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TECH & B2B

Cybersecurity Index 2.0: Microsoft Security Leads

Published June 28, 2026 · Updated November 9, 2026

Microsoft Security: 211/288 (73.3%; 95% interval 67.9–78.0%). CrowdStrike: 171/288 (59.4%; 95% interval 53.6–64.9%).

288

AI answers analyzed across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity

73.3%

of answers named Microsoft Security, the most-named (211 of 288)

41

tracked vendors named at least once (of 42)

100%

of Google searches showed an AI Overview (57 of 57)

Version 2. This version replaces the first version of this study, first published August 15, 2026. It uses measured counts, so the two versions are not comparable. Version 2 asks 24 questions three times each on ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity (288 answers) and adds Google AI Overviews. Every rate comes with its count and a 95% interval.

What the data shows

01

Microsoft Security

Microsoft Security leads this measured set. Microsoft Security: 211/288 (73.3%; 95% interval 67.9–78.0%). CrowdStrike: 171/288 (59.4%; 95% interval 53.6–64.9%).
02

56/288 (19.4%)

CrowdStrike was the first vendor named in 56 of 288 answers, more than any other tracked vendor. Its average first position was 2.6. Microsoft Security was named first in 30 of 288.
03

56/288 (19.4%)

Palo Alto Networks' own domains were cited in 56 of 288 grounded answers, more than any other tracked vendor. SentinelOne followed at 41 of 288. 9 of 42 tracked vendors had 0 of 288, and 1 had no tracked own site.
04

57/57 (100%)

Google AI Overviews appeared on 57 of 57 searches (CI 93.7–100%).
05

38/57 (66.7%)

Microsoft Security was the vendor named most often in AI Overviews, at 38 of 57, followed by CrowdStrike at 31 of 57 (54.4%). In the four-engine set, Microsoft Security was named in 211 of 288 answers (73.3%).
06

133/288 (46.2%)

gartner.com was cited in 133 of 288 grounded four-engine answers, with 153 of 2,453 citations (6.2%). expertinsights.com came second with 75 citations in 70 answers (24.3%).

Appearance rate across 288 four-engine answers. The bar is the 95% confidence interval; overlapping bars cannot be told apart at this sample size.

Which brands AI engines name

Microsoft Security
73.3%
CrowdStrike
59.4%
Palo Alto Networks
56.3%
SentinelOne
31.3%
Cisco
26.7%
Check Point
21.5%
Fortinet
20.5%
Okta
18.8%
Zscaler
17.7%
Sophos
14.9%
Wiz
14.9%
Rapid7
13.9%
CyberArk
13.5%
IBM Security
13.5%
Mandiant
12.8%
#NameNamed inAppearance rate95% interval
1Microsoft Security211/28873.3%67.9–78.0%
2CrowdStrike171/28859.4%53.6–64.9%
3Palo Alto Networks162/28856.3%50.5–61.9%
4SentinelOne90/28831.3%26.2–36.8%
5Cisco77/28826.7%22.0–32.1%
6Check Point62/28821.5%17.2–26.6%
7Fortinet59/28820.5%16.2–25.5%
8Okta54/28818.8%14.7–23.7%
9Zscaler51/28817.7%13.7–22.5%
10Sophos43/28814.9%11.3–19.5%
11Wiz43/28814.9%11.3–19.5%
12Rapid740/28813.9%10.4–18.4%
13CyberArk39/28813.5%10.1–18.0%
14IBM Security39/28813.5%10.1–18.0%
15Mandiant37/28812.8%9.5–17.2%

The full list

Own-domain citation is the share of 288 grounded answers that cited the tracked name's own domains (subdomains included). Citation share is of all 2,453 citations.

#BrandNamed inAppearance rate95% intervalFirst mentionOwn-domain citationCitation share
1Microsoft Security211/28873.3%67.9–78%2.84.9% (14/288)0.6%
2CrowdStrike171/28859.4%53.6–64.9%2.613.2% (38/288)1.9%
3Palo Alto Networks162/28856.3%50.5–61.9%2.719.4% (56/288)2.4%
4SentinelOne90/28831.3%26.2–36.8%4.614.2% (41/288)1.8%
5Cisco77/28826.7%22–32.1%5.11.7% (5/288)0.2%
6Check Point62/28821.5%17.2–26.6%69.7% (28/288)1.1%
7Fortinet59/28820.5%16.2–25.5%4.56.3% (18/288)0.7%
8Okta54/28818.8%14.7–23.7%3.93.8% (11/288)0.4%
9Zscaler51/28817.7%13.7–22.5%4.51.7% (5/288)0.2%
10Sophos43/28814.9%11.3–19.5%4.93.1% (9/288)0.4%
11Wiz43/28814.9%11.3–19.5%3.52.8% (8/288)0.4%
12Rapid740/28813.9%10.4–18.4%3.54.5% (13/288)0.5%
13CyberArk39/28813.5%10.1–18%50% (0/288)0%
14IBM Security39/28813.5%10.1–18%6.10% (0/288)0%
15Mandiant37/28812.8%9.5–17.2%3.60% (0/288)0%
16Cloudflare35/28812.2%8.9–16.4%6.21% (3/288)0.1%
17Trend Micro28/2889.7%6.8–13.7%6.82.1% (6/288)0.2%
18Proofpoint27/2889.4%6.5–13.3%2.71.7% (5/288)0.2%
19SailPoint27/2889.4%6.5–13.3%4.30.7% (2/288)0.1%
20Splunk27/2889.4%6.5–13.3%5.50.7% (2/288)0.1%
21Orca Security26/2889%6.2–12.9%3.53.1% (9/288)0.4%
22Netskope25/2888.7%5.9–12.5%4.21% (3/288)0.1%
23Abnormal Security24/2888.3%5.7–12.1%2.90% (0/288)0%
24Ping Idtracked name24/2888.3%5.7–12.1%31.7% (5/288)0.2%
25Arctic Wolf22/2887.6%5.1–11.3%5.40% (0/288)0%
26Mimecast21/2887.3%4.8–10.9%3.60.7% (2/288)0.1%
27Google Security Operations20/2886.9%4.5–10.5%2.41% (3/288)0.1%
28Tenable19/2886.6%4.3–10.1%3.30.7% (2/288)0.1%

The full list (continued)

None means no own site is tracked for that name.

#BrandNamed inAppearance rate95% intervalFirst mentionOwn-domain citationCitation share
29Huntress18/2886.3%4–9.7%4.96.6% (19/288)1%
30BeyondTrust17/2885.9%3.7–9.2%3.81.4% (4/288)0.2%
31Delinea17/2885.9%3.7–9.2%3.42.1% (6/288)0.3%
32Bitdefender15/2885.2%3.2–8.4%5.51% (3/288)0.1%
33Kroll15/2885.2%3.2–8.4%4.71% (3/288)0.1%
34Sysdig11/2883.8%2.1–6.7%4.71% (3/288)0.1%
35Trellix8/2882.8%1.4–5.4%7.50% (0/288)0%
36Cynet4/2881.4%0.5–3.5%7.58% (23/288)0.9%
37Exabeam4/2881.4%0.5–3.5%4.52.1% (6/288)0.2%
38Upwind4/2881.4%0.5–3.5%5.83.1% (9/288)0.4%
39ThreatLocker3/2881%0.4–3%6.30% (0/288)0%
40Halcyon2/2880.7%0.2–2.5%70% (0/288)0%
41Lacework2/2880.7%0.2–2.5%5NoneNone
42Securonix0/2880%0–1.3%–0% (0/288)0%

The top eight, side by side

#NameAppearance rateAnswers and intervalOther measures
1Microsoft Security73.3%211/288 answers · 95% CI 67.9–78%first-mention position: 2.8; owned-domain citation (14/288): 4.9%; citation share: 0.6%
2CrowdStrike59.4%171/288 answers · 95% CI 53.6–64.9%first-mention position: 2.6; owned-domain citation (38/288): 13.2%; citation share: 1.9%
3Palo Alto Networks56.3%162/288 answers · 95% CI 50.5–61.9%first-mention position: 2.7; owned-domain citation (56/288): 19.4%; citation share: 2.4%
4SentinelOne31.3%90/288 answers · 95% CI 26.2–36.8%first-mention position: 4.6; owned-domain citation (41/288): 14.2%; citation share: 1.8%
5Cisco26.7%77/288 answers · 95% CI 22–32.1%first-mention position: 5.1; owned-domain citation (5/288): 1.7%; citation share: 0.2%
6Check Point21.5%62/288 answers · 95% CI 17.2–26.6%first-mention position: 6; owned-domain citation (28/288): 9.7%; citation share: 1.1%
7Fortinet20.5%59/288 answers · 95% CI 16.2–25.5%first-mention position: 4.5; owned-domain citation (18/288): 6.3%; citation share: 0.7%
8Okta18.8%54/288 answers · 95% CI 14.7–23.7%first-mention position: 3.9; owned-domain citation (11/288): 3.8%; citation share: 0.4%

The four engines named the leading names at similar rates.

ChatGPT

72 asked · 72 returned · 72 grounded

Same questions, different answers

Microsoft Security
72.2%
Palo Alto Networks
59.7%
CrowdStrike
54.2%
SentinelOne
29.2%
Cisco
26.4%
Fortinet
22.2%

Claude

72 asked · 72 returned · 72 grounded

Microsoft Security
72.2%
CrowdStrike
66.7%
Palo Alto Networks
56.9%
SentinelOne
33.3%
Cisco
29.2%
Okta
26.4%

Gemini

72 asked · 72 returned · 72 grounded

Microsoft Security
73.6%
CrowdStrike
65.3%
Palo Alto Networks
58.3%
SentinelOne
34.7%
Check Point
27.8%
Cisco
26.4%

Perplexity

72 asked · 72 returned · 72 grounded

Microsoft Security
75.0%
CrowdStrike
51.4%
Palo Alto Networks
50.0%
SentinelOne
27.8%
Cisco
25.0%
Check Point
19.4%

Google AI Overviews were captured through 57 U.S. desktop searches and scored only where an overview appeared, so five-engine figures use 288 + 57 = 345 answers.

The fifth engine

100%

Trigger rate: 57 of 57 searches

Google AI Overviews appeared on 57 of 57 searches (100%, CI 93.7–100%). The other 0 searches showed no overview. Within the 57 overviews, Microsoft Security was named in 38 (66.7%), CrowdStrike was named in 31 (54.4%), Palo Alto Networks was named in 26 (45.6%), Okta was named in 16 (28.1%). reddit.com was the most-cited source, with 14 citations and an appearance in 13 of 57 overviews.

Five-engine rankNameFive-engine rateFour-engine rank
1Microsoft Security72.2%1
2CrowdStrike58.6%2
3Palo Alto Networks54.5%3
4SentinelOne30.4%4
5Cisco25.8%5
6Check Point21.4%6
7Fortinet21.2%7
8Okta20.3%8
9Zscaler17.4%9
10Wiz15.4%11

Who each question surfaces first

Six questions from the set. Each tile uses that question's own four-engine answers as the denominator.

QuestionLeaderNextAI Overview
Q01 · 12 answersPalo Alto Networks 100.0%Microsoft Security 100.0%; CrowdStrike 100.0%AI Overview shown on 3 of 3 searches
Q02 · 12 answersCrowdStrike 100.0%SentinelOne 100.0%; Sophos 100.0%AI Overview shown on 2 of 2 searches
Q03 · 12 answersCrowdStrike 100.0%Microsoft Security 100.0%; SentinelOne 100.0%AI Overview shown on 1 of 1 searches
Q04 · 12 answersPalo Alto Networks 100.0%CrowdStrike 100.0%; Fortinet 100.0%AI Overview shown on 2 of 2 searches
Q05 · 12 answersPalo Alto Networks 100.0%Zscaler 100.0%; Microsoft Security 100.0%AI Overview shown on 3 of 3 searches
Q06 · 12 answersMicrosoft Security 100.0%Rapid7 91.7%; Splunk 58.3%AI Overview shown on 3 of 3 searches

The four engines produced 2,453 citations in total. gartner.com was cited most often, with 153 citations (6.2%) across 133 answers. Next came expertinsights.com (75), paloaltonetworks.com (53), crowdstrike.com (45), sentinelone.com (44), g2.com (35).

Four AI engines · share of 288 grounded answers

Most-cited domains

gartner.com
46.2%
expertinsights.com
24.3%
paloaltonetworks.com
17.4%
sentinelone.com
14.2%
crowdstrike.com
12.5%
forrester.com
10.1%
g2.com
9.7%
cybersecuritynews.com
9.7%
guideflow.com
9.4%
checkpoint.com
9.0%

Google AI Overviews · share of 57 overviews

reddit.com
22.8%
gartner.com
14.0%
youtube.com
14.0%
seceon.com
8.8%
quora.com
8.8%
paloaltonetworks.com
7.0%
cloudsek.com
5.3%
g2.com
5.3%
linkedin.com
5.3%
revenuebase.ai
5.3%

Citation share by source type

Share of all citations by the type of site cited.

Source typeFour AI engines (of 2,453 citations)Google AI Overviews (of 152 citations)
Company / brand sites844 (34.4%)41 (27%)
Other / unclassified828 (33.8%)57 (37.5%)
Research / data providers226 (9.2%)10 (6.6%)
Trade / specialist press195 (7.9%)1 (0.7%)
Review / comparison publishers152 (6.2%)1 (0.7%)
Directories / rankings107 (4.4%)7 (4.6%)
Community / social63 (2.6%)32 (21.1%)
General news / business press15 (0.6%)1 (0.7%)
Reference14 (0.6%)0 (0%)
Official / government6 (0.2%)2 (1.3%)
Institutions / trade bodies3 (0.1%)0 (0%)

How can brands improve their AI visibility?

These steps follow from the measured results above. They describe what the engines cited in this study and are not a guarantee of results.

StepWhat this study measured
Put your facts on your own domain.Palo Alto Networks' own domains were cited in 19.4% of grounded answers, SentinelOne's in 14.2% and CrowdStrike's in 13.2%.
Keep your facts accurate on the sites engines cite.The most-cited sites other than the tracked names' own were gartner.com (in 46.2% of grounded answers), expertinsights.com (24.3%), forrester.com (10.1%), g2.com (9.7%) and cybersecuritynews.com (9.7%). Research and data providers supplied 9.2% of citations and trade and specialist press 7.9%.
Check each engine separately.Claude named CrowdStrike in 66.7% of answers against 51.4% on Perplexity. ChatGPT named IBM Security in 19.4% of answers against 4.2% on Gemini.
Watch names outside the tracked list.Microsoft Corporation (50 answers), Wiz (23 answers), Rubrik Security Cloud (12 answers) were named often but were not tracked.
Re-run the same questions every month.Compare counts and intervals, not ranks. The 24 questions are in the appendix.

What AI answers

Which names lead these AI answers?

Microsoft Security leads this measured set. Microsoft Security: 211/288 (73.3%; 95% interval 67.9–78.0%). CrowdStrike: 171/288 (59.4%; 95% interval 53.6–64.9%).

Which vendor is named first most often?

CrowdStrike was the first vendor named in 56 of 288 answers, with an average first position of 2.6.

How often do Google AI Overviews appear for these questions?

An overview appeared on 57 of 57 searches (100%, CI 93.7–100%). Within those 57 overviews, Microsoft Security was named most often, in 38 (66.7%).

Which sources do the engines cite?

Across 2,453 four-engine citations, gartner.com was cited most (153 citations, in 133 of 288 grounded answers), followed by expertinsights.com (75 citations).

Do the four engines agree?

Largely. No tracked name differed by more than 12 points between engines.

How this study was measured

24 questions × 3 runs each × 4 AI engines = 288 answers + 57 Google searches · 57 AI Overviews

24 questions asked three times on each of ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity, measured November 3, 2026. United States, English; Google retrieval uses desktop results. Models: gpt-5-mini, claude-sonnet-5-5, gemini-3.6-flash only, sonar-pro. Google AI Overviews come from DataForSEO, not inferred chat answers. Appearance counts returned text, including ungrounded answers; citation rates use grounded answers. Longer overlapping names suppress shorter ones; First mention is the earliest eligible name order. Own-domain rates include declared domains and subdomains; shared parent scopes may count for multiple names and cannot be summed as unique citations.

EngineModel IDs calledAskedReturnedGrounded
ChatGPTgpt-5-mini727272
Claudeclaude-sonnet-5-5727272
Geminigemini-3.6-flash727272
Perplexitysonar-pro727272
Google AI OverviewsDataForSEO Google SERP (live, advanced)5757 shown57

Own-domain citations count a domain plus all its subdomains, with the same rule in every table.

Definitions

  • Appearance rate: answers naming the tracked name ÷ answers returned, with Wilson 95% intervals.
  • First mention: average order in which the tracked name first appears (1 = first).
  • Own-domain citation: grounded answers citing the tracked name's domains ÷ grounded answers.
  • Citation share: citations to the tracked name's domains ÷ all citations.

Limits

  • Only 42 tracked vendors are ranked; results are not an exhaustive market ranking.
  • Only the tracked vendors were scored. Untracked names that appeared often were not scored, including Microsoft Corporation (50 answers), Wiz (23 answers), Rubrik Security Cloud (12 answers).
  • 345 of 360 planned results were returned. 15 AI Overview lookups were excluded after at most three total attempts.
  • 57 successful Google searches: 57 overviews shown; 0 without an overview. Failures are excluded, not scored as zero.
  • All returned chat answers had search sources.
  • Question 11 names CrowdStrike and SentinelOne, so both counts include up to 12 answers to that question.
  • Removing 1 Core question naming tracked subjects leaves 276 eligible answers. The top two are Microsoft Security (209/276) and Palo Alto Networks (162/276); their order changes.
  • Names with no tracked own site are shown as None. Source types use Company / brand sites only for verified official organisations; other unresolved sites are Other / unclassified.
  • Wilson 95% intervals are descriptive; overlapping leading intervals do not establish a sole leader. Measurements do not endorse medical, legal, financial or product claims.
  • Vendors from the earlier edition plus incident response firms the questions cover. Product names count toward their vendor. Status: Palo Alto Networks completed its acquisition of CyberArk on February 11, 2026; CyberArk is tracked separately because answers name it as a brand. Google completed its acquisition of Wiz on March 11, 2026; Wiz keeps its brand. Splunk is part of Cisco and Mandiant part of Google Cloud; both are tracked under their own names. Being named is not an endorsement.
  • Google Shopping links and unresolved google.com/goto redirect links are not counted as cited sources; original URLs remain in the evidence.
  • Answers were collected through each engine's API using the model IDs listed in the methodology. The consumer ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity apps can answer differently.

The 24 questions

Questions marked "Core question" are the original study questions, asked word for word. The others are added neutral questions.

#QuestionGroupSource
01What are the best cybersecurity companies for a large enterprise?Cybersecurity Index 2.0Core question
02Which vendors offer the best ransomware protection?Cybersecurity Index 2.0Core question
03What is the best endpoint detection and response (EDR) platform?Cybersecurity Index 2.0Core question
04What are the most trusted enterprise cybersecurity firms?Cybersecurity Index 2.0Core question
05What are the best zero trust security platforms?Cybersecurity Index 2.0Core question
06What is the best SIEM platform for a mid-size company?Cybersecurity Index 2.0Core question
07Which cloud-native application protection platform (CNAPP) is best for multi-cloud?Cybersecurity Index 2.0Core question
08What is the best identity and access management platform for enterprises?Cybersecurity Index 2.0Core question
09What is the best privileged access management tool?Cybersecurity Index 2.0Core question
10What is the best email security solution for businesses?Cybersecurity Index 2.0Core question
11CrowdStrike vs SentinelOne: which EDR is better for enterprises?Cybersecurity Index 2.0Core question
12Which incident response firms should a company call after a breach?Cybersecurity Index 2.0Core question
13What are the leading XDR platforms?Cybersecurity Index 2.0Added question
14What is the best managed detection and response service?Cybersecurity Index 2.0Added question
15What are the best SASE vendors?Cybersecurity Index 2.0Added question
16What is the best cloud security posture management tool?Cybersecurity Index 2.0Added question
17What is the best single sign-on provider for large companies?Cybersecurity Index 2.0Added question
18What is the best identity governance platform?Cybersecurity Index 2.0Added question
19What is the best tool to protect against phishing emails?Cybersecurity Index 2.0Added question
20Which threat intelligence providers are most respected?Cybersecurity Index 2.0Added question
21What is the best security operations platform with AI?Cybersecurity Index 2.0Added question
22Which cybersecurity vendors offer the most complete platform?Cybersecurity Index 2.0Added question
23What is the best vulnerability management platform?Cybersecurity Index 2.0Added question
24What is the best ransomware recovery solution for enterprises?Cybersecurity Index 2.0Added question

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