Darktrace Named a Leader in the 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Network Detection and Response for Second Consecutive Year

Cambridge, UK

May 21, 2026

Darktrace, a global leader in AI for cybersecurity, today announced it has been recognized as a Leader in the Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Network Detection and Response (NDR) for the second consecutive year.

Darktrace is the only vendor to be recognized as both a Leader in the 2025 and 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ and a 2025 Customers' Choice for Network Detection and Response (NDR). We believe this recognition reflects Darktrace's sustained ability to execute, adapt and deliver outcomes as the NDR market evolves, while underscoring continued confidence in our approach to helping organizations detect, investigate and respond to threats across complex environments.

Darktrace takes a unique approach to NDR, using Self-Learning AI™ to continuously learn each organization's normal patterns of activity and detect deviations in real time. This enables a more proactive and pre-emptive model of network security, helping teams identify early signs of risk, including identifying malicious activity before public vulnerability disclosures, and respond before threats escalate.

Darktrace continues to innovate across its NDR capabilities, advancing how AI can help security teams detect, understand and respond to emerging threats. Recent innovations include DIGEST, a new machine learning model used by Darktrace's Cyber AI Analyst™, that is trained on over one million anonymized incident graphs to predict which incidents are most likely to escalate. DIGEST combines Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) to interpret incident structure with Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs) to analyze how incidents evolve over time, helping to reliably identify high-risk threats at the earliest stages - a key element in Darktrace's ability to detect unknown and zero-day threats. Darktrace believes this recognition underscores the strength of its unique multi-layered approach to AI, first introduced in 2013, combining supervised and unsupervised machine learning, behavioral analysis, autonomous investigation and response to help organizations stay ahead of evolving threats that may be missed by traditional tools.

Darktrace's inclusion in this Magic Quadrant follows recent recognition from customers, with Darktrace / NETWORK™ recognized as the only Customers Choice Vendor in the 2025 Gartner® Peer Insights™ for Network Detection and Response. Darktrace is the most-reviewed NDR solution on Gartner® Peer Insights™ with a 4.8 out of 5 rating based on 612 real customer reviews as of 20^th May 2026. Customers highlight:

• "The product excels at detecting anomalous network behavior using AI-driven models and provides real-time visibility into inbound/outbound traffic. The real advantage is the autonomous response feature, helping contain threats without manual intervention. The dashboards are intuitive and offer clear visualization of network activities." - IT Security & Risk Management Associate, Software Industry
• "The system learns our network behavior and identifies unusual patterns without relying solely on predefined signatures. This gives us confidence in identifying emerging threats early." - IT Security and Risk Management Manager, Retail Industry
• "Darktrace NDR has excellent model-based detection capabilities across various MITRE attack scenarios and support with many third-party integrations. It has assisted with proactive detection of real-world threats to ensure prompt incident response actions." - Cyber Operations Lead, Media Industry
• "Darktrace Network provides strong visibility and protection across the entire network, using AI-driven analysis to detect anomalous and abnormal behaviours and potential threats in real time. Its ability to adapt dynamically makes it a powerful solution for defending against both known and unknown attacks." - Cybersecurity Specialist, IT Services Industry

"As AI adoption accelerates, organizations are securing increasingly complex environments where identities, SaaS applications, cloud services, and network activity are more interconnected than ever," said Chris Kozup, Chief Marketing Officer, Darktrace. "Darktrace helps security teams move beyond reactive detection by learning each organization's unique business, identifying both known and unknown threats and responding autonomously before incidents escalate. We are proud to be recognized as a Leader by Gartner for the second year in a row, and believe our position reflects our continued AI innovation and proven delivery of security outcomes for customers and partners worldwide."

Darktrace has received a number of recognitions from Gartner over the past year including being named a Leader in the 2025 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Email Security Platforms and recognized as a 2025 Gartner® Peer Insights™ Customers' Choice for Email Security Platforms. Darktrace was also positioned as the only Visionary in the 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) Protection Platforms.

Additional Resources

• Download a copy of the 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Network Detection and Response here.
• To read more about Darktrace's recognition, check out our blog here.
• Learn more about Darktrace / NETWORK on our website here.

Disclaimer: The 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Network Detection and Response (NDR), Thomas Lintemuth, Charanpal Bhogal, Nahim Fazal, 18 May 2026.

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research 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 research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

Gartner and Magic Quadrant are trademarks of Gartner, Inc., and/or its affiliates.

About Darktrace   

Darktrace is a global leader in AI for cybersecurity that keeps organizations ahead of the changing threat landscape every day. Founded in 2013, Darktrace provides the essential cybersecurity platform protecting organizations from unknown threats using its proprietary AI that learns from the unique patterns of life for each customer in real-time. The Darktrace ActiveAI Security Platform™ delivers a proactive approach to cyber resilience to secure the business across the entire digital estate - from network to cloud to email. It provides pre-emptive visibility into the customer's security posture, transforms operations with a Cyber AI Analyst™, and detects and autonomously responds to threats in real-time. Breakthrough innovations from our R&D teams in Cambridge, UK, and The Hague, Netherlands have resulted in over 250 patent applications filed. Darktrace's platform and services are supported by over 2,300 employees around the world who protect nearly 10,000 customers across all major industries globally.