Colocation providers · November 2026 Edition
Equinix vs Digital Realty
Two of fourteen models named Equinix first on the direct prompt; zero named Digital Realty. Both were named by all fourteen models and Equinix carries 53 labels and Digital Realty 39, so the shares are not directly comparable.
Named in one category this edition.
Named in one category this edition.
First-choice share12%5%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate32%21%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#2#7A position in a field of 12; printed, not drawn.
Labels5339A count; the two differ.
The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, Equinix reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.Flexential was named alongside these two in eleven of the fourteen direct answers. Flexential vs Equinix · Flexential vs Digital Realty · Equinix vs TierPoint
Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all fourteen models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category; every quote names the model and the prompt it came from. Both figures come from the colocation providers page.
By framing
How many of the fourteen models made each the first choice, per way of asking, and how many argued against it.
EquinixFirst choices, of fourteen modelsDigital Realty
Direct203 against Equinix · 1 against Digital Realty
Paraphrase533 against Equinix · 2 against Digital Realty
Comparative114
Budget-constrained004 against Equinix · 3 against Digital Realty
Scale-constrained00
Negative117 against Equinix · 2 against Digital Realty
Bars are first choices, 0 to 14 each sideModels that argued againstA model can name both, so the two sides of a row do not sum to fourteen.
Across every category in the November 2026 Edition, Equinix and Digital Realty were named in the same answer 126 times, of the 160 answers naming Equinix and the 126 naming Digital Realty. In those answers Digital Realty took the first choice six times and Equinix forty-five.
Every model, every framing
The eighty-four answers behind the chart above, one cell each: where Equinix and Digital Realty stood in it.
| Model | Direct | Paraphrase | Comparative | Budget-constrained | Scale-constrained | Negative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | | | ||||
| GPT-5.4 mini | | | | | ||
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | | | | | | |
| Perplexity Sonar | | | ||||
| Grok 4.20 | | | | | | |
| Mistral Small | | | | | ||
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | | | | |||
| Llama 4 Maverick | | | ||||
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | | | | | ||
| Kimi K2 | | | | | ||
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | | | | |||
| MiniMax M2.5 | | | | |||
| GPT-6 Luna | | | ||||
| Muse Glimmer 30B | | | | |
Equinix Digital Realty first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Equinix on the left and Digital Realty on the right.The direct prompt
The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where Equinix and Digital Realty stood in it.
Equinix first, Digital Realty not the choice
2 of 14 modelsDigital Realty was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.GPT-5.4 miniEquinix, TierPoint alternatives: CoreSite, Flexential
Mistral SmallCoreSite, Equinix alternatives: Flexential, ServerMania
Neither was the first choice, one was named
6 of 14 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.Perplexity SonarFlexential alternatives: CoreSite, DataBank, Digital Realty, Equinix
Llama 4 MaverickTierPoint alternatives: 365 Data Centers, CoreSite, Equinix, ServerMania
Qwen 3.7 FlashCoreSite alternatives: Digital Realty, Iron Mountain Data Centers, Liquid Power, Vantage Data Centers
GLM 4.7 FlashXTierPoint alternatives: CoreSite, Digital Realty, Equinix, Flexential
GPT-6 LunaDataBank alternatives: CoreSite, Equinix, Flexential
Muse Glimmer 30BFlexential, TierPoint alternatives: Digital Realty, Equinix, ServerMania
Neither was named
6 of 14 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.Claude Haiku 4.5no first choice
Gemini 3.5 FlashFlexential alternatives: CoreSite, DataBank, TierPoint
Grok 4.20Flexential alternatives: DataBank, TierPoint
DeepSeek V4 FlashFlexential, TierPoint alternatives: 365 Data Centers, DataBank
Kimi K2Flexential, TierPoint alternatives: 365 Data Centers, DataBank
MiniMax M2.5CoreSite alternatives: DataBank, Flexential, TierPoint
Bold names in an answer are the products the judge labeled a first choice; a model naming several gives each of them that label. The full answer text for every row is in the record.
By buyer segment
The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment and they are never added together. The figures above are the mid-market standing, which is the one the category orders by.
Small business
Level: the same share of first choices.
Equinix2%#11 of 12Digital Realty2%#10 of 12Mid-marketThe figures above
Equinix leads by seven points.
Equinix12%#2 of 12Digital Realty5%#7 of 12Enterprise
Equinix leads by forty-three points.
Equinix66%#1 of 12Digital Realty23%#2 of 12What the models said about Equinix
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of eight in this category shown.
“Avoid for tight budgets: Premium names like Equinix or Digital Realty” Grok 4.20 · budget prompt · hard negative
“Equinix's SP4 site in S\u00e3o Paulo had a fire in 2025 affecting connectivity in part of the facility. That doesn't make Equinix broadly "bad," but it does show why you should evaluate the specific site” GPT-5.4 mini · negative prompt · soft negative
“Market giants (like Equinix, Digital Realty, or CoreSite) offer top-tier infrastructure, but their business models cater primarily to enterprises” Gemini 3.5 Flash · negative prompt · soft negative
“If your goal is to be in the same facility as financial exchanges, major cloud providers, or telecom carriers, Equinix is usually the first choice.” Gemini 3.5 Flash · comparative prompt · first choice
“Equinix – A global leader with a vast network of carrier-neutral data centers, offering interconnection, hybrid cloud, and edge services.” Mistral Small · comparative prompt · first choice
“my default "safe" recommendation is: 1. Equinix — best when you need rich interconnection, cloud adjacency, and lots of carrier options.” GPT-5.4 mini · paraphrase prompt · first choice
What the models said about Digital Realty
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of eight in this category shown.
“Avoid for tight budgets: Premium names like Equinix or Digital Realty” Grok 4.20 · budget prompt · hard negative
“Market giants (like Equinix, Digital Realty, or CoreSite) offer top-tier infrastructure, but their business models cater primarily to enterprises” Gemini 3.5 Flash · negative prompt · soft negative
“Some models recommend avoiding hyperscale giants like Equinix and Digital Realty for smaller or mid-market firms due to cost and complexity.” Mistral Small · negative prompt · soft negative
“prioritize Tier III certified or Tier IV facilities operated by carrier-neutral entities (like Digital Realty, CoreSite, CyrusOne” Qwen 3.7 Flash · negative prompt · first choice
“Equinix and Digital Realty dominate the global market as the largest, carrier-neutral providers” GLM 4.7 FlashX · comparative prompt · first choice
“Equinix and Digital Realty dominate with roughly 40–50% combined global retail/wholesale market share.” Grok 4.20 · comparative prompt · first choice
Also compared
Flexential vs EquinixFlexential vs Digital RealtyEquinix vs TierPointEquinix vs CoreSiteEquinix vs DataBankEquinix vs InterServerEquinix vs ColoCrossingTierPoint vs Digital RealtyCoreSite vs Digital RealtyDataBank vs Digital RealtyInterServer vs Digital RealtyDigital Realty vs ColoCrossingAll twenty-eight head-to-head pages and the full colocation standing
Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category, each against each. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.