IT AI Index
September 2026 Edition · The permanent record of this edition. The unqualified address always carries the latest edition.
Index IT operations and endpoint September 2026 Edition

Endpoint protection

Asked as “endpoint protection platform”, and as “business antivirus and endpoint security tool”, on behalf of a mid-market B2B company. 50 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.
Standing
Contested
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.

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
01Microsoft Defender for Cloud22%0%13accepted challenger
02Bitdefender GravityZone20%0%29accepted challenger
03Microsoft Defender for Endpoint18%5%38accepted challenger
04CrowdStrike Falcon4%21%33accepted challenger
05SentinelOne Singularity4%0%20accepted challenger
06Sophos Intercept X4%0%20accepted challenger
07SentinelOne4%15%27accepted challenger
08CrowdStrike4%17%18accepted challenger
09ESET PROTECT2%0%11accepted challenger
Show the three products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
12Trend Micro0%20%10accepted challenger
11Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR0%0%14accepted challenger
10Bitdefender0%0%13accepted 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.

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% negative40%
Key
01Microsoft Defender for Cloud22%
02Bitdefender GravityZone20%
03Microsoft Defender for Endpoint18%
04CrowdStrike Falcon4%
05SentinelOne Singularity4%
06Sophos Intercept X4%
07SentinelOne4%
08CrowdStrike4%
09ESET PROTECT2%
10Bitdefender0%
11Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR0%
12Trend Micro0%

02What they warned about

Two of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Haiku 4.5, GPT-5.4 mini, Gemini 3.5 Flash, 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.
CrowdStrike Falcon
21%
7 of 33 labels negative · 6 of 12 models
“You do *not* need to avoid these industry leaders—they are among the most effective tools on the market. However, you must be cautious about **how you deploy and configure them**” Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt
Kaspersky
100%
4 of 4 labels negative · 4 of 12 models · 2 hard negative
“Kaspersky is the main endpoint protection platform that has been explicitly banned and restricted” MiniMax M2.5, negative prompt
SentinelOne
15%
4 of 27 labels negative · 3 of 12 models
“Platforms to be cautious about:** **CrowdStrike Falcon**, **SentinelOne**, **Microsoft Defender for Endpoint**” Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt
VMware Carbon Black
100%
3 of 3 labels negative · 3 of 12 models
“VMware\u2019s acquisition by Broadcom and subsequent restructuring has created uncertainty and operational hurdles.” Qwen 3.7 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

64 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. 5 of those lists are Google grounding redirects that name no site and are left out of the counts. 808 links across 231 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page.

34 answers · 51 citations · 9 models
27 answers · 40 citations · 11 models
24 answers · 25 citations · 9 models
19 answers · 23 citations · 10 models
vendor site · Huntress17 answers · 26 citations · 9 models
17 answers · 18 citations · 10 models
vendor site · Guideflow15 answers · 15 citations · 9 models
vendor site · Microsoft12 answers · 21 citations · 6 models
vendor site · Iru12 answers · 12 citations · 8 models
11 answers · 22 citations · 8 models
10 answers · 21 citations · 7 models
10 answers · 12 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.

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 endpoint protection platform for a mid-market B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which business antivirus and endpoint security tool would you recommend to a mid-sized B2B company?”Comparative“What are the top endpoint protection platforms and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best endpoint protection platform for a company with a limited budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 500 person company evaluating an endpoint protection platform. What should we look at?”Negative“Which endpoint protection platforms should I avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5Sophos Endpoint / Intercept X
Two alternativesBitdefender GravityZone, Check Point Harmony Endpoint
Sophos CentralChanged
Three alternativesBitdefender GravityZone, CrowdStrike Falcon, Huntress Managed EDR
no first choiceMicrosoft Defender for Cloud
Two alternativesAtera, ESET PROTECT
no first choicenothing named
GPT-5.4 miniCrowdStrike Falcon, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
Three alternativesBitdefender GravityZone, SentinelOne Singularity Endpoint, Sophos Endpoint
Microsoft Defender for CloudChanged
One alternativeCrowdStrike Falcon
no first choice
Seven alternativesBitdefender, CrowdStrike Falcon, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Palo Alto Networks, SentinelOne Singularity Endpoint, Sophos, TrendAI
Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Three alternativesCrowdStrike, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Plan 1/2, SentinelOne
no first choicenothing named
Gemini 3.5 FlashSentinelOne Singularity
Four alternativesCrowdStrike Falcon, Huntress, Microsoft Defender for Business / Defender for Endpoint, Sophos Intercept X + Sophos MDR
SentinelOne Singularity, Sophos Intercept XChanged
Three alternativesBitdefender GravityZone, CrowdStrike Falcon, Microsoft Defender for Business / Endpoint
CrowdStrike Falcon, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
Three alternativesPalo Alto Networks Cortex XDR, SentinelOne Singularity, Sophos Endpoint
Bitdefender GravityZone, Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Three alternativesESET PROTECT, Huntress Managed EDR, Sophos Intercept X
CrowdStrike Falcon
Four alternativesMicrosoft Defender for Cloud, SentinelOne, Sophos Intercept X, Trend Micro
against: AVG, Avast Business, CrowdStrike Falcon, Kaspersky Lab, McAfee, Microsoft Defender, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Norton, SentinelOne, Symantec Endpoint Security, Trellix, UltraAV, VMware Carbon Black
Perplexity SonarBitdefender GravityZone
Four alternativesCynet, Huntress Managed EDR, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Sophos Endpoint
Bitdefender GravityZoneHeld
Three alternativesMicrosoft Defender for Business / Defender for Endpoint, SentinelOne, Sophos
no first choiceMicrosoft Defender for Cloud
One alternativeBitdefender GravityZone Small Business Security
against: Huntress Managed EDR
no first choiceagainst: Avast Business Security, Carbon Black, Sophos
Grok 4.1 FastBitdefender GravityZone
Four alternativesESET PROTECT, Huntress, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Sophos Intercept X
against: CrowdStrike, Palo Alto, SentinelOne
Bitdefender GravityZoneHeld
Four alternativesCrowdStrike, Microsoft Defender for Business / Endpoint, SentinelOne Singularity, Sophos Intercept X
CrowdStrike Falcon
Four alternativesMicrosoft Defender for Endpoint, Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR, SentinelOne Singularity, Sophos Intercept X
Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Three alternativesBitdefender GravityZone Business Security, ESET PROTECT Entry/Advanced, Huntress Managed EDR
against: CrowdStrike, SentinelOne, Wazuh
Microsoft Defender
Four alternativesCrowdStrike, Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR, SentinelOne, Sophos
against: Cisco Secure Endpoint, CrowdStrike Falcon, ESET, Elastic, G Data, K7/NetSecurity, Kaspersky, ManageEngine, Rapid7, SenseOn, Trellix, VMware, Vendor A/B
Mistral SmallBitdefender GravityZone
Two alternativesMicrosoft Defender for Endpoint, SentinelOne Singularity Endpoint
against: CrowdStrike Falcon
ESET PROTECTChanged
Three alternativesCrowdStrike, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, SentinelOne
CrowdStrike Falcon
Six alternativesBitdefender GravityZone, ESET PROTECT, Fortinet FortiEDR, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, SentinelOne Singularity, Sophos Endpoint
Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Three alternativesBitdefender, ESET, Huntress Managed EDR
no first choicenothing named
DeepSeek V4 FlashMicrosoft Defender for Endpoint
Four alternativesBitdefender GravityZone, CrowdStrike Falcon, SentinelOne Singularity, Sophos Intercept X
Bitdefender GravityZoneChanged
Four alternativesESET PROTECT, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, SentinelOne Singularity, Sophos Intercept X
against: CrowdStrike Falcon
CrowdStrike Falcon, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, SentinelOne Singularity
Four alternativesBitdefender, Cynet, ESET PROTECT, Sophos Intercept X
Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Three alternativesBitdefender GravityZone, ESET PROTECT Entry, Huntress Managed EDR
CrowdStrike, SentinelOne
Two alternativesMicrosoft Defender for Endpoint, Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR
against: CrowdStrike Falcon, Kaspersky, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
Llama 4 MaverickBitdefender GravityZoneSentinelOneChanged
Two alternativesESET PROTECT, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
no first choiceMicrosoft Defender for Endpoint
Two alternativesBitdefender, ESET
no first choicenothing named
Qwen 3.7 FlashMicrosoft Defender for Endpoint
Three alternativesCrowdStrike Falcon, SentinelOne Singularity, Sophos Intercept X
Microsoft Defender for Business / EndpointChanged
Three alternativesBitdefender GravityZone, CrowdStrike Falcon, SentinelOne
CrowdStrike Falcon
Five alternativesBitdefender GravityZone, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR, SentinelOne Singularity, Sophos Intercept X
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
Three alternativesBitdefender GravityZone, ESET Endpoint Security, Sophos Intercept X
against: Avast Home, CrowdStrike, Norton Home, SentinelOne
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
Three alternativesCarbon Black, CrowdStrike, SentinelOne
against: BlackBerry, K7, Kaspersky, Trend Micro, VMware Carbon Black, Xcitium
Kimi K2Microsoft Defender for Business / Endpoint
Two alternativesBitdefender GravityZone, SentinelOne Singularity
against: CrowdStrike Falcon
ESET PROTECT Advanced/CompleteChanged
Three alternativesBitdefender GravityZone, CrowdStrike Falcon, Microsoft Defender for Cloud
CrowdStrike Falcon, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
Three alternativesBitdefender GravityZone, SentinelOne Singularity, Sophos Intercept X
Bitdefender GravityZone Business Security, Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Two alternativesCrowdStrike Falcon Go, ESET Business Solutions
CrowdStrike
Four alternativesMicrosoft Defender for Endpoint, Palo Alto Networks, SentinelOne, Trend Vision One
against: Datto EDR, Kaspersky Endpoint Security, McAfee Endpoint Security / Trellix, VMware Carbon Black
GLM 4.7 FlashXMicrosoft Defender for Endpoint
Five alternativesBitdefender, CrowdStrike Falcon, Cynet, SentinelOne, Sophos Intercept X
against: Malwarebytes Endpoint Protection / EDR
Bitdefender GravityZone, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Sophos EndpointChanged
Two alternativesESET Endpoint Security, SentinelOne Singularity
against: CrowdStrike Falcon
CrowdStrike Falcon
Nine alternativesBitdefender GravityZone, Fortinet FortiEDR, Kaspersky Endpoint Security, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR, SentinelOne Singularity, Sophos Intercept X, Symantec Endpoint Security Complete, Trellix (McAfee) Endpoint Security
Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Four alternativesBitdefender GravityZone, ESET Endpoint Security, Huntress Managed EDR, Webroot SecureAnywhere Business
no first choiceagainst: Avast / AVG, Fortect, McAfee, Microsoft Defender, PC Protect, Scanguard, Sentinel One, Sophos, Symantec, TotalAV, Trend Micro
MiniMax M2.5Bitdefender GravityZone, SentinelOne Singularity Endpoint
Two alternativesMicrosoft Defender for Endpoint, Sophos Endpoint
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Sophos Intercept XChanged
One alternativeCrowdStrike Falcon
CrowdStrike Falcon
Four alternativesBitdefender, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, SentinelOne Singularity, Sophos Intercept X
Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Three alternativesBitdefender, ESET, Webroot
no first choiceagainst: Kaspersky
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 10:55yes97 s
Direct recommendationGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 09:56yes212 s
Direct recommendationGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 09:26yes1624 s
Direct recommendationPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 10:52yes206 s
Direct recommendationGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 11:41yes3715 s
Direct recommendationMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 12:29yes138 s
Direct recommendationDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 11:54yes1619 s
Direct recommendationLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 10:06yes53 s
Direct recommendationQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 13:54no036 s
Direct recommendationKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 13:07yes1021 s
Direct recommendationGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 13:36yes1348 s
Direct recommendationMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 11:03yes513 s
ParaphraseClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 13:44yes98 s
ParaphraseGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 10:43yes35 s
ParaphraseGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 10:09yes622 s
ParaphrasePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 11:35yes206 s
ParaphraseGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 10:24yes3414 s
ParaphraseMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 11:12yes56 s
ParaphraseDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 14:07yes1721 s
ParaphraseLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 12:00yes53 s
ParaphraseQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 10:00yes536 s
ParaphraseKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 11:02yes1532 s
ParaphraseGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 11:42yes1381 s
ParaphraseMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 12:52yes1031 s
ComparativeClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 13:10yes1814 s
ComparativeGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 12:41yes510 s
ComparativeGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 12:14yes1624 s
ComparativePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 12:05yes208 s
ComparativeGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 13:07yes3016 s
ComparativeMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 09:24yes59 s
ComparativeDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 10:01yes1920 s
ComparativeLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 12:27yes52 s
ComparativeQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 10:49yes1036 s
ComparativeKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 12:17yes1051 s
ComparativeGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 13:02yes2447 s
ComparativeMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 12:54yes519 s
Budget constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 11:10yes97 s
Budget constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 10:17yes24 s
Budget constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 11:29yes821 s
Budget constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 11:06yes205 s
Budget constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 11:02yes3920 s
Budget constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 11:47yes53 s
Budget constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 13:02yes614 s
Budget constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 14:13yes52 s
Budget constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 10:35no043 s
Budget constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 11:24yes921 s
Budget constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 13:55yes2040 s
Budget constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 11:25yes524 s
Scale constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 11:15no07 s
Scale constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 10:31no07 s
Scale constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 11:10no014 s
Scale constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 12:06yes1710 s
Scale constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 12:26yes2011 s
Scale constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 09:35no08 s
Scale constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 12:57yes917 s
Scale constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 11:12yes54 s
Scale constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 12:58no038 s
Scale constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 14:14yes2343 s
Scale constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 11:49yes23124 s
Scale constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 09:52yes517 s
Negative framingClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 09:24no04 s
Negative framingGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 12:15yes47 s
Negative framingGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 13:59yes1627 s
Negative framingPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 13:14yes208 s
Negative framingGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 11:55yes2417 s
Negative framingMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 11:37yes55 s
Negative framingDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 13:04yes2524 s
Negative framingLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 14:14yes54 s
Negative framingQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 12:16yes25111 s
Negative framingKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 13:23yes2535 s
Negative framingGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 13:26yes28145 s
Negative framingMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 10:46yes829 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
None. Every name in this category resolved on its own.
Unresolved, counted raw
AVG
Avast Home
BlackBerry Cylance
ESET Business Solutions
ESET PROTECT Advanced/Complete
Fortect
G Data
K7
K7/NetSecurity
Malwarebytes Endpoint Protection / EDR
McAfee Endpoint Security / Trellix
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Plan 1/2
Norton Home
PC Protect
Scanguard
Sentinel One
Symantec/McAfee legacy products
TotalAV
UltraAV
Vendor A/B (AV-Comparatives EPR 2024 anonymized)
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.
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