# Next-generation firewalls for small business 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 a small B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/network/next-generation-firewalls/2026-10/smb

This is the permanent record of the October 2026 Edition, published October 1, 2026 and superseded since.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/smb/index.md

**Standing:** Fortinet FortiGate leads with 51% of first choices; verdict clear leader. 59 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) | 51% | 3% | 63 |
| 2 | [Sophos Firewall](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/sophos-firewall/index.md) | 12% | 2% | 49 |
| 3 | [WatchGuard Firebox](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/watchguard-firebox/index.md) | 12% | 0% | 37 |
| 4 | [SonicWall TZ Series](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/sonicwall-tz-series/index.md) | 2% | 11% | 18 |
| 5 | Cisco Meraki MX | 2% | 0% | 11 |
| 6 | [Ubiquiti UniFi](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/ubiquiti-unifi/index.md) | 2% | 27% | 11 |
| 17 | [SonicWall](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/sonicwall/index.md) | 2% | 44% | 18 |
| 18 | [Palo Alto Networks NGFW](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/palo-alto-networks-ngfw/index.md) | 2% | 55% | 38 |
| 80 | [Cisco Secure Firewall](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cisco-secure-firewall/index.md) | 0% | 43% | 21 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 92 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 Cisco Secure Firewall, Sophos Firewall, WatchGuard Firebox
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Fortinet FortiGate; alternatives Aruba Instant On, Cisco Meraki MX, Palo Alto Networks NGFW, Sophos Firewall
- Perplexity Sonar: Fortinet FortiGate, WatchGuard Firebox; alternatives SonicWall TZ Series
- Grok 4.20: Sophos Firewall, WatchGuard Firebox; alternatives Fortinet FortiGate
- Mistral Small: Fortinet FortiGate; alternatives Sophos Firewall, WatchGuard Firebox
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: no first choice
- Llama 4 Maverick: FortiGate-VM NGFW, SonicWall Gen 7, Sophos Firewall
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Fortinet FortiGate; alternatives Sophos Firewall, Ubiquiti UniFi
- Kimi K2: Fortinet FortiGate; alternatives Palo Alto Networks NGFW, SonicWall TZ Series, pfSense
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Fortinet FortiGate; alternatives SonicWall TZ Series, Sophos Firewall, WatchGuard Firebox T Series
- MiniMax M2.5: no first choice
- GPT-6 Luna: Fortinet FortiGate; alternatives Palo Alto PA-400 series, Sophos Firewall
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Sophos Firewall, WatchGuard Firebox; alternatives Fortinet FortiGate, SonicWall TZ Series

## 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:

- cyberpress.org: 37 answers, 40 citations
- fortinet.com: 34 answers, 57 citations
- comparitech.com: 30 answers, 40 citations
- cybersecuritynews.com: 30 answers, 35 citations
- cisco.com: 24 answers, 47 citations
- gbhackers.com: 24 answers, 26 citations
- learn.g2.com: 24 answers, 24 citations
- checkpoint.com: 23 answers, 29 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://cyberpress.org/best-next-generation-firewall-ngfw-solutions-for-every-business-size (36 answers)
- https://cybersecuritynews.com/best-next-generation-firewall (28 answers)
- https://comparitech.com/net-admin/best-small-business-firewalls (27 answers)
- https://gbhackers.com/ngfw-solutions-compared-features-pricing (23 answers)
- https://learn.g2.com/best-firewall-software (22 answers)
- https://fortinet.com/solutions/small-business/firewall (20 answers)
- https://gane.ai/index/it/network/next-generation-firewalls/smb (19 answers)
- https://expertinsights.com/network-security/the-top-network-firewalls (17 answers)
- http://perkinssecurity.com/index-9.html (14 answers)
- https://business.org/it/cyber-security/best-firewall-for-small-business (13 answers)

## Warned against

- Palo Alto Networks NGFW: 21 of 38 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" (Muse Glimmer 30B, negative prompt)
- SonicWall: 8 of 18 labels negative. "Verdict: Avoid unless you have an experienced MSP managing it." (DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt)
- Cisco Secure Firewall: 9 of 21 labels negative. "avoid legacy firewall lines and "cheap leftover" hardware, and be especially cautious with: older Cisco ASA / Firepower 2100-era gear" (GPT-5.4 mini, negative prompt)
- Arista NG Firewall: 4 of 4 labels negative. "Verdict: Avoid due to Product Lifecycle Risk." (Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt)

## Movement since September 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: Fortinet FortiGate at 55%.

- WatchGuard Firebox: 20% to 10%, −10. Inside the floor by 1 point · rank 2 → 3 of 81.
- Fortinet FortiGate: 48% to 55%, +7. Inside the floor by 4 points · rank 1 of 81, unchanged.
- Sophos Firewall: 15% to 12%, −3. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 3 → 2 of 81.
- Cisco Meraki MX: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 12 → 5 of 81.
- SonicWall: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 44 → 14 of 81.
- Palo Alto Networks NGFW: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 66 → 15 of 81.
- SonicWall TZ Series: 2% to 2%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 4 of 81, unchanged.
- Ubiquiti UniFi: 2% to 2%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 11 → 6 of 81.
- Cisco Secure Firewall: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 43 → 80 of 81.

## 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.