2026 Gartner® Market Guide for Managed Detection and Response

AI-Powered MDR Promises Everything.
Here’s What to Ask Before You Buy.

Explore what to expect from modern MDR services and what to ask before choosing a provider:

Understand how to evaluate an MDR provider’s investigation, response, and containment capabilities
Explore the growing importance of proactive exposure reduction and continuous security improvement
Learn what to look for in AI-augmented, human-led SOC functions

Bitdefender is a Representative Vendor in the
Gartner® Market Guide for Managed Detection and Response 2026.

What Should You Expect From Your MDR Provider?

Choosing a Managed Detection and Response (MDR) service means deciding who will help protect your business when a cyberattack unfolds. Beyond continuous monitoring, consider how a provider investigates threats, acts on your behalf, and helps reduce the risk of future incidents.

Three questions are worth asking every vendor:

What actions will you take on our behalf to contain an attack?
How will you help identify security weaknesses and reduce future risk?
How do you combine AI with human expertise to investigate threats and guide response decisions?

The Gartner® Market Guide for Managed Detection and Response explores the evolving MDR market and provides guidance to help you assess services against your business and security needs.

Bitdefender MDR: Built for the Era of
AI-Enabled Security Overload

Bitdefender MDR extends the security capabilities of the GravityZone Platform across prevention, protection, detection, and response through an AI-enabled SOC and 24×7×365 human expertise. Strengthen your defenses and contain attacks without building and running your own SOC.

Proactive cyber risk reduction: Risk-informed threat hunting and prioritized remediation guidance help identify threats, address weaknesses, and reduce exposure
Rapid containment: Pre-approved response actions help contain threats and limit their spread, reducing loss of exposure while minimizing business disruption
AI and Human Expertise: AI accelerates analysis and investigation, while experts validate findings and oversee response decisions

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Extend Your Team's Security Capabilities

Always-on support. Faster action. More time for your team.

24/7 Security Operations

Continuous monitoring, investigation, and response.

AI-Augmented, Human-led SOC Functions

Accelerated analysis.

Expert-led decisions.

Threat Disruption and Containment

Pre-approved actions for immediate incident containment.

What We Believe Makes Bitdefender MDR Different?

Bitdefender develops the GravityZone platform and detection technology and delivers the MDR service. This connects security operations directly with platform engineering and threat research expertise.

Platform-native context: Threat, exposure, risk, and asset insights help analysts understand attack activity and make informed response decisions
Connected expertise: MDR analysts work directly with the teams behind GravityZone, detection engineering, and threat research to inform investigations and strengthen defenses.
Continuous posture improvement: Exposure insights inform threat hunting and remediation priorities, helping your team address underlying weaknesses and reducing recurring risk.
Global operations and an EU sovereign option: Benefit from 24×7×365 security operations, with a dedicated EU sovereign service available for organizations requiring EU-based experts, tooling, and incident handling.

Make an Informed MDR Decision

Explore the Gartner® Market Guide for Managed Detection and Response 2026 to understand market developments and evaluate services against your organization’s needs.

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FAQ

Which Gartner report is available on this page?

This page provides complimentary access to the 2026 Gartner® Market Guide for Managed Detection and Response, published on 9 September 2026.

Is Bitdefender named in the 2026 Market Guide?

Yes. Bitdefender is included as a Representative Vendor in the 2026 Gartner® Market Guide for Managed Detection and Response, marking its fifth consecutive year of inclusion.

Who can benefit from the 2026 Market Guide for MDR report?

IT and security leaders considering a managed detection and response service or reviewing their security operations strategy. This includes organizations with lean IT and security teams, those without an internal SOC seeking external expertise and around-the-clock coverage, and those exploring a more modern MDR approach that combines AI-augmented operations with human expertise.

Where can I learn more about Bitdefender MDR?

Visit the Bitdefender MDR page to explore how our AI-enabled SOC and security experts help reduce risk and contain attacks around the clock. Learn about the integrated prevention, protection, detection, and response capabilities supporting the service on the GravityZone platform page.

Gartner, Market Guide for Managed Detection and Response, Andrew Davies, Angel Berrios, Eric Ahlm, Darren Livingstone, Craig Lawson, 9 September 2026.GARTNER is a trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates.

Gartner does not endorse any company, vendor, product or service depicted in its publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s business and technology insights organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this publication, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.