# Microsegmentation for enterprise buyers: what AI models recommend, November 2026

Gane Index, November 2026 Edition. Asked as "microsegmentation solution" and as "east-west network segmentation tool", six framings each, to fourteen models with search on, on behalf of an enterprise B2B company. Added to the November 2026 Edition. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/network/microsegmentation/enterprise

**Standing:** Illumio Segmentation leads with 77% of first choices; verdict clear leader. 47 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [Illumio Segmentation](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/illumio-segmentation/index.md) | 77% | 7% | 71 |
| 2 | [Zero Networks Segment](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/zero-networks-segment/index.md) | 11% | 0% | 30 |
| 3 | [Akamai Guardicore Segmentation](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/akamai-guardicore-segmentation/index.md) | 6% | 8% | 62 |
| 4 | [Cisco Secure Workload](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cisco-secure-workload/index.md) | 4% | 20% | 46 |
| 5 | [Elisity](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/elisity/index.md) | 2% | 6% | 36 |
| 6 | [VMware NSX](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/vmware-nsx/index.md) | 0% | 27% | 45 |
| 7 | [ColorTokens Xshield](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/colortokens-xshield/index.md) | 0% | 9% | 23 |
| 8 | [Zscaler Private Access](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/zscaler-private-access/index.md) | 0% | 0% | 12 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 60 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: Illumio Segmentation; alternatives Akamai Guardicore Segmentation, VMware NSX
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Illumio Segmentation; alternatives Akamai Guardicore Segmentation, Cisco Secure Workload, Isovalent Enterprise for Cilium, VMware NSX
- Perplexity Sonar: Illumio Segmentation; alternatives Akamai Guardicore Segmentation, Elisity, Tigera Calico, VMware NSX
- Grok 4.20: Illumio Segmentation; alternatives Akamai Guardicore Segmentation, ColorTokens Xshield, Elisity
- Mistral Small: Illumio Segmentation; alternatives Akamai Guardicore Segmentation, Elisity
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Illumio Segmentation; alternatives Akamai Guardicore Segmentation, ColorTokens Xshield
- Llama 4 Maverick: Illumio Segmentation; alternatives Akamai Guardicore Segmentation, Elisity
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Illumio Segmentation; alternatives Akamai Guardicore Segmentation, Elisity, Zero Networks Segment, Zscaler Private Access
- Kimi K2: Illumio Segmentation; alternatives Akamai Guardicore Segmentation, Cisco Secure Workload, Zero Networks Segment, Zscaler Zero Trust Cloud
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Illumio Segmentation; alternatives Akamai Guardicore Segmentation, Cisco Secure Workload, Zero Networks Segment
- MiniMax M2.5: Illumio Segmentation; alternatives Akamai Guardicore Segmentation
- GPT-6 Luna: Illumio Segmentation; alternatives Akamai Guardicore Segmentation, Cisco Secure Workload, VMware NSX
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Illumio Segmentation; alternatives Akamai Guardicore Segmentation, Cisco Secure Workload, Elisity, VMware NSX

## Sources the answers cite

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

- akamai.com: 36 answers, 67 citations
- elisity.com: 33 answers, 62 citations
- forrester.com: 30 answers, 66 citations
- zeronetworks.com: 29 answers, 54 citations
- illumio.com: 26 answers, 39 citations
- aimultiple.com: 24 answers, 24 citations
- gane.ai/index: 24 answers, 24 citations
- cybersecuritynews.com: 22 answers, 22 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://aimultiple.com/microsegmentation-tools (24 answers)
- https://cybersecuritynews.com/best-microsegmentation-tools (22 answers)
- https://gane.ai/index/it/network/microsegmentation/enterprise (22 answers)
- https://forrester.com/blogs/announcing-the-forrester-wave-microsegmentation-solutions-q3-2024 (21 answers)
- https://forrester.com/report/the-forrester-wave-tm-microsegmentation-solutions-q3-2024/RES181302 (19 answers)
- https://zeronetworks.com/files/buyers-guides/zero-networks-microsegmentation-buyers-guide.pdf (19 answers)
- https://forrester.com/report/the-microsegmentation-solutions-landscape-q2-2024/RES180760 (17 answers)
- https://g2.com/categories/microsegmentation/enterprise (14 answers)
- https://elisity.com/blog/top-microsegmentation-solutions (13 answers)
- https://elisity.com/microsegmentation/best-zero-trust-microsegmentation-solutions (12 answers)

## Warned against

- Cisco Secure Workload: 9 of 46 labels negative. "Described by practitioners as "the worst product I've ever dealt with"" (MiniMax M2.5, negative prompt)
- VMware NSX: 12 of 45 labels negative. "Traditional virtual firewalls / hypervisor‑based micro‑firewalls (older versions of VMware NSX, Palo Alto Networks VM-Series, etc.) | Poor scalability" (GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt)
- Illumio Segmentation: 5 of 71 labels negative. "What to Avoid: Per-Workload Pricing Models ... Illumio is a leader in capability ... but uses workload-based pricing that becomes unpredictable and expensive at enterprise scale." (Kimi K2, budget prompt)
- Akamai Guardicore Segmentation: 5 of 62 labels negative. "flag it as a solution to avoid if budget is tight, citing pricing constraints that can become prohibitive for large-scale deployments" (Mistral Small, negative prompt)

## Movement since October 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: Illumio Segmentation at 77%.

- Illumio Segmentation: 63% to 77%, +14. Cleared the floor by 3 points · rank 1 of 60, unchanged.
- Zero Networks Segment: 2% to 11%, +9. Inside the floor by 2 points · rank 6 → 2 of 60.
- Akamai Guardicore Segmentation: 15% to 6%, −9. Inside the floor by 2 points · rank 2 → 3 of 60.
- Elisity: 7% to 2%, −5. Inside the floor by 6 points · rank 3 → 5 of 60.
- ColorTokens Xshield: 3% to 0%, −3. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 4 → 7 of 60.
- Cisco Secure Workload: 2% to 4%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 5 → 4 of 60.
- VMware NSX: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 7 → 6 of 60.
- Zscaler Private Access: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 8 of 60, unchanged.
- Cisco: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 12 → 10 of 60.

## 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.