Which AI-native application security vendors AI assistants name, Oct 2026
How ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Mode answer 3 buyer questions on AI-native application security: 15 answers, 19–21 Oct 2026, India.
What this page is. AEOLedger sells answer engine optimization services, so we have an interest in these results. 15 answers (3 questions × 5 runs), collected 21 October 2026 from one location, read by hand. Vendors are named only when an assistant named them; being listed here is a count, not an endorsement or a ranking. The data is downloadable as CSV.
Summary
- Snyk was named in 15 of 15 answers and Semgrep in 14 of 15; GitHub's CodeQL / Advanced Security followed at 11 of 15 and Checkmarx One at 8.
- On 'AI-native SAST', Perplexity built its answer from two vendors' own pages and named one of them first. ChatGPT named ZeroPath first in 2 of 3 runs.
- On scanning AI-generated code in CI, all three ChatGPT runs gave the same open-source stack (Semgrep, OSV-Scanner, Gitleaks, Trivy), while Perplexity and Google AI Mode leaned on single vendors' articles.
- 17 further vendors were named in 1 or 2 of 15 answers each.
- 1 further vendor named in 3 to 9 of 15 answers is not shown (see limits).
The 3 buyer questions
Written in buyer wording, without any vendor’s name. Each question was asked in a fresh session every run (runs per question: ChatGPT 3, Perplexity 1, Google AI Mode 1), so 5 answers per question and 15 in all.
| # | Type | Question |
|---|---|---|
| C7-1 | shortlist | “What are the best AI-native SAST tools in 2026?” |
| C7-2 | shortlist | “Which AI tools automatically fix security vulnerabilities in code?” |
| C7-3 | requirements | “Which tools scan AI-generated code and open-source dependencies for vulnerabilities in CI?” |
Who gets named
Named in X of N: answers whose text recommends or lists the vendor.
Apps, 21 October 2026, Bengaluru, India. ChatGPT (logged out, fresh chat, 3 runs per question); Perplexity (signed in to one account, fresh thread, 1 run per question); Google AI Mode (signed in, personalisation off, 1 run per question). N = 15 answers per vendor.
| Vendor | Answers | Named | By assistant |
|---|---|---|---|
| Snyk | 15 of 15 | ChatGPT 9/9, Perplexity 3/3, Google AI Mode 3/3 | |
| Semgrep | 14 of 15 | ChatGPT 9/9, Perplexity 3/3, Google AI Mode 2/3 | |
| GitHub (CodeQL / Advanced Security) | 11 of 15 | ChatGPT 6/9, Perplexity 2/3, Google AI Mode 3/3 | |
| Checkmarx One | 8 of 15 | ChatGPT 3/9, Perplexity 2/3, Google AI Mode 3/3 | |
| Aikido | 6 of 15 | ChatGPT 3/9, Perplexity 2/3, Google AI Mode 1/3 | |
| SonarQube | 6 of 15 | ChatGPT 3/9, Perplexity 2/3, Google AI Mode 1/3 | |
| Trivy | 5 of 15 | ChatGPT 3/9, Perplexity 1/3, Google AI Mode 1/3 | |
| ZeroPath | 5 of 15 | ChatGPT 3/9, Perplexity 1/3, Google AI Mode 1/3 | |
| GitHub Copilot Autofix | 4 of 15 | ChatGPT 3/9, Perplexity 1/3, Google AI Mode 0/3 | |
| Veracode | 4 of 15 | ChatGPT 0/9, Perplexity 2/3, Google AI Mode 2/3 | |
| Black Duck | 3 of 15 | ChatGPT 3/9, Perplexity 0/3, Google AI Mode 0/3 | |
| GitHub Dependabot | 3 of 15 | ChatGPT 3/9, Perplexity 0/3, Google AI Mode 0/3 | |
| Gitleaks | 3 of 15 | ChatGPT 3/9, Perplexity 0/3, Google AI Mode 0/3 | |
| Mend | 3 of 15 | ChatGPT 1/9, Perplexity 1/3, Google AI Mode 1/3 | |
| OSV-Scanner | 3 of 15 | ChatGPT 3/9, Perplexity 0/3, Google AI Mode 0/3 |
What gets cited
Domains the assistants linked as sources, counted once per answer.
| Domain | Type | Cited in |
|---|---|---|
| snyk.io | cited site | 12 of 15 |
| semgrep.dev | cited site | 10 of 15 |
| github.com | cited site | 7 of 15 |
| aikido.dev | cited site | 6 of 15 |
| checkmarx.com | cited site | 5 of 15 |
| codeql.github.com | cited site | 5 of 15 |
| sonarsource.com | cited site | 5 of 15 |
| docs.github.com | cited site | 5 of 15 |
| zeropath.com | cited site | 4 of 15 |
Method
- Fieldwork 19–21 Oct 2026, Bengaluru, India, consumer apps. 3 buyer questions written without any vendor name. ChatGPT was asked each question 3 times (logged out, fresh chat); Perplexity and Google AI Mode once each. 15 answers, every one read in full.
- A vendor counts as named when the answer recommends or compares it, including a row in a comparison table. Vendors mentioned only as an acquisition note, as 'the big names to avoid', or in follow-up suggestions are not counted. Product lines are counted under their company.
The full protocol is on the methodology page.
Limits
- 15 answers per category, 5 per question: enough to say 'named in every answer' or 'in none', not to order vendors in the middle (95% intervals overlap).
- One location (India), no VPN. Perplexity ran in one signed-in account and Google AI Mode signed in with personalisation off; logged-out results may differ.
- Companies we track are not named on this page. As anonymised vendors they appear as 'an application security vendor' only when named in 10 or more of 15 answers, shown as '10+ of 15' without a per-assistant split, and are otherwise left out; their sites are left out of the sources list.
Data
Download the data (CSV): one row per vendor and per cited domain, with the count, N, assistant split, date and location. Licensed CC BY 4.0: reuse it with a link to this page.
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How to cite and changes
AEOLedger. “Which AI-native application security vendors AI assistants name, Oct 2026.” AI Shortlist Index v1.0, 22 October 2026. https://aeoledger.com/research/ai-shortlist/ai-native-appsec/
- v1.0, 22 October 2026: first published.
Spotted an error? Write to hello@aeoledger.com. Corrections are dated here.