The Week 29 IT & Security Software Report
A category-by-category reading of all ten Week 29 IT & Security software markets, with verified Top 3 rankings, assistant splits, evidence counts, and official week-over-week movement.
The First IT & Security Movement Report
This report covers Cooper's Week 29 IT & Security software hub: ten category-relative Overall AIQ rankings measured across ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Perplexity from July 13 through July 19, 2026, under scoring version aiq-v2.
The hub contains 297 unique products, 813 cited pages from 465 source domains, and 1,541 verified mentions. Hub totals deduplicate products and evidence shared across categories, so the category totals below remain separate market records.
Eight of the ten IT & Security category leaders changed from Week 28. IT Service Management and Business VPN retained their leaders; the other eight markets placed a different product first.
How to Read This Report
Overall AIQ combines Cooper's Best, Most affordable, and Easiest to set up questions inside one category. Assistant columns show each product's category rank in that Overall scope. An em dash means no category rank from that assistant in this measurement, not a negative recommendation.
Sources count distinct verified domains and Mentions count distinct verified product-page relationships. Neither measure explains rank. Rising AIQ is separate, and the Week 29 Rising AIQ report covers that dimension independently.
Movement compares the same product, category, and Overall scope in the immutable Week 28 and Week 29 editions. Category links open the live ranking while Week 29 is current and will resolve to this edition's archive after rollover.
Password Managers
Open the complete Password Managers ranking| Rank | Product | AIQ | ChatGPT | Gemini | Claude | Perplexity | Sources | Mentions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 52 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 12 | 16 | |
| 2 | 46 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 16 | 18 | |
| 3 | 42 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 12 | 15 |
NordPass leads Password Managers at Overall AIQ 52 with ranks of second, first, second, and third.
Bitwarden remains second at 46 with ranks of first, second, fifth, and fourth.
1Password is third at 42 with ranks of third, third, third, and second.
The top and third positions reversed: NordPass moved from third to first and
1Password moved from first to third. All three products are ranked by every assistant and record 12 sources and 16 mentions, 16 and 18, and 12 and 15 respectively.
Identity & Access (SSO/IAM)
Open the complete Identity & Access ranking| Rank | Product | AIQ | ChatGPT | Gemini | Claude | Perplexity | Sources | Mentions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 38 | 1 | — | 10 | 8 | 4 | 6 | |
| 2 | 28 | — | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5 | |
| 3 |  Auth0 | 23 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 18 | 20 |
WorkOS leads Identity & Access at Overall AIQ 38 with ranks of first, tenth, and eighth and no Gemini rank.
Okta is second at 28, ranking first on Gemini, Claude, and Perplexity with no ChatGPT rank.
Auth0 is third at 23 with ranks of fifth, third, third, and fourth.
WorkOS rose 15 places from sixteenth to first.
Okta had no Week 28 rank and enters second, while
Auth0 moved from sixth to third. The prior leader is outside the current Top 3.
Endpoint Management (MDM)
Open the complete Endpoint Management ranking| Rank | Product | AIQ | ChatGPT | Gemini | Claude | Perplexity | Sources | Mentions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 37 | 1 | — | — | — | 7 | 9 | |
| 2 |  Miradore | 31 | 3 | 1 | 12 | 1 | 15 | 19 |
| 3 | 24 | 7 | 2 | 2 | — | 9 | 9 |
Apple Business leads Endpoint Management at Overall AIQ 37 from a first-place ChatGPT rank only.
Miradore is second at 31 with ranks of third, first, twelfth, and first. Jamf Pro is third at 24 with ranks of seventh, second, and second and no Perplexity rank.
Apple Business moved from fifth to first.
Miradore moved from first to second, and Jamf Pro moved from fourth to third. The current leader is the hub's only leader ranked by one assistant.
IT Service Management
Open the complete IT Service Management ranking| Rank | Product | AIQ | ChatGPT | Gemini | Claude | Perplexity | Sources | Mentions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 74 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 31 | 36 | |
| 2 |  Freshservice | 25 | 2 | 8 | — | 2 | 20 | 23 |
| 3 | 21 | 3 | 11 | 1 | 9 | 15 | 16 |
Jira Service Management remains first in IT Service Management at Overall AIQ 74 with ranks of first, first, fourth, and first.
Freshservice remains second at 25 with ranks of second, eighth, and second and no Claude rank. ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus is third at 21 with ranks of third, eleventh, first, and ninth.
The first two products retained their positions. ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus rose from fifth to third. Evidence records 31 sources and 36 mentions for first, 20 and 23 for second, and 15 and 16 for third.
Remote Support
Open the complete Remote Support ranking| Rank | Product | AIQ | ChatGPT | Gemini | Claude | Perplexity | Sources | Mentions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 52 | 1 | 12 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 16 | |
| 2 |  Chrome Remote Desktop | 24 | — | 1 | 1 | — | 9 | 11 |
| 3 |  AnyDesk | 21 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 16 | 18 |
Zoho Assist leads Remote Support at Overall AIQ 52 with ranks of first, twelfth, second, and first.
Chrome Remote Desktop is second at 24 from first-place ranks by Gemini and Claude only. AnyDesk is third at 21 with ranks of seventh, sixth, fourth, and second.
Zoho Assist moved from third to first,
Chrome Remote Desktop moved from fourth to second, and AnyDesk moved from sixth to third. The Week 28 leader is outside the current Top 3.
Backup & Recovery
Open the complete Backup & Recovery ranking| Rank | Product | AIQ | ChatGPT | Gemini | Claude | Perplexity | Sources | Mentions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 27 | 2 | 2 | — | — | 3 | 3 | |
| 2 |  Backblaze Business Backup | 21 | 1 | — | — | — | 1 | 1 |
| 3 | 18 | 3 | — | — | — | 0 | 0 |
Veeam Data Platform leads Backup & Recovery at Overall AIQ 27 with second-place ranks from ChatGPT and Gemini only.
Backblaze Business Backup is second at 21 from a first-place ChatGPT rank only. NinjaOne Backup is third at 18 from a third-place ChatGPT rank only, with 0 sources and 0 mentions recorded.
Veeam Data Platform moved from second to first.
Backblaze Business Backup had no Week 28 rank and enters second, while NinjaOne Backup rose 13 places from sixteenth to third. The prior leader is outside the current Top 3.
Business VPN
Open the complete Business VPN ranking| Rank | Product | AIQ | ChatGPT | Gemini | Claude | Perplexity | Sources | Mentions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 59 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 14 | 18 | |
| 2 |  Twingate | 43 | 1 | 3 | 5 | — | 3 | 5 |
| 3 | 28 | 3 | — | — | — | 1 | 1 |
NordLayer remains first in Business VPN at Overall AIQ 59 with ranks of second, first, first, and first.
Twingate remains second at 43 with ranks of first, third, and fifth and no Perplexity rank. Cloudflare Access is third at 28 from a third-place ChatGPT rank only.
The first two products retained their places. Cloudflare Access rose from seventh to third. Evidence records 14 sources and 18 mentions for first, 3 and 5 for second, and 1 and 1 for third.
Endpoint Security (EDR)
Open the complete Endpoint Security ranking| Rank | Product | AIQ | ChatGPT | Gemini | Claude | Perplexity | Sources | Mentions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 46 | 2 | 1 | 2 | — | 6 | 6 | |
| 2 | 32 | 1 | — | 3 | 10 | 5 | 7 | |
| 3 | 23 | 3 | — | — | — | 1 | 1 |
Microsoft Defender for Business enters first in Endpoint Security at Overall AIQ 46 with ranks of second, first, and second and no Perplexity rank.
Sophos Endpoint is second at 32 with ranks of first, third, and tenth and no Gemini rank.
CrowdStrike Falcon Endpoint Security is third at 23 from a third-place ChatGPT rank only.
The leader had no Week 28 rank. Sophos Endpoint moved from third to second, while
CrowdStrike Falcon Endpoint Security moved from first to third. The former leader now records a category rank from one assistant.
Security Awareness Training
Open the complete Security Awareness Training ranking| Rank | Product | AIQ | ChatGPT | Gemini | Claude | Perplexity | Sources | Mentions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 28 | 2 | 5 | 6 | — | 2 | 3 | |
| 2 |  Arctic Wolf Managed Security Awareness | 27 | 1 | — | 18 | — | 1 | 3 |
| 3 |  KnowBe4 | 27 | — | 1 | 2 | 1 | 19 | 23 |
Wizer leads Security Awareness Training at Overall AIQ 28 with ranks of second, fifth, and sixth and no Perplexity rank.
Arctic Wolf Managed Security Awareness is second at 27 with ranks of first and eighteenth from ChatGPT and Claude only. KnowBe4 is third, also at 27, with ranks of first, second, and first and no ChatGPT rank.
Wizer moved from second to first.
Arctic Wolf Managed Security Awareness rose 22 places from twenty-fourth to second, while KnowBe4 had no Week 28 rank and enters third. The prior leader is outside the current Top 3.
SaaS Management
Open the complete SaaS Management ranking| Rank | Product | AIQ | ChatGPT | Gemini | Claude | Perplexity | Sources | Mentions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Zylo | 34 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 5 |
| 2 |  Productiv | 28 | 1 | 11 | 13 | 8 | 10 | 14 |
| 3 | 27 | 5 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
Zylo leads SaaS Management at Overall AIQ 34 with ranks of second, fourth, third, and second. Productiv is second at 28 with ranks of first, eleventh, thirteenth, and eighth. Substly is third at 27 with ranks of fifth, ninth, second, and first.
Zylo rose five places from sixth to first, Productiv moved from fourth to second, and Substly rose 16 places from nineteenth to third. All three are ranked by every assistant, and the prior leader is outside the current Top 3.
What Changed Across IT & Security
Five of the ten Week 29 IT & Security leaders are ranked by all four assistants, three by three assistants, Veeam Data Platform by two, and
Apple Business by one. No category leader is ranked first by every assistant.
Eight markets changed leaders. The shifts include a 22-place rise into second in Security Awareness Training and a 16-place rise into third in SaaS Management, while IT Service Management and Business VPN retained their Week 28 leaders.
These are category-local rankings, not a combined IT & Security leaderboard. The complete category links preserve each market context, and the immutable Week 29 IT & Security archive preserves the edition after rollover.
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