The second installment of our Channel Partners Power Partner Survey and Index series highlights the elite security performers from the 2026 MSP 501 survey and their strategic vendor relationships.
This exclusive research tracks which cybersecurity providers are gaining momentum with channel partners —basically winning the trust of the industry's most successful service providers.
We asked MSP 501 organizations to select up to five cybersecurity software vendors they primarily use and consider their preferred and most strategic suppliers to protect their clients' environments. The 2026 data reveal a market in transition, where platform breadth and MSP-specific features increasingly trump standalone best-of-breed approaches.
The results were eye-opening from many perspectives. We uncovered three important findings analyzing the top 10 companies in the Power Index: one highlighting Microsoft's dominance in the sector, and the others showing an incredible surge by ThreatLocker and Kaseya among MSPs.
It will surprise few that Microsoft dominates the cybersecurity landscape among top-performing MSPs, as 79% of the MSP 501 selected it as a preferred strategic partner—perhaps driven by its role as the major platform provider in the space. This commanding lead reflects Microsoft's comprehensive security ecosystem and its integration advantages for MSPs managing client environments at scale.
Year-over-year comparisons give a window into the momentum of each vendor, but because the companies on the MSP 501 list change year over year, it is more a measure of what elite performers think about today's leading tech innovators.
Along those lines, No. 1 Microsoft's momentum surged between the 2025 and 2026 surveys, rising from 64% last year to 79% this year. The 15-point jump was one of the largest of any provider on the list year-over-year. Microsoft clearly has momentum as well as the clear cybersecurity market lead among MSP 501 companies.
Kaseya jumped 25 points to the No. 5 slot with 32% of the MSP 501, posting the largest absolute gain—nearly quintupling its strategic partnership rate. This likely reflects its unified platform strategy and recent acquisitions.
ThreatLocker also made a large jump, surging into seventh. The zero-trust application control space vendor increased a whopping 16 points year-over-year to finish with 22% of MSP 501 organizations identifying it as a primary supplier versus only 6% last year. That jump nearly quadrupled its adoption rate and demonstrated explosive growth. The results were not surprising given the tireless energy of company founder and CEO Danny Jenkins, who seemingly shows up at every partner conference anywhere in the world.
Another major momentum maker was SonicWall, which gained 16 points year over year to finish at 20%—quintupling its presence among top MSPs and moving from 16th to 8th position.
Beyond those companies, the competitive landscape reveals a clear second tier of emerging powerhouses. No. 2. SentinelOne captured a 44% share while No. 3 Huntress followed closely at 41%, demonstrating the rising influence of next-generation endpoint detection and response solutions.
SentinelOne, known more for endpoint security, had a firm hold on the No. 2 slot the past two years, but its grip loosened a bit this year as it slipped 7 points. It gave up ground to MDR provider Huntress, which gained 3 points and momentum among partners as a primary security provider to the MSP 501.
Traditional enterprise security vendors maintain significant presence, with Fortinet (33%) and Cisco/Splunk (27%) securing substantial market share but are both losing momentum. However, the data reveals an intriguing shift toward specialized security platforms. ThreatLocker's adoption rate and SonicWall's surge highlight MSPs' preference for purpose-built solutions that address specific threat vectors.
Another gainer we are watching in the MSP space is Barracuda, which increased 9 points to show strong traction in email security and network protection.
The survey data also illuminates the fragmentation beyond the top tier. Key players Cisco/Splunk, Sophos, Bitdefender, and Fortinet (which remains in the top 5) lost momentum. We will be discussing the momentum gainers and losers in future stories as we dive deeper into this data from the MSP 501.
Stay tuned for deeper analysis of vendor performance metrics and partnership trends in upcoming installments of our Power Partner Survey and Index series.