# Endpoint protection: 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 a mid-market B2B company. Page: https://it-ai-index.com/operations/endpoint-protection/

**Standing:** Microsoft Defender for Cloud leads with 22% of first choices; verdict contested. 50 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| # | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Microsoft Defender for Cloud | 22% | 0% | 13 |
| 2 | Bitdefender GravityZone | 20% | 0% | 29 |
| 3 | Microsoft Defender for Endpoint | 18% | 5% | 38 |
| 4 | CrowdStrike Falcon | 4% | 21% | 33 |
| 5 | SentinelOne Singularity | 4% | 0% | 20 |
| 6 | Sophos Intercept X | 4% | 0% | 20 |
| 7 | SentinelOne | 4% | 15% | 27 |
| 8 | CrowdStrike | 4% | 17% | 18 |
| 9 | ESET PROTECT | 2% | 0% | 11 |
| 10 | Bitdefender | 0% | 0% | 13 |
| 11 | Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR | 0% | 0% | 14 |
| 12 | Trend Micro | 0% | 20% | 10 |

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

- Claude Haiku 4.5: Sophos Endpoint / Intercept X; alternatives Bitdefender GravityZone, Check Point Harmony Endpoint
- GPT-5.4 mini: CrowdStrike Falcon, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint; alternatives Bitdefender GravityZone, SentinelOne Singularity Endpoint, Sophos Endpoint
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: SentinelOne Singularity; alternatives CrowdStrike Falcon, Huntress, Microsoft Defender for Business / Defender for Endpoint, Sophos Intercept X + Sophos MDR
- Perplexity Sonar: Bitdefender GravityZone; alternatives Cynet, Huntress Managed EDR, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Sophos Endpoint
- Grok 4.1 Fast: Bitdefender GravityZone; alternatives ESET PROTECT, Huntress, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Sophos Intercept X
- Mistral Small: Bitdefender GravityZone; alternatives Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, SentinelOne Singularity Endpoint
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint; alternatives Bitdefender GravityZone, CrowdStrike Falcon, SentinelOne Singularity, Sophos Intercept X
- Llama 4 Maverick: Bitdefender GravityZone
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint; alternatives CrowdStrike Falcon, SentinelOne Singularity, Sophos Intercept X
- Kimi K2: Microsoft Defender for Business / Endpoint; alternatives Bitdefender GravityZone, SentinelOne Singularity
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint; alternatives Bitdefender, CrowdStrike Falcon, Cynet, SentinelOne
- MiniMax M2.5: Bitdefender GravityZone, SentinelOne Singularity Endpoint; alternatives Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Sophos Endpoint

## Sources the answers cite

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

- gbhackers.com: 34 answers, 51 citations
- gartner.com: 27 answers, 40 citations
- deel.com: 24 answers, 25 citations
- cybersecuritynews.com: 19 answers, 23 citations
- huntress.com: 17 answers, 26 citations
- cyberpress.org: 17 answers, 18 citations
- guideflow.com: 15 answers, 15 citations
- microsoft.com: 12 answers, 21 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://gbhackers.com/best-business-antivirus-compared (30 answers)
- https://deel.com/blog/best-endpoint-protection-for-business (24 answers)
- https://gbhackers.com/best-edr-solutions-compared (21 answers)
- https://gartner.com/reviews/market/endpoint-protection-platforms (18 answers)
- https://cyberpress.org/business-antivirus-by-business-size (16 answers)
- https://guideflow.com/blog/best-endpoint-protection-software (13 answers)
- https://huntress.com/internal-it-cybersecurity-guide/best-endpoint-protection-for-small-businesses (13 answers)
- https://cybersecuritynews.com/best-business-antivirus-software (12 answers)
- https://iru.com/endpoint/compare/endpoint-security-software (12 answers)
- https://docs.broadcom.com/doc/kuppingercole-leadership-compass-endpoint-protection-detection-and-response-2024 (10 answers)

## Warned against

- CrowdStrike Falcon: 7 of 33 labels negative. "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: 4 of 4 labels negative. "Kaspersky is the main endpoint protection platform that has been explicitly banned and restricted" (MiniMax M2.5, negative prompt)
- SentinelOne: 4 of 27 labels negative. "Platforms to be cautious about: CrowdStrike Falcon, SentinelOne, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint" (Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt)
- VMware Carbon Black: 3 of 3 labels negative. "VMware\u2019s acquisition by Broadcom and subsequent restructuring has created uncertainty and operational hurdles." (Qwen 3.7 Flash, 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.