# Next-generation firewalls for enterprise buyers: what AI models recommend, October 2026

Gane Index, October 2026 Edition. Asked as "next-generation firewall" and as "enterprise firewall appliance or virtual firewall", six framings each, to fourteen models with search on, on behalf of an enterprise B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/network/next-generation-firewalls/2026-10/enterprise

This is the permanent record of the October 2026 Edition, published October 1, 2026 and superseded since. The current standing: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/network/next-generation-firewalls/enterprise/index.md

**Standing:** Palo Alto Networks NGFW leads with 38% of first choices; verdict contested. 58 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [Palo Alto Networks NGFW](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/palo-alto-networks-ngfw/index.md) | 38% | 13% | 62 |
| 2 | [Fortinet FortiGate](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/fortinet-fortigate/index.md) | 36% | 12% | 67 |
| 4 | [Check Point Quantum](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/check-point-quantum/index.md) | 3% | 9% | 53 |
| 5 | [Cisco Secure Firewall](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cisco-secure-firewall/index.md) | 3% | 16% | 50 |
| 17 | [Sophos Firewall](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/sophos-firewall/index.md) | 0% | 20% | 10 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 83 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: Palo Alto Networks NGFW; alternatives Fortinet FortiGate
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Palo Alto Networks NGFW; alternatives Check Point Quantum, Cisco Secure Firewall, Fortinet FortiGate
- Perplexity Sonar: Palo Alto Networks NGFW; alternatives Check Point Quantum, Fortinet FortiGate
- Grok 4.20: Fortinet FortiGate; alternatives Check Point Quantum, Palo Alto Networks NGFW
- Mistral Small: Fortinet FortiGate, Palo Alto Networks NGFW; alternatives Check Point Quantum, Cisco Secure Firewall, Sophos Firewall
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Fortinet FortiGate; alternatives Check Point Quantum, Cisco Secure Firewall, Palo Alto Networks NGFW
- Llama 4 Maverick: Check Point Quantum; alternatives FortiGate-VM NGFW, Palo Alto Networks' NGFW
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Palo Alto Networks NGFW; alternatives Check Point Quantum, Cisco Secure Firewall, Fortinet FortiGate
- Kimi K2: Fortinet FortiGate, Palo Alto Networks NGFW; alternatives Check Point Quantum
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Palo Alto Networks NGFW; alternatives Cisco Secure Firewall, Fortinet FortiGate
- MiniMax M2.5: Palo Alto Networks NGFW; alternatives Check Point Quantum, Cisco Secure Firewall, Fortinet FortiGate, Sophos Firewall
- GPT-6 Luna: Check Point Quantum; alternatives Fortinet FortiGate, Palo Alto Networks NGFW
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Palo Alto Networks NGFW; alternatives Check Point Quantum, Cisco Secure Firewall, Fortinet FortiGate

## Sources the answers cite

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

- fortinet.com: 46 answers, 96 citations
- checkpoint.com: 46 answers, 82 citations
- learn.g2.com: 40 answers, 40 citations
- paloaltonetworks.com: 32 answers, 44 citations
- comparitech.com: 32 answers, 33 citations
- cybersecuritynews.com: 29 answers, 33 citations
- decryptiondigest.com: 25 answers, 34 citations
- cyberpress.org: 23 answers, 24 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://learn.g2.com/best-firewall-software (40 answers)
- https://comparitech.com/net-admin/next-gen-firewalls (32 answers)
- https://cybersecuritynews.com/best-next-generation-firewall (28 answers)
- https://checkpoint.com/comparison/top-4-ngfw-compared (22 answers)
- https://cyberpress.org/best-next-generation-firewall-ngfw-solutions-for-every-business-size (21 answers)
- https://fortinet.com/products/next-generation-firewall (18 answers)
- https://decryptiondigest.com/blog/enterprise-ngfw-comparison-2026 (17 answers)
- https://checkpoint.com/cyber-hub/tools-vendors/top-enterprise-firewalls-solutions-in-2026 (15 answers)
- https://gbhackers.com/ngfw-solutions-compared-features-pricing (15 answers)
- http://perkinssecurity.com/index-9.html (14 answers)

## Warned against

- Fortinet FortiGate: 8 of 67 labels negative. "Large enterprises should be especially vigilant about Fortinet FortiGate given the recent critical vulnerabilities (FortiBleed, SSO exploits) and the high frequency of security patches required." (MiniMax M2.5, negative prompt)
- Palo Alto Networks NGFW: 8 of 62 labels negative. "even market leaders like Fortinet and Palo Alto require careful evaluation due to complexity, performance impacts, and ongoing security vulnerabilities" (Kimi K2, negative prompt)
- AWS Network Firewall: 6 of 6 labels negative. "Ones to Avoid or Exercise Extreme Caution: Native Cloud Firewalls from Hyperscalers (e.g., AWS Network Firewall...) ... 0% Security Effectiveness" (Grok 4.20, negative prompt)
- Cisco Secure Firewall: 8 of 50 labels negative. "Received a "Caution" rating from CyberRatings, with a protection rate as low as 37.01%... not recommended for short-listing or renewal" (Mistral Small, negative prompt)

## Movement since September 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: Palo Alto Networks NGFW at 39%.

- Palo Alto Networks NGFW: 48% to 39%, −9. Inside the floor by 2 points · rank 1 of 66, unchanged.
- Fortinet FortiGate: 41% to 37%, −4. Inside the floor by 7 points · rank 2 of 66, unchanged.
- Check Point Quantum: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 8 → 5 of 66.
- Cisco Secure Firewall: 4% to 4%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 3 → 4 of 66.
- Juniper SRX Series: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 9 → 12 of 66.
- Sophos Firewall: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 10 → 14 of 66.
- Barracuda CloudGen Firewall: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 11 → 41 of 66.

## Record

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