Endpoint Detection and Response Software: AI Visibility Market Discovery Index

Benchmark Summary

Questions This Section Answers

• Who leads the Endpoint Detection and Response Software benchmark in October 2026?
• Which brands moved beyond normal month-to-month variation this month?

In October 2026, CrowdStrike Falcon leads the Endpoint Detection and Response Software benchmark with a valid recommendation coverage of 67.1%, up from 62.5% in July 2026. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint follows at 61.9% in October 2026, up from 61.4% in July 2026, a gap of 5.2 percentage points between the two leaders.

There was significant movement this month. The largest coverage increase belongs to Bitdefender GravityZone, which rose to 35.9% in October 2026 from 28.3% in July 2026, a gain of 7.6 percentage points beyond normal month-to-month variation and a rise of 8.4 points from September 2026. The largest coverage decline belongs to Sophos Intercept X, which fell to 34.9% in October 2026 from 43.2% in July 2026, a drop of 8.3 percentage points beyond normal variation.

Across the full July-to-October series, CrowdStrike Falcon returned to growth in October 2026 after declining through September 2026, posting a gain from the prior month that exceeds normal month-to-month variation. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint also returned to growth over the same stretch, though its move from September remained within normal variation. Cybereason and VMware Carbon Black held within normal variation since baseline. Bitdefender GravityZone and Sophos Intercept X recorded the only movements beyond normal variation since the July 2026 baseline.

The benchmark began with 800 prompt-surface observations in each month and produced 507 qualified observations in October 2026 after qualification.

Current Benchmark at a Glance

August 2026 sat between these months at 536 qualified observations and a valid recommendation shortlist share of 57.5%, and September 2026 at 520 qualified observations and 60.6%. Qualified surface breadth counts the canonical AI/search surface families with at least one qualified observation: ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, and AI Mode.

For the strategic interpretation of this benchmark, read CiteWorks Studio's analysis of How AI Search Is Recommending Endpoint Detection and Response Software

Research Scope and Qualification

Questions This Section Answers

• How many prompt observations qualified for the public benchmark versus the raw collection?

The public benchmark is narrower than the raw collection universe by design. The funnel below shows how observations were qualified.

Brand-level percentages use the qualified observations as the public denominator, not the raw collection. See the AI Visibility Market Discovery Methodology.

Current Brand Standings

Questions This Section Answers

• How do the tracked EDR brands rank on valid recommendation coverage?
• Where do presence, top-three rate, and rank-one rate separate the leading brands?

How to Read the Standings

• Presence rate: share of qualified observations in which the brand is mentioned at all.
• Valid recommendation coverage: share of qualified observations in which the brand appears in a valid recommendation shortlist.
• Top-three rate: share of qualified observations in which the brand appears among the top three recommended options.
• Rank-one rate: share of qualified observations in which the brand is the first recommendation.
• Net sentiment: positive mentions minus negative mentions divided by total mentions.

For formulas and denominator rules, see AI Visibility Market Discovery Metric Definitions.

Recommendation Coverage Movement

Questions This Section Answers

• Which brand posted the largest coverage increase since the July 2026 baseline, and which declined the most?

September 2026 sat between these months. Bitdefender GravityZone moved up 8.4 points from September to October 2026, while CrowdStrike Falcon rose 8.2 points over the same period. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, SentinelOne, and Palo Alto Cortex XDR each returned to growth in October 2026 after declines through September 2026.

Largest Increase: Bitdefender GravityZone

Bitdefender GravityZone posted the largest coverage increase in the series, with valid recommendation coverage rising by 7.6 percentage points from 28.3% in July 2026 to 35.9% in October 2026, beyond normal month-to-month variation. Presence rate also rose to 41.0% in October 2026 from 32.5% in July 2026, and its top-three rate rose to 16.2% from 10.8% over the same period. Its rank-one rate rose to 9.1% from 7.0%. The bulk of the gain occurred in October 2026, when coverage jumped 8.4 points from 27.5% in September 2026.

Largest Decline: Sophos Intercept X

Sophos Intercept X posted the largest coverage decline in the series, with valid recommendation coverage falling by 8.3 percentage points from 43.2% in July 2026 to 34.9% in October 2026, beyond normal month-to-month variation. Most of the drop occurred in August 2026, when coverage fell 7.9 points to 35.3%; it held roughly steady through September 2026 and October 2026. Presence rate also declined to 43.0% in October 2026 from 49.8% in July 2026, while its top-three rate rose modestly to 9.5% from 8.8% and its rank-one rate fell to 0.2% from 1.1%.

Category Leader: CrowdStrike Falcon

CrowdStrike Falcon remained the category leader in October 2026 with a valid recommendation coverage of 67.1%, up from 62.5% in July 2026, a move within normal variation since baseline but a gain of 8.2 points from September 2026 that exceeds normal month-to-month variation. Its presence rate rose to 88.4% in October 2026 from 84.9% in July 2026. Its top-three rate moved to 61.3% from 59.9% at baseline, and its rank-one rate eased to 43.6% from 47.1%.

The remaining tracked brands were stable. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, SentinelOne, Palo Alto Cortex XDR, Trend Micro, Trellix, and Cybereason each moved within normal variation since July 2026. VMware Carbon Black rose in each of the three months since July 2026, from 1.5% to 2.2% to 2.3% to 2.4%, though the cumulative move remains within normal variation and is not yet a trend.

Recommendation Placement Snapshot

Questions This Section Answers

• Why can two brands with similar coverage have very different first-position rates?

Coverage alone does not show how prominently a brand is recommended. Placement rates reveal where brands sit within the recommendation list.

Close coverage can still hide very different first-position rates. CrowdStrike Falcon and Microsoft Defender for Endpoint sit within 5.2 percentage points of each other on coverage, yet CrowdStrike Falcon leads on rank-one placement by 36.3 percentage points in October 2026 (43.6% versus 7.3%).

Buyer-Intent Distribution

Questions This Section Answers

• Which buyer-intent classes does the current benchmark measure, and which are still empty?

All qualified observations in both months fell into the Brand Recommendation class, representing discovery and consideration intent.

The current public series measures only the Brand Recommendation class and does not yet contain qualified observations in the Pricing & Value or Multi-Brand Comparison classes.

Historical Measurement Record

This is an evergreen benchmark URL. New measurements are added to the same report.

Evidence and Source Layer

The benchmark is built from prompt-level observations that retain the query, AI/search surface, answer, brand outcome, recommendation placement, sentiment, and, where exposed, citations or attributable evidence sources. Source presence is evidence about the information environment. It is not automatically proof that the source caused the recommendation.

Scope Boundaries

This public benchmark does not measure:

• Market share or vendor revenue
• Attributable sales or pipeline conversion
• Every possible AI response to a given query
• Organic-search ranking positions outside the tested AI surfaces
• Social mention volume or sentiment outside the tested AI surfaces
• Private or sponsored AI channels
• Causality from a metric movement alone

Top 10 Cited Domains

Questions This Section Answers

• Which domains were cited most across AI platform responses in this period?
• How concentrated is the citation set across unique domains and source types?

Across all AI platform responses in this measurement period, the benchmark recorded 6,370 citations spanning 1,560 unique domains.

Citations are broadly distributed rather than concentrated: no single domain accounts for more than 5.0% of the total, and the 1,560 unique domains across 6,370 citations indicate a long tail of sources. Three tracked brands' own domains appear in the top 10: sentinelone.com at rank 3, crowdstrike.com at rank 6, and paloaltonetworks.com at rank 7, alongside microsoft.com and learn.microsoft.com at ranks 8 and 9. The distribution spans search and video platforms (google.com, youtube.com), community discussion (reddit.com), analyst research (gartner.com), and official vendor documentation, with no single source type dominating the set.

About This Benchmark

The LLM Authority Index AI Visibility Market Discovery Index is a neutral, repeatable industry benchmark that tracks how often and how prominently brands appear in AI-generated recommendations across six canonical AI/search surface families: ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, and AI Mode. It measures presence, recommendation coverage, placement, and sentiment as distinct signals of AI market discovery.

• AI Visibility Market Discovery Methodology
• AI Visibility Market Discovery Metric Definitions
• AI Visibility Market Discovery Research Standards
• Modeled AI Visibility Authority Value

Get a Company-Level Authority Index

The public industry benchmark shows category-level standings. A company-level Authority Index can go deeper into your brand's specific AI discovery profile, recommendation placement, and competitive context.

Get my free AI Company Index