# Endpoint protection for enterprise buyers: what AI models recommend, September 2026

IT AI Recommendation Index, September 2026 Edition. Asked as "endpoint protection platform" and as "business antivirus and endpoint security tool", six framings each, to twelve models with search on, on behalf of an enterprise B2B company. Page: https://it-ai-index.com/operations/endpoint-protection/enterprise/

**Standing:** Microsoft Defender for Endpoint leads with 43% of first choices; verdict clear leader. 56 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| # | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Microsoft Defender for Endpoint | 43% | 6% | 53 |
| 2 | CrowdStrike Falcon | 30% | 11% | 46 |
| 3 | SentinelOne Singularity | 9% | 10% | 29 |
| 4 | CrowdStrike | 5% | 27% | 15 |
| 5 | SentinelOne | 2% | 9% | 22 |
| 6 | Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR | 0% | 0% | 27 |
| 7 | Bitdefender GravityZone | 0% | 6% | 16 |
| 8 | Sophos Intercept X | 0% | 8% | 12 |
| 9 | Sophos | 0% | 10% | 10 |
| 10 | ESET PROTECT | 0% | 25% | 12 |

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

- Claude Haiku 4.5: CrowdStrike Falcon, SentinelOne Singularity; alternatives Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR
- GPT-5.4 mini: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint; alternatives Bitdefender, Check Point, CrowdStrike, Fortinet
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: CrowdStrike Falcon, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint; alternatives Palo Alto Networks, SentinelOne Singularity, Trend Micro
- Perplexity Sonar: CrowdStrike Falcon; alternatives Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR, SentinelOne Singularity Endpoint
- Grok 4.1 Fast: CrowdStrike Falcon; alternatives Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, SentinelOne Singularity, Sophos Intercept X
- Mistral Small: CrowdStrike Falcon, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint; alternatives Bitdefender GravityZone, ESET PROTECT, SentinelOne Singularity
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: CrowdStrike, Microsoft; alternatives Palo Alto Networks, SentinelOne, Sophos
- Llama 4 Maverick: no first choice
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: CrowdStrike Falcon; alternatives Microsoft Defender XDR, SentinelOne, Sophos Intercept X
- Kimi K2: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Trend Micro Vision One™ – XDR
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: CrowdStrike Falcon, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint; alternatives Bitdefender GravityZone, Cynet, Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR, SentinelOne Singularity
- MiniMax M2.5: CrowdStrike Falcon, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint; alternatives Sophos, Trend Micro

## Sources the answers cite

65 of 72 answers came back with a source list, from 12 of 12 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- gbhackers.com: 34 answers, 54 citations
- gartner.com: 26 answers, 35 citations
- deel.com: 21 answers, 24 citations
- venn.com: 17 answers, 17 citations
- huntress.com: 16 answers, 25 citations
- cybersecuritynews.com: 16 answers, 22 citations
- expertinsights.com: 15 answers, 17 citations
- microsoft.com: 14 answers, 22 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://gbhackers.com/best-business-antivirus-compared (31 answers)
- https://gartner.com/reviews/market/endpoint-protection-platforms (23 answers)
- https://gbhackers.com/best-edr-solutions-compared (21 answers)
- https://deel.com/blog/best-endpoint-protection-for-business (20 answers)
- https://venn.com/learn/endpoint-security/endpoint-security-solutions (17 answers)
- https://expertinsights.com/endpoint-security/the-top-endpoint-security-solutions-for-business (15 answers)
- https://docs.broadcom.com/doc/kuppingercole-leadership-compass-endpoint-protection-detection-and-response-2024 (12 answers)
- https://iru.com/endpoint/compare/endpoint-security-software (12 answers)
- https://cyberpress.org/business-antivirus-by-business-size (11 answers)
- https://guideflow.com/blog/best-endpoint-protection-software (11 answers)

## Warned against

- CrowdStrike: 4 of 15 labels negative. "The July 2024 faulty content update took out ~8.5 million Windows systems globally... created real single-vendor dependency / systemic risk" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt)
- CrowdStrike Falcon: 5 of 46 labels negative. "offer strong security capabilities but typically come with per-endpoint per-year costs ranging from $18 to $35, which can add significant and less predictable expenses at scale" (Mistral Small, budget prompt)
- Symantec Endpoint Security: 3 of 3 labels negative. "Verdict: Avoid unless you are a premier Broadcom strategic partner with guaranteed white-glove support." (Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt)
- ESET PROTECT: 3 of 12 labels negative. "MITRE detection at 55.9%—middling at best... Not ideal for high-velocity SOCs in large orgs." (Grok 4.1 Fast, negative 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, September 2026 Edition, it-ai-index.com.