security Management, Falco, Orca Security, Prisma Cloud, Sysdig Secure, Trivy
against: Aqua Security, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Prisma Cloud, Sysdig Secure
Mistral SmallAqua Security, Sysdig Secure
One alternativeSnyk Container
no first choiceChangedFalco, Trivy
Two alternativesAqua Security, Snyk Container
Trivy
Four alternativesCalico, Falco, Kubescape, SUSE NeuVector
no first choiceagainst: Falco, Trivynothing named
DeepSeek V4 FlashSnyk Container
Four alternativesAnchore, Falco, Grype, Trivy
against: Aqua Security, Prisma Cloud
KubescapeChanged
Four alternativesAqua Security, Falco, Sysdig Secure, Trivy
Snyk Container, Trivy
Four alternativesAnchore, Aqua Security, Grype, Sysdig Secure
Falco, Kubescape, Trivy
Two alternativesHarbor, Snyk Container
Snyk Container, Wiz
Four alternativesFalco, Kubescape, Orca Security, Trivy
against: Aqua Security, Prisma Cloud, Sysdig Secure
against: Anchore Engine, Aqua Security, Clair, CrowdStrike Falcon, Orca Security, Prisma Cloud, Sysdig Secure, Wiz
Llama 4 Maverickno first choiceFalco, KubescapeChanged
Two alternativesAnchore, Aqua Security
no first choiceTrivy
Five alternativesAnchore’s Grype/Syft, Calico, Falco, Harbor, Kubescape
no first choicenothing named
Qwen 3.7 FlashSnyk Container
Two alternativesDocker Scout, Trivy
against: Aqua Security, Prisma Cloud
Falco, KubescapeChanged
Two alternativesAqua Security, Sysdig Secure
Snyk Container
Three alternativesAnchore Engine, Sysdig Secure, Warden.io
Falco, Trivy
Two alternativesKubescape, Snyk Container
against: Aqua Security, Prisma Cloud
Grype, Prisma Cloud, Snyk Container, Sysdig Secure, Wizagainst: Aqua Security, Falco, Trend Micro (Trend) Container Securityagainst: AWS Security Hub, Aqua Security, Clair, Falco, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Open Policy Agent, Prisma Cloud, Sysdig Secure, Trivy
Kimi K2Snyk Container
One alternativeTrivy
against: Aqua Security, Prisma Cloud
KubescapeChanged
Two alternativesFalco, Trivy
against: Aqua Security, Prisma Cloud
Snyk Container, Trivy
Four alternativesAnchore, Chainguard, Docker Scout, Sysdig Secure
Trivy
Three alternativesDocker Bench, Falco, Snyk Container
Lacework, Orca Security, Snyk Container, Wizagainst: Aqua Security, Falco, Grype, Prisma Cloud, Sysdig Secure, Trivyagainst: Alert Logic, Aqua Security, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Prisma Cloud, Qualys Container Security, Red Hat Advanced Cluster Security for Kubernetes, Sysdig Secure
GLM 4.7 FlashXSnyk Container
Two alternativesSysdig Secure, Trivy
KubescapeChanged
Two alternativesFalco, Trivy
against: Aqua Security, Sysdig Secure
Trivy
Two alternativesChainguard, Snyk Container
against: Aqua Security, Sysdig Secure
Trivy
Five alternativesCosign, Falco, Kubescape, SUSE NeuVector, Snyk Container
Sysdig Secure
Four alternativesAikido Security, Chainguard, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Orca Security
nothing named
MiniMax M2.5Snyk Container
Three alternativesAqua Security, Qualys Container Security, Trivy
FalcoChanged
Six alternativesAqua Security, Kubescape, Kyverno, Prisma Cloud, Sysdig Secure, kube‑bench
Snyk Container
Three alternativesRed Hat Advanced Cluster Security for Kubernetes, Sysdig Secure, Trivy
against: Aqua Security
Trivy
Four alternativesFalco, Harbor, Kubescape, SUSE NeuVector
no first choiceagainst: Aqua Security, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Portainer, Prisma Cloud
Bold is the first choiceAlternatives are counted; the count opens them.What the answer argued against

The 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-4-5-202510012026-10-01 11:13yes98 s
Direct recommendationGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-10-01 13:03yes25 s
Direct recommendationGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-10-01 11:37yes2023 s
Direct recommendationPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-10-01 13:49yes224 s
Direct recommendationGrok 4.20spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-10-01 07:54yes218 s
Direct recommendationMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-10-01 11:52yes126 s
Direct recommendationDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-10-01 07:56yes2233 s
Direct recommendationLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-10-01 10:48yes85 s
Direct recommendationQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-10-01 11:02no026 s
Direct recommendationKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-10-01 12:24yes1918 s
Direct recommendationGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-10-01 12:57yes2448 s
Direct recommendationMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-10-01 08:27yes1434 s
ParaphraseClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-10-01 07:27yes97 s
ParaphraseGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-10-01 10:30yes23 s
ParaphraseGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-10-01 12:53yes1121 s
ParaphrasePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-10-01 07:47yes213 s
ParaphraseGrok 4.20spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-10-01 11:40yes197 s
ParaphraseMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-10-01 12:44no01 s
ParaphraseDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-10-01 13:18yes2030 s
ParaphraseLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-10-01 08:00yes52 s
ParaphraseQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-10-01 07:40yes543 s
ParaphraseKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-10-01 10:23yes1929 s
ParaphraseGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-10-01 13:53yes22110 s
ParaphraseMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-10-01 10:52no033 s
ComparativeClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-10-01 07:47yes99 s
ComparativeGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-10-01 08:49yes78 s
ComparativeGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-10-01 13:08yes1829 s
ComparativePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-10-01 11:46yes235 s
ComparativeGrok 4.20spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-10-01 11:44yes2311 s
ComparativeMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-10-01 08:34yes78 s
ComparativeDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-10-01 11:05yes2548 s
ComparativeLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-10-01 09:02yes54 s
ComparativeQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-10-01 12:58no039 s
ComparativeKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-10-01 11:05yes1933 s
ComparativeGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-10-01 11:24yes2249 s
ComparativeMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-10-01 11:40yes2541 s
Budget constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-10-01 08:11yes96 s
Budget constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-10-01 09:44yes35 s
Budget constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-10-01 10:09yes1223 s
Budget constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-10-01 10:06yes223 s
Budget constrainedGrok 4.20spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-10-01 13:38yes149 s
Budget constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-10-01 11:21yes53 s
Budget constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-10-01 08:15yes1826 s
Budget constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-10-01 10:55yes51 s
Budget constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-10-01 11:33yes1027 s
Budget constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-10-01 11:06yes1924 s
Budget constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-10-01 10:47yes1351 s
Budget constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-10-01 13:43yes1429 s
Scale constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-10-01 11:50no07 s
Scale constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-10-01 12:17no06 s
Scale constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-10-01 08:43yes1528 s
Scale constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-10-01 12:08yes185 s
Scale constrainedGrok 4.20spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-10-01 09:34yes187 s
Scale constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-10-01 09:06no07 s
Scale constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-10-01 09:43yes2149 s
Scale constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-10-01 08:07yes52 s
Scale constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-10-01 13:25no026 s
Scale constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-10-01 10:11no026 s
Scale constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-10-01 09:13yes1623 s
Scale constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-10-01 12:47yes515 s
Negative framingClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-10-01 10:14yes168 s
Negative framingGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-10-01 13:43yes56 s
Negative framingGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-10-01 09:07yes1727 s
Negative framingPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-10-01 11:55yes244 s
Negative framingGrok 4.20spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-10-01 09:26yes1828 s
Negative framingMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-10-01 10:23yes52 s
Negative framingDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-10-01 11:09yes2442 s
Negative framingLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-10-01 12:29yes53 s
Negative framingQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-10-01 13:38no032 s
Negative framingKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-10-01 12:48yes2126 s
Negative framingGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-10-01 09:35yes1749 s
Negative framingMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-10-01 11:46yes2231 s

Normalization in this category

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

ShowHide
Category-scoped readings
Aikido read as Aikido Security
Aqua read as Aqua Security
Aqua Platform read as Aqua Security
Datadog read as Datadog Cloud Security Management
Microsoft Defender read as Microsoft Defender for Containers
Orca read as Orca Security
Rapid7 read as Rapid7 InsightVM
Red Hat Advanced Cluster Security read as Red Hat Advanced Cluster Security for Kubernetes
Red Hat Advanced Cluster Security (RHACS) read as Red Hat Advanced Cluster Security for Kubernetes
SentinelOne read as SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security
Snyk read as Snyk Container
Snyk (Container Security) read as Snyk Container
Snyk (Free Tier) read as Snyk Container
Snyk Team read as Snyk Container
Sysdig read as Sysdig Secure
Trend Micro read as Trend Micro (Trend) Container Security
Unresolved, counted raw
Amazon GuardDuty for ECS/EKS
Calico Cloud
Datadog Cloud Security Platform
Docker Bench
GCP Container Analysis
GitLab's built-in scanning
Google Artifact Analysis
Quay's Clair
Rapid7 InsightVM's Container Security feature
Tenable Legacy Container Security
Tenable container security offerings
Warden.io
kube‑bench
kube‑hunter
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.
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