# Next-generation firewalls for small business buyers: what AI models recommend, September 2026

Gane Index, September 2026 Edition. Asked as "next-generation firewall" and as "enterprise firewall appliance or virtual firewall", six framings each, to twelve models with search on, on behalf of a small B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/network/next-generation-firewalls/2026-09/smb

This is the permanent record of the September 2026 Edition, published September 17, 2026 and superseded since. The current standing: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/network/next-generation-firewalls/smb/index.md

**Standing:** Fortinet FortiGate leads with 48% of first choices; verdict clear leader. 46 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [Fortinet FortiGate](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/fortinet-fortigate/index.md) | 48% | 4% | 56 |
| 2 | [WatchGuard Firebox](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/watchguard-firebox/index.md) | 20% | 7% | 43 |
| 3 | [Sophos Firewall](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/sophos-firewall/index.md) | 15% | 6% | 49 |
| 4 | [SonicWall TZ Series](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/sonicwall-tz-series/index.md) | 2% | 35% | 20 |
| 12 | Cisco Meraki MX | 0% | 29% | 17 |
| 43 | [Cisco Secure Firewall](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cisco-secure-firewall/index.md) | 0% | 38% | 16 |
| 44 | [SonicWall](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/sonicwall/index.md) | 0% | 50% | 10 |
| 66 | [Palo Alto Networks NGFW](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/palo-alto-networks-ngfw/index.md) | 0% | 66% | 32 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 66 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: Fortinet FortiGate; alternatives Palo Alto Networks NGFW
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Fortinet FortiGate; alternatives Cisco Meraki, Palo Alto Networks NGFW, Sophos Firewall
- Perplexity Sonar: Sophos Firewall; alternatives Fortinet FortiGate, WatchGuard Firebox
- Grok 4.20: Sophos Firewall; alternatives Fortinet FortiGate, WatchGuard Firebox
- Mistral Small: WatchGuard Firebox; alternatives Fortinet FortiGate, SonicWall TZ Series
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: WatchGuard Firebox; alternatives Fortinet FortiGate, SonicWall, Sophos Firewall
- Llama 4 Maverick: WatchGuard Firebox; alternatives Fortinet FortiGate, SonicWall Gen 7
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Fortinet FortiGate; alternatives Sophos Firewall, WatchGuard Firebox
- Kimi K2: Sophos Firewall; alternatives Fortinet FortiGate, WatchGuard Firebox
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Fortinet FortiGate; alternatives Cisco Meraki MX, Sophos Firewall, WatchGuard Firebox
- MiniMax M2.5: no first choice

## Sources the answers cite

63 of 72 answers came back with a source list, from 12 of 12 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- cyberpress.org: 36 answers, 36 citations
- cybersecuritynews.com: 34 answers, 38 citations
- reddit.com: 27 answers, 54 citations
- fortinet.com: 27 answers, 42 citations
- enterprisenetworkingplanet.com: 25 answers, 25 citations
- comparitech.com: 20 answers, 26 citations
- cisco.com: 19 answers, 28 citations
- blog.invgate.com: 17 answers, 17 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://cyberpress.org/best-next-generation-firewall-ngfw-solutions-for-every-business-size (35 answers)
- https://cybersecuritynews.com/best-next-generation-firewall (33 answers)
- https://enterprisenetworkingplanet.com/guides/best-firewalls-for-small-medium-business (25 answers)
- https://fortinet.com/solutions/small-business/firewall (18 answers)
- https://blog.invgate.com/best-firewall-for-small-business (17 answers)
- https://comparitech.com/net-admin/best-small-business-firewalls (17 answers)
- https://mspcompared.com/best/firewall (14 answers)
- https://smbsecureguide.com/network-security/small-business-firewall-buyers-guide-2026 (13 answers)
- https://esecurityplanet.com/products/top-ngfw (12 answers)
- https://firewalls.com/blog/best-firewalls-for-small-businesses-2024 (12 answers)

## Warned against

- Palo Alto Networks NGFW: 21 of 32 labels negative. "small businesses should avoid or be cautious about high-end enterprise NGFWs (like Palo Alto) unless they have the resources to manage them" (Mistral Small, negative prompt)
- Check Point Quantum: 6 of 8 labels negative. "high costs, complex licensing (34+ reviews), challenging setup/configuration ... rigid models unsuitable for small teams" (Grok 4.20, negative prompt)
- Cisco Secure Firewall: 6 of 16 labels negative. "SMB pitfalls like default configs leaving 73% vulnerable, complex management, and high TCO from add-ons" (Grok 4.20, negative prompt)
- SonicWall: 5 of 10 labels negative. "Older SonicWall appliances or virtual models that are in the retirement pipeline... they're a poor choice unless you're certain the lifecycle fits your replacement plan." (GPT-5.4 mini, negative prompt)

## Record

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