# OT and IoT security: what AI models recommend, October 2026

IT AI Recommendation Index, October 2026 Edition. Asked as "OT security platform" and as "industrial and IoT device security tool", six framings each, to fourteen models with search on, on behalf of a mid-market 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/security/ot-and-iot-security/

**Standing:** Microsoft Defender for IoT leads with 21% of first choices; verdict contested. 48 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| # | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Microsoft Defender for IoT | 21% | 21% | 42 |
| 2 | Claroty xDome | 19% | 19% | 59 |
| 3 | Nozomi Networks Guardian | 10% | 13% | 46 |
| 4 | Fortinet OT Security Platform | 8% | 4% | 23 |
| 5 | Armis Centrix | 6% | 13% | 31 |
| 6 | Tenable OT Security | 4% | 15% | 27 |
| 7 | Dragos Platform | 2% | 26% | 46 |
| 8 | Palo Alto Networks | 2% | 6% | 17 |
| 9 | Forescout Vistaro Platform | 0% | 20% | 15 |

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

- Claude Haiku 4.5: Claroty xDome, Nozomi Networks Guardian; alternatives Dragos Platform, Fortinet OT Security Platform, Palo Alto Networks, Tenable OT Security
- GPT-5.4 mini: Claroty xDome; alternatives Armis Centrix, Dragos Platform
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Fortinet OT Security Platform, Microsoft Defender for IoT; alternatives Claroty xDome, Nozomi Networks Guardian
- Perplexity Sonar: Radiflow360; alternatives Claroty xDome, Dragos Platform, Fortinet OT Security Platform, Palo Alto Networks
- Grok 4.1 Fast: Claroty xDome; alternatives Dragos Platform, Fortinet OT Security Platform, Nozomi Networks Guardian, Palo Alto Networks
- Mistral Small: Dragos Platform; alternatives Claroty xDome, Nozomi Networks Guardian
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Claroty xDome; alternatives Microsoft Defender for IoT, Nozomi Networks Guardian, Palo Alto Networks Industrial OT Security
- Llama 4 Maverick: Palo Alto Networks; alternatives Claroty xDome, Forcepoint
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Industrial AI; alternatives Claroty xDome, Nozomi Networks Guardian, Tenable.io OT
- Kimi K2: Armis Centrix, Claroty xDome; alternatives Fortinet OT Security Platform, Microsoft Defender for IoT, Nozomi Networks Guardian
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Fortinet OT Security Platform; alternatives Dragos Platform, Nozomi Networks Guardian
- MiniMax M2.5: Radiflow360; alternatives Armis Centrix, Claroty xDome, Nozomi Networks Guardian, Tenable OT Security
- GPT-6 Luna: Nozomi Networks Vantage; alternatives Claroty xDome, Dragos Platform
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Radiflow360; alternatives Claroty xDome, Nozomi Networks Guardian

## Sources the answers cite

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

- networkintelligence.ai: 38 answers, 38 citations
- netwitness.com: 32 answers, 39 citations
- sourceforge.net: 29 answers, 53 citations
- gartner.com: 27 answers, 38 citations
- g2.com: 27 answers, 36 citations
- opsiocloud.com: 26 answers, 27 citations
- us.fitgap.com: 23 answers, 28 citations
- ciopages.com: 23 answers, 23 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://networkintelligence.ai/blogs/best-ot-security-services (38 answers)
- https://netwitness.com/blog/top-operational-technology-security-providers (29 answers)
- https://opsiocloud.com/blogs/ot-security-vendor-selection-guide (24 answers)
- https://ciopages.com/buyer-guides/ot-ics-security (23 answers)
- https://elisity.com/blog/leading-vendors-securing-ot-industrial-control-systems (20 answers)
- https://startupstash.com/best-ot-ics-security-platforms (18 answers)
- https://sourceforge.net/software/operational-technology-ot-security/for-mid-size-business (17 answers)
- https://comparitech.com/net-admin/ot-security-vendors (16 answers)
- https://gartner.com/reviews/market/iot-security (14 answers)
- https://otcybersecuritysoftware.com/landscape/vendors (13 answers)

## Warned against

- Claroty xDome: 11 of 59 labels negative. "What to avoid on a tight budget: Claroty, Nozomi Networks, and Dragos" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, budget prompt)
- Dragos Platform: 12 of 46 labels negative. "What to Avoid (for Mid-Market) ... Premium pricing (~$100K+/year for single site) and complex deployments." (Kimi K2, direct prompt)
- Microsoft Defender for IoT: 9 of 42 labels negative. "Avoid if budget is tight: Nozomi Networks and Microsoft Defender for IoT" (Perplexity Sonar, budget prompt)
- Nozomi Networks Guardian: 6 of 46 labels negative. "Avoid if budget is tight: Nozomi Networks" (Perplexity Sonar, 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.