# Network access control for enterprise buyers: what AI models recommend, November 2026

Gane Index, November 2026 Edition. Asked as "network access control solution" and as "NAC system", 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/network-access-control/enterprise

**Standing:** Cisco Identity Services Engine leads with 39% of first choices; verdict contested. 61 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [Cisco Identity Services Engine](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cisco-identity-services-engine/index.md) | 39% | 26% | 74 |
| 2 | [Portnox Cloud](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/portnox-cloud/index.md) | 18% | 4% | 50 |
| 3 | [HPE Aruba ClearPass](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/hpe-aruba-clearpass/index.md) | 13% | 12% | 34 |
| 4 | [Aruba ClearPass](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/aruba-clearpass/index.md) | 8% | 32% | 22 |
| 15 | [Forescout](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/forescout/index.md) | 0% | 17% | 52 |
| 16 | [Fortinet FortiNAC](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/fortinet-fortinac/index.md) | 0% | 16% | 31 |
| 17 | [FortiNAC](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/fortinac/index.md) | 0% | 17% | 12 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 88 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: Cisco Identity Services Engine; alternatives Forescout, HPE Aruba ClearPass, Portnox Cloud
- GPT-5.4 mini: Cisco Identity Services Engine; alternatives Aruba ClearPass, FortiNAC
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: HPE Aruba ClearPass, Portnox Cloud; alternatives Cisco Identity Services Engine, Forescout, Fortinet FortiNAC
- Perplexity Sonar: Aruba ClearPass; alternatives Cisco Identity Services Engine, Forescout, FortiNAC, Portnox Cloud
- Grok 4.20: Aruba ClearPass, Cisco Identity Services Engine; alternatives Fortinet FortiNAC, Juniper Mist Access Assurance, NordLayer NAC, Portnox Cloud
- Mistral Small: Aruba ClearPass, Cisco Identity Services Engine; alternatives Fortinet FortiNAC, NordLayer NAC, Portnox Cloud
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Cisco Identity Services Engine; alternatives Forescout, Fortinet FortiNAC, HPE Aruba ClearPass, Portnox Cloud
- Llama 4 Maverick: Cisco Identity Services Engine; alternatives Aruba ClearPass, Fortinet FortiNAC, Portnox Cloud, ThreatLocker Zero Trust Platform
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Cisco Identity Services Engine; alternatives Forescout, HPE Aruba ClearPass, Portnox Cloud, Purple
- Kimi K2: Cisco Identity Services Engine; alternatives Forescout, HPE Aruba ClearPass, Portnox Cloud
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Aruba ClearPass, Portnox Cloud; alternatives Cisco Identity Services Engine, Cloudflare Access, Forescout 4D Platform, iboss ZTNA
- MiniMax M2.5: Cisco Identity Services Engine; alternatives Aruba ClearPass, Forescout, Fortinet FortiNAC, Juniper Mist Access Assurance
- GPT-6 Luna: Cisco Identity Services Engine, HPE Aruba ClearPass; alternatives Forescout, Portnox Cloud
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Cisco Identity Services Engine – ISE; alternatives Forescout, HPE Aruba Networking ClearPass, NordLayer NAC, Portnox Cloud

## Sources the answers cite

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

- cybersecuritynews.com: 38 answers, 39 citations
- portnox.com: 36 answers, 81 citations
- peerspot.com: 35 answers, 58 citations
- fortinet.com: 24 answers, 26 citations
- cyberpress.org: 23 answers, 23 citations
- cisco.com: 21 answers, 35 citations
- us.fitgap.com: 20 answers, 21 citations
- g2.com: 19 answers, 20 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://cybersecuritynews.com/best-nac-solutions (38 answers)
- https://cyberpress.org/nac-solutions-by-business-size (23 answers)
- https://peerspot.com/categories/network-access-control-nac (21 answers)
- https://fortinet.com/products/network-access-control (18 answers)
- https://us.fitgap.com/search/network-access-control-software (18 answers)
- https://guideflow.com/blog/network-access-control-software (17 answers)
- https://softwareadvice.com/network-access-control (14 answers)
- https://purple.ai/en-us/blogs/best-network-access-control (13 answers)
- https://portnox.com/solutions/network-access-control (12 answers)
- https://cloudnuro.ai/blog/top-10-network-access-control-nac-solutions-for-zero-trust-implementation (11 answers)

## Warned against

- Cisco Identity Services Engine: 19 of 74 labels negative. "Cisco ISE has experienced multiple vulnerabilities including CVSS 10.0 authentication bypass vulnerabilities ... it was actively exploited with no workaround available" (Claude Haiku 4.5, negative prompt)
- Forescout: 9 of 52 labels negative. "Avoid: Cisco ISE and Forescout if cost predictability is your top priority" (Muse Glimmer 30B, negative prompt)
- Fortinet FortiNAC: 5 of 31 labels negative. "replace FortiNAC, which has been a disappointing experience for us due to its poor design, numerous bugs, and inadequate support." (Muse Glimmer 30B, negative prompt)
- Aruba ClearPass: 7 of 22 labels negative. "Legacy on-prem appliances (Cisco ISE, ClearPass, ForeScout) | Complexity, cost, vendor lock-in, poor cloud/hybrid fit" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt)

## Movement since October 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: Cisco Identity Services Engine at 39%.

- Cisco Identity Services Engine: 53% to 39%, −14. Cleared the floor by 3 points · rank 1 of 88, unchanged.
- HPE Aruba ClearPass: 8% to 13%, +5. Inside the floor by 6 points · rank 3 of 88, unchanged.
- Aruba ClearPass: 6% to 8%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 4 of 88, unchanged.
- Forescout: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 6 → 15 of 88.
- Fortinet FortiNAC: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 7 → 16 of 88.
- Portnox Cloud: 18% to 18%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 2 of 88, unchanged.
- FortiNAC: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 12 → 17 of 88.

## 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.