# Colocation providers: what AI models recommend, November 2026

Gane Index, November 2026 Edition. Asked as "colocation provider" and as "data center colocation space", six framings each, to fourteen models with search on, on behalf of a mid-market B2B company. Added to the November 2026 Edition. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/cloud/colocation-providers

**Standing:** Flexential leads with 18% of first choices; verdict contested. 56 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [Flexential](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/flexential/index.md) | 18% | 3% | 31 |
| 2 | [Equinix](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/equinix/index.md) | 12% | 32% | 53 |
| 3 | [TierPoint](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/tierpoint/index.md) | 12% | 4% | 26 |
| 4 | [CoreSite](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/coresite/index.md) | 9% | 12% | 43 |
| 5 | [DataBank](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/databank/index.md) | 7% | 0% | 24 |
| 6 | [InterServer](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/interserver/index.md) | 7% | 8% | 12 |
| 7 | [Digital Realty](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/digital-realty/index.md) | 5% | 21% | 39 |
| 10 | [ColoCrossing](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/colocrossing/index.md) | 4% | 67% | 12 |
| 11 | [CyrusOne](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cyrusone/index.md) | 2% | 8% | 24 |
| 20 | [Iron Mountain Data Centers](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/iron-mountain-data-centers/index.md) | 0% | 0% | 17 |
| 21 | [NTT Global Data Centers](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/ntt-global-data-centers/index.md) | 0% | 0% | 13 |
| 22 | [365 Data Centers](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/365-data-centers/index.md) | 0% | 19% | 16 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 99 products named; products with the same share are tied, and the order among them carries no meaning. The table lists those with at least 10 labels.

## Each model's first choice on the direct prompt

- Claude Haiku 4.5: no first choice
- GPT-5.4 mini: Equinix, TierPoint; alternatives CoreSite, Flexential
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Flexential; alternatives CoreSite, DataBank, TierPoint
- Perplexity Sonar: Flexential; alternatives CoreSite, DataBank, Digital Realty, Equinix
- Grok 4.20: Flexential; alternatives DataBank, TierPoint
- Mistral Small: CoreSite, Equinix; alternatives Flexential, ServerMania
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Flexential, TierPoint; alternatives 365 Data Centers, DataBank
- Llama 4 Maverick: TierPoint; alternatives 365 Data Centers, CoreSite, Equinix, ServerMania
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: CoreSite; alternatives Digital Realty, Iron Mountain Data Centers, Liquid Power, Vantage Data Centers
- Kimi K2: Flexential, TierPoint; alternatives 365 Data Centers, DataBank
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: TierPoint; alternatives CoreSite, Digital Realty, Equinix, Flexential
- MiniMax M2.5: CoreSite; alternatives DataBank, Flexential, TierPoint
- GPT-6 Luna: DataBank; alternatives CoreSite, Equinix, Flexential
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Flexential, TierPoint; alternatives Digital Realty, Equinix, ServerMania

## Sources the answers cite

69 of 84 answers came back with a source list, from 14 of 14 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- quotecolo.com: 33 answers, 37 citations
- metrocoloadvisory.com: 23 answers, 34 citations
- guideflow.com: 15 answers, 15 citations
- reddit.com: 13 answers, 28 citations
- coresite.com: 13 answers, 20 citations
- arphost.com: 12 answers, 12 citations
- flexential.com: 11 answers, 12 citations
- dgtlinfra.com: 11 answers, 11 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://quotecolo.com/colocation-providers (33 answers)
- https://metrocoloadvisory.com/provider-comparison (21 answers)
- https://guideflow.com/blog/colocation-services (15 answers)
- https://arphost.com/best-colocation-providers (10 answers)
- https://dgtlinfra.com/top-10-colocation-providers (10 answers)
- https://softwaresuggest.com/colocation-providers (9 answers)
- https://blog.servermania.com/top-8-colocation-hosting-providers (8 answers)
- https://bestbusinesstechnology.com/best/best-colocation-providers (7 answers)
- https://coresite.com/hubfs/-website-documents/guides/cl-coresite-ocx-provider-checklist.pdf (7 answers)
- https://dohohub.com/colocation (7 answers)

## Warned against

- Equinix: 17 of 53 labels negative. "Avoid for tight budgets: Premium names like Equinix or Digital Realty" (Grok 4.20, budget prompt)
- ColoCrossing: 8 of 12 labels negative. "Avoid providers that have a documented history of outages, poor support, or financial distress (e.g., ColoCrossing, INCERO, HorizonIQ, Cyxtera" (GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt)
- Digital Realty: 8 of 39 labels negative. "Avoid for tight budgets: Premium names like Equinix or Digital Realty" (Grok 4.20, budget prompt)
- CoreSite: 5 of 43 labels 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)

## Movement since October 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
New leader: TierPoint (22%) to Flexential (18%). Margin 6 points, within noise.

- TierPoint: 22% to 12%, −10. Inside the floor by 1 point · rank 1 → 3 of 99.
- InterServer: 15% to 7%, −8. Inside the floor by 3 points · rank 3 → 6 of 99.
- CoreSite: 5% to 9%, +4. Inside the floor by 7 points · rank 6 → 4 of 99.
- Flexential: 15% to 18%, +3. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 2 → 1 of 99.
- DataBank: 10% to 7%, −3. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 5 of 99, unchanged.
- Digital Realty: 2% to 5%, +3. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 9 → 7 of 99.
- Equinix: 10% to 12%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 4 → 2 of 99.
- ColoCrossing: 2% to 4%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 14 → 10 of 99.
- CyrusOne: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 15 → 11 of 99.
- Iron Mountain Data Centers: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 17 → 20 of 99.
- NTT Global Data Centers: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 16 → 21 of 99.
- 365 Data Centers: 0% to 0%, ±0. New · not ranked in October 2026 · rank 22 of 99.

## Record

- Method: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/methodology
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as Gane Index, November 2026 Edition, www.gane.ai/index/it.