# Identity threat detection and response for enterprise buyers: what AI models recommend, October 2026

IT AI Recommendation Index, October 2026 Edition. Asked as "ITDR solution" and as "identity threat detection tool", six framings each, to fourteen models with search on, on behalf of an enterprise B2B company. Added to the October 2026 Edition on October 4, 2026; its answers are read by the distilled judge (ai-indexes-judge-qwen3-14b-run3), not the claude-opus-5 judge of the earlier categories. Page: https://it-ai-index.com/identity/identity-threat-detection-and-response/enterprise/

**Standing:** Microsoft Defender for Identity leads with 38% of first choices; verdict contested. 53 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| # | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Microsoft Defender for Identity | 38% | 12% | 41 |
| 2 | CrowdStrike Falcon Identity Protection | 23% | 5% | 37 |
| 3 | Silverfort ITDR | 6% | 16% | 32 |
| 4 | CrowdStrike | 4% | 40% | 15 |
| 5 | Okta Identity Threat Protection | 0% | 5% | 22 |
| 6 | Semperis Directory Services Protector | 0% | 12% | 24 |
| 7 | Huntress Managed ITDR | 0% | 6% | 17 |
| 8 | CyberArk Identity Security Platform | 0% | 0% | 12 |
| 9 | SentinelOne Singularity Identity | 0% | 19% | 21 |

## Each model's first choice on the direct prompt

- Claude Haiku 4.5: CrowdStrike Falcon Identity Protection; alternatives Microsoft Defender for Identity, SentinelOne Singularity Identity, Silverfort ITDR
- GPT-5.4 mini: Microsoft Defender XDR, Microsoft Defender for Identity; alternatives CrowdStrike Falcon Identity Protection, Semperis Directory Services Protector
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: CrowdStrike Falcon Identity Protection; alternatives Microsoft Defender for Identity / Microsoft Entra ID Protection, Okta Identity Threat Protection, Semperis Directory Services Protector, Silverfort ITDR
- Perplexity Sonar: Microsoft Defender for Identity / Microsoft Entra ID Protection; alternatives CrowdStrike, Semperis Directory Services Protector, Silverfort ITDR
- Grok 4.1 Fast: Microsoft Defender for Identity / Entra ID Protection; alternatives CrowdStrike Falcon Identity Protection, Okta Identity Threat Protection
- Mistral Small: BeyondTrust, Microsoft Security; alternatives CrowdStrike, SentinelOne Singularity Identity
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: CrowdStrike Falcon Identity Protection, Microsoft Defender for Identity; alternatives CyberArk Identity Security Platform, Semperis Directory Services Protector, Silverfort ITDR
- Llama 4 Maverick: no first choice
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Microsoft Defender for Identity, Microsoft Entra ID; alternatives CyberArk Identity Security Platform, Grip Security, Okta Identity Threat Protection, Ping Identity
- Kimi K2: CrowdStrike Falcon Identity Protection; alternatives CyberArk Identity Security Platform, Microsoft Defender for Identity + Entra ID, Saviynt
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: CrowdStrike Falcon Identity Protection, Microsoft Defender for Identity; alternatives Delinea, Semperis Directory Services Protector, SentinelOne Singularity Identity
- MiniMax M2.5: CrowdStrike Identity Module, Microsoft Defender for Identity
- GPT-6 Luna: Microsoft Defender for Identity; alternatives CrowdStrike Falcon Identity Protection, Okta Identity Threat Protection, Semperis Directory Services Protector
- Muse Glimmer 30B: CrowdStrike, Microsoft Entra ID; alternatives BeyondTrust, CyberArk Identity Security Platform, Delinea

## Sources the answers cite

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

- huntress.com: 50 answers, 68 citations
- expertinsights.com: 40 answers, 40 citations
- cybersecuritynews.com: 36 answers, 49 citations
- cynet.com: 36 answers, 36 citations
- gartner.com: 33 answers, 39 citations
- startwithidentity.com: 29 answers, 37 citations
- crowdstrike.com: 26 answers, 45 citations
- microsoft.com: 24 answers, 41 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://huntress.com/itdr-guide/best-itdr-vendors (45 answers)
- https://expertinsights.com/identity-and-access-management/the-top-identity-threat-detection-and-response-itdr-solutions (40 answers)
- https://cynet.com/security-foundations/identity-security/itdr-vendors (35 answers)
- https://gartner.com/reviews/market/identity-threat-detection-and-response-itdr (30 answers)
- https://cybersecuritynews.com/best-identity-threat-detection-and-response-solutions (27 answers)
- https://download.manageengine.com/active-directory-360/analyst-reports/kuppingercole-itdr-leadership-compass-2025.pdf (20 answers)
- https://breachsense.com/blog/itdr-tools (19 answers)
- https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/636a32d80b4765f57507800f/665d9d546589fc2714c467a7_80828%20-LeadershipCompassIdentityThreatDetectionandResponse.pdf (18 answers)
- https://daylight.ai/blog/best-itdr-tools (18 answers)
- https://gbhackers.com/itdr-solutions-compared-features-pricing (18 answers)

## Warned against

- CrowdStrike: 6 of 15 labels negative. "highly rated for technical capability but are poor choices for your specific "predictable cost" requirement" (Qwen 3.7 Flash, budget prompt)
- Silverfort ITDR: 5 of 32 labels negative. "highly rated for technical capability but are poor choices for your specific "predictable cost" requirement" (Qwen 3.7 Flash, budget prompt)
- Microsoft Defender for Identity: 5 of 41 labels negative. "Some ITDR tools are tightly integrated with a single vendor's ecosystem (e.g., Microsoft Defender for Identity for Microsoft shops... they may lack the breadth required for large enterprises" (Mistral Small, negative prompt)
- SentinelOne Singularity Identity: 4 of 21 labels negative. "licensing can vary by module and identity count, making it less predictable than Silverfort or Microsoft at scale" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, budget prompt)

## Record

- Method: https://it-ai-index.com/methodology/
- Raw judge labels and full responses: https://it-ai-index.com/data/
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as IT AI Recommendation Index, October 2026 Edition, it-ai-index.com.