Spotlight

Report:

The Forrester Wave™: Bot And Agent Trust Management Software, Q2 2026

How does Forrester define the Bot And Agent Trust Management Software market in 2026?

The emergence of AI agents blurs the line between human and automated traffic more than ever. Organizations need a clear understanding of every bot's and agent's intent and behavior to establish trusted relationships with good agents, enable automated traffic that drives business value, and fight automated traffic that damages business value. Bot and agent trust management software helps organizations differentiate between beneficial and malicious automated traffic, manage AI agent permissions and access, and protect against various forms of bot-driven fraud and abuse while ensuring legitimate agents can access services.

Key Facts for The Forrester Wave™: Bot And Agent Trust Management Software, Q2 2026 in 2026

How did the Bot And Agent Trust Management Software market evolve in 2026?

What product features are required to be included in this year's evaluation?

What are the common features of top products in the Bot And Agent Trust Management Software space?

No common features specified.

Scope Exclusions

Inclusion Criteria

Vendors must, among other requirements:

Offering Strengths — Relative Weighting

Strategy Strength — Relative Weighting

FAQs

Q: What does this research cover?

A: This research evaluates the top eight bot and agent trust management software providers across current offering capabilities and strategic positioning. It covers how vendors address the emerging challenge of AI agents that blur the line between human and automated traffic, examining features like agent trust management, detection explainability, analytics, integrations, and vendor collaboration capabilities.

Q: Who should use this research?

A: Security, fraud, e-commerce, marketing, and business leaders should use this research when selecting a bot and agent trust management solution. It helps stakeholders understand vendor strengths in areas like cross-functional use case support, analytics for intent and ROI, and vendor collaboration. Organizations can use the evaluation to identify vendors that align with their specific needs for managing both traditional bots and emerging AI agent traffic.

Q: What are the mandatory features of vendors included in this market?

A: Vendors must provide all core functions natively for bot and agent trust management at the enterprise level. They must offer the solution primarily as a standalone product with its own SKU and pricing rather than bundled exclusively within a larger WAPP platform. The vendor must demonstrate substantial market presence with at least $10 million in annual revenue specifically from bot and agent trust management software. Additionally, the vendor must have significant mindshare among Forrester's enterprise clients, frequently appearing in client inquiries, advisories, and consulting engagements, and be recognized as a competitor by other vendors in the space.

Q: What are some reasons for not being included in this report?

A:

  • Offering bot and agent trust management primarily through a web application protection platform (WAPP) bundle rather than as a standalone product
  • Insufficient annual revenue (less than $10 million) from bot and agent trust management software products
  • Lack of demonstrated enterprise-level support or track record with large enterprise customers
  • Insufficient mindshare among Forrester enterprise clients with limited mentions in client interactions
  • Not being recognized as a competitor by other vendors in the market

Q: What should buyers consider when evaluating products in this market?

A:

  • Bot and agent traffic affects a range of security and business stakeholders. Security, fraud, e-commerce, marketing, and business leaders must collaborate to find a solution that addresses all their use cases, and they must define and implement bot and agent policies that align with their disciplines and goals.
  • Analytics includes intent, profiling, and ROI. Look beyond basic attack investigations. Vendors in this market provide a range of reporting and analytics to understand the intent of a bot or agent, attacker characteristics, an attacker's target, an agent's ties to a customer, and the solution's ROI.
  • Vendor collaboration is a critical part of a bot and agent trust strategy. Customers routinely point to vendor threat research and support teams as differentiators that enable them to stay up to date against new and evolving attacks.
  • Consider how bots, agents, and human customers engage throughout the customer journey and seek use-case-specific features and rich integrations with relevant identity, e-commerce, and marketing tools.
  • Evaluate included and adjacent threat intel and SOC services to maximize the investment.

Q: How has the Bot And Agent Trust Management Software market evolved in 2026?

A:

  • The rise of AI agents is moving the market from security first to trust first
  • AI agents blur the line between human and automated traffic more than ever
  • Organizations need to differentiate between good agents that drive business value and malicious agents
  • Agent traffic can be deliberately malicious or subject to intent hijacking
  • Customers who prefer agents over direct access require trusted relationships with AI agents
  • The market is converging bot and agent trust management with fraud and identity use cases

Q: What differentiates Strength of Offering vs. Strength of Strategy?

A: Strength of Offering measures the current capabilities of the vendor's product including features for threat research, management UI, use cases (account trust, AI agent trust, web scraping, transaction assurance, marketing analytics), analytics capabilities, detection models, integrations, and security/privacy features. Strength of Strategy evaluates the vendor's future direction and business approach including vision for the market, innovation programs, product roadmap, partner ecosystem, customer adoption support, and pricing models.

Reference

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