Subcategory · AI Citation Index
Endpoint Protection
Endpoint protection is a consolidated category with one consensus pick: Microsoft Defender for IoT shows up across all four engines in 100% of discovery prompts and wins more head-to-heads than it loses. CrowdStrike surfaces in 98% of buyer queries with full engine coverage but scores near the bottom when AI picks a winner in comparison questions — visible everywhere, recommended rarely. The most interesting tension sits with Proofpoint Cloud App Security Broker, the absent giant: wins head-to-heads at the category median but surfaces in zero discovery prompts. Barracuda Impersonation Protection is the riser, gaining 11 points month-over-month, while Darktrace is the faller, down 8 points. This is a consolidated category — one brand owns discovery, and the head-to-head layer reveals fragility in citation share for brands that rely on top-of-mind visibility alone.
52 discovery queries · 80 head-to-heads · refreshed May 1, 2026
Discovery stage
The shortlist
Across 52 buyer-style "Endpoint Protection" queries
Microsoft Defender for IoT and CrowdStrike capture the lion's share of AI attention — both surface across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity in nearly every discovery prompt about endpoint protection. SentinelOne trails slightly at 94% visibility, also with full engine coverage. Bitdefender GravityZone and Sophos United Threat Management hold the second tier, appearing in 75% and 52% of queries respectively, both with four-engine reach. Palo Alto's Cloud-Delivered Security Services shows up in half of discovery prompts, visible on every engine, while Qualys and Rapid7 capture thin slices of attention despite multi-engine presence.
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Signal by intent
By topic
Top 5 most-cited brands per intent cluster. Brands with zero citations in a topic are not shown.
Evaluation stage
Head-to-head
How often AI cites each brand across uniform category evaluation prompts · median 60/100
Microsoft Defender for IoT wins the most head-to-head comparisons, averaging 76 across ten matchups. Beyondtrust, Proofpoint Cloud App Security Broker, and Palo Alto's Cloud-Delivered Security Services cluster near the category median, winning roughly half the time. CrowdStrike loses heavily in evaluation-stage prompts despite its near-ubiquitous discovery share — it scores 7 across ten head-to-heads, the worst performance of any brand with meaningful comparison volume. Barracuda Impersonation Protection and Darktrace sit below the median, losing more matchups than they win.
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Each brand's score is the share of category evaluation prompts where AI cited them across all four engines — the same prompt pool for every brand. Brands above the median citation rate have stronger presence in evaluation-stage queries.
Brands to know
In this category
Microsoft Defender for IoT
Consensus pickMicrosoft's IoT-focused threat detection platform
Read brand profile →Crowdstrike
Cloud-native EDR for enterprise endpoints
Read brand profile →Proofpoint Cloud App Security Broker
Absent giantCASB for SaaS application security
Read brand profile →Cloud-Delivered Security Services
KingmakerPalo Alto's cloud-delivered endpoint suite
Read brand profile →Barracuda Impersonation Protection
RiserEmail security against impersonation attacks
Read brand profile →Want to know if AI cites your brand for Endpoint Protection?
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