Next-generation firewalls for small business buyers
Asked as “next-generation firewall”, and as “enterprise firewall appliance or virtual firewall”, on behalf of a small B2B company. 57 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, fourteen models each.
Standing · first-choice share
72%
Clear leader
72Fortinet FortiGate07Sophos Firewall05WatchGuard Firebox16others
72% of first choices, clear leader.
Since October 2026▲+21Since October 2026: 51% → 72%, +21 points. Past the 11-point floor: movement.Fortinet FortiGate held the lead, +21 points on 51%, past the floor.
By buyer segment
The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment; they sit side by side and are never added together.
Small business
Fortinet FortiGate72%Clear leader▲+21Since October 2026: 51% → 72%, +21 points. Past the 11-point floor: movement.This pageMid-marketFortinet FortiGate71%Clear leader▼−2Since October 2026: 73% → 71%, −2 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.Standing →Enterprise
Palo Alto Networks NGFW44%Clear leader▲+6Since October 2026: 38% → 44%, +6 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.Standing →
Fortinet FortiGate72%Clear leader▲+21Since October 2026: 51% → 72%, +21 points. Past the 11-point floor: movement.This pageMid-marketFortinet FortiGate71%Clear leader▼−2Since October 2026: 73% → 71%, −2 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.Standing →EnterprisePalo Alto Networks NGFW44%Clear leader▲+6Since October 2026: 38% → 44%, +6 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.Standing →The standing
Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, over all fourteen models, for a small B2B company. Ordered by share.
ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrantSince October 2026
01Fortinet FortiGate72%6%65endorsed leader▲+21Since October 2026: 51% → 72%, +21 points. Past the 11-point floor: movement.51% → 72%
Fortinet FortiGate72%6%65endorsed leader▲+21Since October 2026: 51% → 72%, +21 points. Past the 11-point floor: movement.51% → 72%02
Sophos Firewall7%4%51accepted challenger▼−5Since October 2026: 12% → 7%, −5 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.12% → 7%
Sophos Firewall7%4%51accepted challenger▼−5Since October 2026: 12% → 7%, −5 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.12% → 7%03
WatchGuard Firebox5%3%39accepted challenger▼−7Since October 2026: 12% → 5%, −7 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.12% → 5%
WatchGuard Firebox5%3%39accepted challenger▼−7Since October 2026: 12% → 5%, −7 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.12% → 5%04
SonicWall TZ Series2%14%22accepted challenger=heldSince October 2026: 2% → 2%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.2% → 2%
SonicWall TZ Series2%14%22accepted challenger=heldSince October 2026: 2% → 2%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.2% → 2%05
pfSense2%50%16criticized challenger=heldSince October 2026: 2% → 2%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.2% → 2%
pfSense2%50%16criticized challenger=heldSince October 2026: 2% → 2%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.2% → 2%06Palo Alto Networks NGFW2%56%43criticized challenger=heldSince October 2026: 2% → 2%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.2% → 2%
Palo Alto Networks NGFW2%56%43criticized challenger=heldSince October 2026: 2% → 2%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.2% → 2%Show the three products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
08
SonicWall0%54%13criticized challenger▼−2Since October 2026: 2% → 0%, −2 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.2% → 0%
SonicWall0%54%13criticized challenger▼−2Since October 2026: 2% → 0%, −2 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.2% → 0%09
Cisco Secure Firewall0%52%21criticized challenger=heldSince October 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.0% → 0%
Cisco Secure Firewall0%52%21criticized challenger=heldSince October 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.0% → 0%07
Cisco Meraki MX0%0%11accepted challenger▼−2Since October 2026: 2% → 0%, −2 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.2% → 0%
Cisco Meraki MX0%0%11accepted challenger▼−2Since October 2026: 2% → 0%, −2 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise.2% → 0%The floor is 11 points of share, measured: how far the models move a leader on their own when the same questions are asked twice with nothing changed. A larger change is movement; a smaller one can't be told apart from repeat variation, and both are shown. Each index measures its own floor from its own repeat, over its own categories, so the floor differs from one index to the next. Both editions asked the same fourteen models. How the floor is measured
Bars are the share of first choices, 0 to 100Every product with at least 10 labels here. Every product name links to its product page.
For buyers
Head to head
Fortinet FortiGate vs Palo Alto Networks NGFWFortinet FortiGate vs pfSenseFortinet FortiGate vs Sophos Firewall
Head-to-head pages are published for mid-market buyers, so these open on mid-market figures, not small business.All ten head-to-head pages: the top five products, each against each
One product takes 72% of first choices here, so the chart would put eight markers in one corner and one at the far edge. The two measurements it plots are columns in the standing above: share, and the negative label rate. Four products carry a negative rate above 25% in this category.
What they warned about
Eight of fourteen models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Haiku 4.5, Perplexity Sonar, Mistral Small, Qwen 3.7 Flash, GLM 4.7 FlashX and GPT-6 Luna changed. A high negative share on a product with few labels is a warning. A low share on a product with many labels is salience, not sentiment.
Palo Alto Networks NGFW56%
24 of 43 labels negative · 11 of 14 models · 5 hard negative
“Alternatives to Avoid for Tight Budgets: Palo Alto or full Cisco Firepower can exceed $2,000+ easily with licensing” Grok 4.20, budget prompt
Cisco Secure Firewall52%
11 of 21 labels negative · 9 of 14 models · 4 hard negative
“Often criticized for being overly complex and "bloated" for small businesses... it may be more than you need and result in unnecessary overhead.” Mistral Small, negative prompt
SonicWall54%
7 of 13 labels negative · 7 of 14 models · 2 hard negative
“System instability – reported sluggishness and frequent issues after upgrades/patches” Kimi K2, negative prompt
pfSense50%
8 of 16 labels negative · 7 of 14 models · 1 hard negative
“Avoid entry-level consumer firewalls (e.g., basic pfSense without enterprise support) for B2B” Grok 4.20, direct prompt
What they cite
Fourteen of the fourteen models returned a source list in this edition: five return the pages they cited and nine the search results they consulted.
Sites the answers cite
67 of 84 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 14 of 14 models: citations where the model returns them, or the search results it consulted. 706 links across 177 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page. 38 of the 252 answers across every segment cited this index's own page for the category; the method page measures whether that reading tilts an answer.
vendor site · Fortinet47 answers · 70 citations · 13 models
vendor site · CyberPress24 answers · 26 citations · 11 models
20 answers · 34 citations · 7 models
publisher (Gane)20 answers · 20 citations · 8 models
17 answers · 19 citations · 7 models
17 answers · 17 citations · 8 models
vendor site · Cisco15 answers · 29 citations · 10 models
13 answers · 13 citations · 9 models
12 answers · 12 citations · 6 models
vendor site · Check Point11 answers · 13 citations · 5 models
vendor site · Zenarmor10 answers · 11 citations · 7 models
10 answers · 10 citations · 7 models
Pages the answers cite
The ten pages named in the most answers, by full address. A page here is one the models returned with a recommendation, not one the index endorses.
31 answers · 12 models
24 answers · 11 models
19 answers · 7 models
17 answers · 7 models
17 answers · 8 models
13 answers · 9 models
9 answers · 6 models
9 answers · 7 models
8 answers · 4 models
8 answers · 4 models
Search against answers
Each company's standing in the answers beside its site's footprint in Google search, one row a site: the products the models named on it with their shares, and the share they add up to; monthly searches on Google, and DataForSEO's estimate of AI search demand (modeled from search signals, directional, not a count of queries to any assistant), for the most-searched of the company's and its products' names (the name is in each row's hover text); estimated monthly organic visits to the site; and its best position in Google's top ten for “best next-generation firewall”, “next-generation firewall”, “next-generation firewalls”. US estimates from DataForSEO and Google's Ads Transparency Center. A small company's site, or a mid-sized company's site for its flagship, is marked company; a product on a large parent's site (Google, Microsoft) has no site figures. A column with no figures for this category is left out, and an empty cell means none were seen, not none exist. Two measurements side by side: neither is read as the cause of the other.
| Company and products | Share | Own site cited | Name searches, Google | AI search demand, est. | Organic visits | Paid search a month, est. | Google ads, last 30 days | Best Google position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fortinet parent site Fortinet FortiGate 72% | 72% | 179 | 49,500 | 2,339 | ||||
| Sophos parent site Sophos Firewall 7%, Sophos XG 0% | 7% | 97 | 18,100 | 2,046 | ||||
| WatchGuard Firebox watchguard.com | 5% | 53 | 590 | 74 | 19,015 | 11 | ||
| SonicWall TZ Series sonicwall.com | 2% | 27 | 110 | 3 | 60,229 | 79 | ||
| Check Point checkpoint.com Check Point Harmony SASE 2% | 2% | 139 | 14,800 | 4,487 | 370,648 company | $255 | 48 | 3 |
| Firewalla Gold SE | 2% | |||||||
| FortiGate 70G | 2% | |||||||
| Fortinet FortiGate FG-40F | 2% | |||||||
| Fortinet FortiGate appliance | 2% | |||||||
| Ubiquiti UniFi Cloud Gateway Max | 2% |
Google's top ten for the three searches hold 23 sites; 4 of them are among the sites the models cited here (checkpoint.com, cisco.com, fortinet.com, reddit.com). The first result for “best next-generation firewall” is nomios.nl.
How they answered
Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.ShowHide
How they answered
Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.
ShowHideModelDirect“What is the best next-generation firewall for a small B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which enterprise firewall appliance or virtual firewall would you recommend to a small business that sells to other businesses?”Comparative“What are the top next-generation firewalls for a small team and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best next-generation firewall for a small company with a tight budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 30 person company evaluating a next-generation firewall. What should we look at?”Negative“Which next-generation firewalls should a small business avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5no first choiceFortinet FortiGate, Ubiquiti UniFi Cloud Gateway MaxChangedagainst: Cisco ASASophos FirewallFortinet FortiGateno first choiceagainst: Palo Alto Networks NGFW
Three alternatives
Cloudflare One, SonicWall, Sophos FirewallThree alternatives
Fortinet FortiGate, SonicWall TZ Series, WatchGuard FireboxTwo alternatives
SonicWall TZ Series, Sophos FirewallGPT-5.4 miniFortinet FortiGateFortinet FortiGateHeldFortinet FortiGateFortinet FortiGateno first choiceagainst: Hillstone
Three alternatives
Cisco Secure Firewall, Palo Alto Networks NGFW, SonicWall TZ SeriesTwo alternatives
Cisco Secure Firewall, Palo Alto Networks NGFWThree alternatives
Cisco Secure Firewall, Palo Alto Networks NGFW, Sophos FirewallTwo alternatives
Cisco Secure Firewall 200 series / Firepower 1000 series, SonicWall TZ SeriesGemini 3.5 FlashFortinet FortiGateFortinet FortiGateHeldFortinet FortiGateagainst: SonicWallFortinet FortiGateFortinet FortiGateagainst: Check Point Quantum, Cisco ASA, Cisco Secure Firewall, Fortinet FortiGate, NETGEAR Insight, Palo Alto Networks NGFW, SonicWall TZ Series, Ubiquiti UniFi, WatchGuard Firebox
Two alternatives
Cisco Meraki, Palo Alto Networks NGFWTwo alternatives
Cisco Meraki, Palo Alto Networks NGFWThree alternatives
Cisco Meraki, Palo Alto Networks NGFW, Sophos FirewallFour alternatives
Netgate Appliance with pfSense / OPNsense, SonicWall TZ Series, Sophos Firewall, Ubiquiti UniFi Cloud Gateway (Max / Ultra) or Dream Machine ProThree alternatives
Cisco Meraki, Palo Alto Networks NGFW, Sophos FirewallPerplexity SonarWatchGuard Fireboxagainst: Palo Alto Networks NGFWFortinet FortiGate applianceChangedagainst: Palo Alto PA-400 or VM-Series, pfSenseFortinet FortiGate, Sophos Firewall, WatchGuard Fireboxagainst: Palo Alto Networks NGFWFortinet FortiGateno first choiceagainst: Cisco Secure Firewall, Palo Alto Networks NGFW, SonicWall
Two alternatives
Fortinet FortiGate, Sophos FirewallTwo alternatives
FortiGate VM, WatchGuard FireboxTwo alternatives
Cato Networks, Cisco Meraki MXThree alternatives
Netgate pfSense Plus, Sophos Firewall, WatchGuard FireboxGrok 4.20Fortinet FortiGateagainst: pfSenseFortinet FortiGateHeldagainst: Check Point Quantum or SASEFortinet FortiGateagainst: Check Point Quantum, pfSense/OPNsenseFortinet FortiGateagainst: Cisco Secure Firewall, Palo Alto Networks NGFW, Sophos FirewallFortinet FortiGate, Sophos Firewallagainst: Fortinet FortiGate, Palo Alto Networks NGFW, SonicWall
Four alternatives
Check Point Quantum Spark, Palo Alto Networks NGFW, SonicWall TZ Series, WatchGuard FireboxThree alternatives
Cisco Meraki MX, SonicWall TZ Series, pfSenseFour alternatives
Cisco Secure Firewall, Palo Alto Networks NGFW, SonicWall TZ Series, Sophos FirewallTwo alternatives
SonicWall TZ Series, pfSenseMistral SmallFortinet FortiGateno first choiceChangedFortinet FortiGateagainst: pfSenseFortinet FortiGateFortinet FortiGateagainst: Cisco Secure Firewall, Palo Alto Networks NGFWagainst: Check Point Quantum, Cisco Secure Firewall, Palo Alto Networks NGFW
Two alternatives
Sophos Firewall, WatchGuard FireboxFive alternatives
Check Point Harmony SASE, Cisco Meraki, Palo Alto Networks NGFW, SonicWall TZ Series, Sophos FirewallTwo alternatives
Ubiquiti UniFi, pfSenseFour alternatives
HPE Aruba, SonicWall, Sophos Firewall, WatchGuard FireboxDeepSeek V4 FlashFortinet FortiGateagainst: Cisco Secure Firewall, Palo Alto Networks NGFWFortinet FortiGateHeldagainst: OPNsense, SonicWall TZ Series, pfSenseFortinet FortiGateagainst: SonicWall TZ SeriesFortinet FortiGateFortinet FortiGateagainst: Check Point Quantum, Palo Alto Networks NGFWagainst: Check Point Quantum, Cisco Meraki, Palo Alto Networks NGFW, SonicWall
Three alternatives
SonicWall, Sophos Firewall, WatchGuard FireboxTwo alternatives
FortiGate VM, Sophos FirewallFour alternatives
Cisco Meraki MX, Palo Alto Networks NGFW, Sophos Firewall, WatchGuard FireboxFour alternatives
Firewalla Gold SE, Sophos Firewall, UniFi Cloud Gateway Max, pfSense/OPNsenseThree alternatives
Cisco Meraki, Sophos Firewall, WatchGuard FireboxLlama 4 MaverickFortinet FortiGateFortinet FortiGateHeldFortinet FortiGateFortinet FortiGate, Sophos Firewallno first choiceagainst: Cisco Secure Firewall, Palo Alto Networks NGFW, SonicWall
Three alternatives
Cisco Secure Firewall, Sophos Firewall, WatchGuard FireboxTwo alternatives
Sophos Firewall, WatchGuard FireboxTwo alternatives
Sophos Firewall, WatchGuard FireboxThree alternatives
Cisco Meraki MX64/MX64W, SonicWall TZ Series, WatchGuard FireboxQwen 3.7 FlashFortinet FortiGate, Sophos FirewallFortinet FortiGate, Palo Alto Networks NGFWChangedFortinet FortiGateagainst: Palo Alto Networks NGFWFortinet FortiGateFortinet FortiGateagainst: Cisco Secure Firewall, Juniper SRX Series, Palo Alto Networks NGFWagainst: Barracuda CloudGen Firewall, Check Point Quantum, Cisco Meraki SD-WAN, Cisco Secure Firewall, NetScreen, Palo Alto Networks NGFW, pfSense/OPNsense
One alternative
WatchGuard FireboxFive alternatives
Fortigate VM-VM-Serial, N-Tier Technology, Palo Alto CN-Series, Sophos Firewall, Stackpoint AllianceThree alternatives
Sophos Intercept X, Ubiquiti UniFi, WatchGuard T-SeriesThree alternatives
OPNsense®, SonicWall TZ Series, pfSense®Three alternatives
Cisco Meraki, Sophos Firewall, WatchGuard FireboxKimi K2Fortinet FortiGateagainst: Palo Alto Networks NGFWFortinet FortiGateHeldagainst: ASUS/Netgear "business" routers, UniFi Dream MachineFortinet FortiGate, Sophos Firewallagainst: Palo Alto Networks NGFWpfSenseagainst: SonicWall TZ80/TZ280, UniFi Cloud Gateway MaxFortinet FortiGate, WatchGuard Fireboxagainst: Palo Alto Networks NGFWagainst: Cisco Secure Firewall, Fortinet FortiGate, Palo Alto Networks NGFW, SonicWall
Three alternatives
Netgate 2100 pfSense+, SonicWall TZ Series, Sophos FirewallFour alternatives
Cisco Meraki MX, OPNsense, Palo Alto Networks PA‑410/420, pfSenseTwo alternatives
SonicWall TZ Series, WatchGuard FireboxTwo alternatives
Fortinet FortiGate 40F Series, WatchGuard Firebox T15/T20Two alternatives
SonicWall, Sophos FirewallGLM 4.7 FlashXFortinet FortiGate, Sophos FirewallCheck Point Harmony SASE, Fortinet FortiGateChangedagainst: pfSenseFortinet FortiGateagainst: OPNsense, pfSenseFortinet FortiGate FG-40Fagainst: Sophos Firewallno first choicenothing named
Three alternatives
Palo Alto Networks NGFW, WatchGuard Firebox, Zyxel USG FLEX H SeriesTwo alternatives
SonicWall TZ370, Sophos FirewallFive alternatives
Cisco Meraki MX, Palo Alto Networks PA‑440 / PA‑410, SonicWall TZ Series, Sophos Firewall, WatchGuard FireboxFour alternatives
SonicWall TZ400, UniFi Cloud Gateway Max, WatchGuard Firebox T15, pfSense/OPNsenseMiniMax M2.5Fortinet FortiGateFortinet FortiGateHeldagainst: Palo Alto Networks NGFWFortinet FortiGateFortinet FortiGate, SonicWall TZ Seriesagainst: pfSenseno first choiceagainst: Check Point Quantum, Cisco Firepower NGFW, Fortinet FortiGate, Palo Alto Networks NGFW
Eight alternatives
Cisco Secure Firewall, Cisco Umbrella, OPNsense, Palo Alto Networks NGFW, Sophos Firewall, WatchGuard Firebox, Zscaler Internet Access, pfSenseThree alternatives
Cisco Meraki MX, Sophos Firewall, WatchGuard FireboxFour alternatives
Cisco Meraki MX95, Palo Alto Networks PA-445/PA-850, Sophos XG Firewall, WatchGuard FireboxOne alternative
Cisco ASA 5500-X with FirePOWERGPT-6 LunaFortinet FortiGateFortiGate 70GChangedFortinet FortiGateagainst: Palo Alto Networks PA-400Firewalla Gold SEno first choiceagainst: Cisco ASA 5508-X and 5516-X, Older SonicWall TZ models, Sophos XG physical appliances
Two alternatives
FortiGate 90G, Sophos FirewallOne alternative
Sophos XGS 108 or 118Four alternatives
Cisco Meraki MX, SonicWall TZ Series, Sophos Firewall, WatchGuard FireboxOne alternative
FortiGate 50GMuse Glimmer 30BFortinet FortiGateFortinet FortiGateHeldFortinet FortiGate, Sophos Firewallagainst: Palo Alto Networks NGFWFortinet FortiGateagainst: OPNsense, pfSenseFortinet FortiGate, WatchGuard Fireboxagainst: Cisco Secure Firewall, FortiGate, Palo Alto Networks NGFW, SonicWall
Two alternatives
Sophos Firewall, WatchGuard FireboxTwo alternatives
Palo Alto PA-400 / PA-1400 Series, Sophos FirewallThree alternatives
Cisco Meraki MX, SonicWall TZ Series, WatchGuard FireboxTwo alternatives
Sophos Firewall, WatchGuard FireboxFour alternatives
Cisco Meraki MX, Palo Alto Networks NGFW, Sophos XG, Zyxel USG FLEX HBold is the first choiceAlternatives are counted; the count opens them.What the answer argued against
The record
One row per call: the version string exactly as returned, whether the model searched, sources cited, and latency.
Eighty-four rows: every prompt, every model, every answer.
| Prompt | Model | Version string | Time (UTC) | Searched | Sources | Latency |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Direct recommendation | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-11-01 18:04 | no | 0 | 5 s |
| Direct recommendation | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-11-01 08:46 | yes | 2 | 5 s |
| Direct recommendation | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.6-flash (asked for gemini-3.5-flash; the API answered as this version) | 2026-11-01 10:37 | no | 0 | 14 s |
| Direct recommendation | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-11-01 13:08 | yes | 10 | 4 s |
| Direct recommendation | Grok 4.20 | spacexai/grok-4.20-non-reasoning via xai | 2026-11-01 15:46 | yes | 14 | 14 s |
| Direct recommendation | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-11-01 10:16 | yes | 5 | 3 s |
| Direct recommendation | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra | 2026-11-01 18:37 | yes | 22 | 27 s |
| Direct recommendation | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-11-01 16:08 | yes | 5 | 3 s |
| Direct recommendation | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-11-01 17:02 | yes | 11 | 35 s |
| Direct recommendation | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-11-01 12:46 | yes | 15 | 29 s |
| Direct recommendation | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-11-01 08:45 | yes | 14 | 28 s |
| Direct recommendation | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-11-01 15:49 | no | 0 | 72 s |
| Direct recommendation | GPT-6 Luna | gpt-6-luna | 2026-11-01 10:50 | yes | 2 | 18 s |
| Direct recommendation | Muse Glimmer 30B | meta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai | 2026-11-01 18:33 | yes | 12 | 17 s |
| Paraphrase | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-11-01 09:37 | yes | 9 | 9 s |
| Paraphrase | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-11-01 15:14 | yes | 5 | 5 s |
| Paraphrase | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.6-flash (asked for gemini-3.5-flash; the API answered as this version) | 2026-11-01 19:14 | no | 0 | 16 s |
| Paraphrase | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-11-01 16:17 | yes | 10 | 5 s |
| Paraphrase | Grok 4.20 | spacexai/grok-4.20-non-reasoning via xai | 2026-11-01 17:48 | yes | 5 | 8 s |
| Paraphrase | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-11-01 16:52 | no | 0 | 2 s |
| Paraphrase | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra | 2026-11-01 10:00 | yes | 23 | 25 s |
| Paraphrase | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-11-01 10:53 | yes | 5 | 3 s |
| Paraphrase | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-11-01 14:12 | no | 0 | 31 s |
| Paraphrase | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-11-01 13:39 | no | 0 | 47 s |
| Paraphrase | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-11-01 19:08 | yes | 19 | 33 s |
| Paraphrase | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-11-01 10:58 | yes | 9 | 25 s |
| Paraphrase | GPT-6 Luna | gpt-6-luna | 2026-11-01 15:08 | yes | 3 | 10 s |
| Paraphrase | Muse Glimmer 30B | meta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai | 2026-11-01 13:53 | yes | 15 | 18 s |
| Comparative | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-11-01 10:32 | yes | 15 | 10 s |
| Comparative | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-11-01 08:44 | yes | 4 | 8 s |
| Comparative | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.6-flash (asked for gemini-3.5-flash; the API answered as this version) | 2026-11-01 11:00 | no | 0 | 15 s |
| Comparative | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-11-01 19:06 | yes | 10 | 6 s |
| Comparative | Grok 4.20 | spacexai/grok-4.20-non-reasoning via xai | 2026-11-01 13:45 | yes | 14 | 17 s |
| Comparative | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-11-01 10:39 | yes | 7 | 12 s |
| Comparative | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra | 2026-11-01 18:32 | yes | 25 | 56 s |
| Comparative | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-11-01 11:52 | yes | 5 | 2 s |
| Comparative | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-11-01 10:12 | no | 0 | 33 s |
| Comparative | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-11-01 11:18 | yes | 20 | 37 s |
| Comparative | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-11-01 12:39 | yes | 21 | 327 s |
| Comparative | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-11-01 16:05 | yes | 10 | 30 s |
| Comparative | GPT-6 Luna | gpt-6-luna | 2026-11-01 11:03 | yes | 6 | 23 s |
| Comparative | Muse Glimmer 30B | meta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai | 2026-11-01 19:36 | yes | 14 | 28 s |
| Budget constrained | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-11-01 09:27 | yes | 9 | 7 s |
| Budget constrained | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-11-01 10:15 | yes | 4 | 6 s |
| Budget constrained | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.6-flash (asked for gemini-3.5-flash; the API answered as this version) | 2026-11-01 17:49 | no | 0 | 14 s |
| Budget constrained | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-11-01 10:11 | yes | 10 | 4 s |
| Budget constrained | Grok 4.20 | spacexai/grok-4.20-non-reasoning via xai | 2026-11-01 15:34 | yes | 5 | 11 s |
| Budget constrained | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-11-01 17:03 | yes | 5 | 4 s |
| Budget constrained | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra | 2026-11-01 11:12 | yes | 9 | 13 s |
| Budget constrained | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-11-01 14:44 | yes | 5 | 3 s |
| Budget constrained | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-11-01 18:59 | yes | 5 | 31 s |
| Budget constrained | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-11-01 16:38 | yes | 10 | 18 s |
| Budget constrained | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-11-01 08:35 | yes | 13 | 24 s |
| Budget constrained | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-11-01 14:37 | yes | 5 | 26 s |
| Budget constrained | GPT-6 Luna | gpt-6-luna | 2026-11-01 13:39 | yes | 2 | 14 s |
| Budget constrained | Muse Glimmer 30B | meta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai | 2026-11-01 11:14 | yes | 10 | 20 s |
| Scale constrained | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-11-01 12:36 | no | 0 | 7 s |
| Scale constrained | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-11-01 14:13 | no | 0 | 5 s |
| Scale constrained | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.6-flash (asked for gemini-3.5-flash; the API answered as this version) | 2026-11-01 13:53 | no | 0 | 18 s |
| Scale constrained | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-11-01 17:32 | yes | 10 | 7 s |
| Scale constrained | Grok 4.20 | spacexai/grok-4.20-non-reasoning via xai | 2026-11-01 18:50 | yes | 5 | 12 s |
| Scale constrained | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-11-01 12:40 | no | 0 | 8 s |
| Scale constrained | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra | 2026-11-01 18:29 | yes | 24 | 61 s |
| Scale constrained | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-11-01 16:38 | yes | 5 | 3 s |
| Scale constrained | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-11-01 12:50 | no | 0 | 32 s |
| Scale constrained | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-11-01 18:25 | yes | 14 | 21 s |
| Scale constrained | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-11-01 14:50 | no | 0 | 24 s |
| Scale constrained | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-11-01 14:27 | yes | 5 | 28 s |
| Scale constrained | GPT-6 Luna | gpt-6-luna | 2026-11-01 18:52 | yes | 4 | 17 s |
| Scale constrained | Muse Glimmer 30B | meta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai | 2026-11-01 17:52 | yes | 13 | 22 s |
| Negative framing | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-11-01 16:00 | yes | 18 | 10 s |
| Negative framing | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-11-01 11:00 | yes | 4 | 7 s |
| Negative framing | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.6-flash (asked for gemini-3.5-flash; the API answered as this version) | 2026-11-01 11:26 | yes | 9 | 29 s |
| Negative framing | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-11-01 15:48 | yes | 10 | 5 s |
| Negative framing | Grok 4.20 | spacexai/grok-4.20-non-reasoning via xai | 2026-11-01 17:38 | yes | 9 | 10 s |
| Negative framing | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-11-01 11:10 | yes | 5 | 4 s |
| Negative framing | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra | 2026-11-01 12:51 | yes | 24 | 29 s |
| Negative framing | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-11-01 13:45 | yes | 5 | 3 s |
| Negative framing | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-11-01 15:27 | no | 0 | 34 s |
| Negative framing | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-11-01 15:31 | yes | 24 | 41 s |
| Negative framing | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-11-01 15:26 | yes | 23 | 61 s |
| Negative framing | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-11-01 14:28 | yes | 21 | 121 s |
| Negative framing | GPT-6 Luna | gpt-6-luna | 2026-11-01 10:17 | yes | 2 | 22 s |
| Negative framing | Muse Glimmer 30B | meta/muse-glimmer-30b via togetherai | 2026-11-01 10:01 | yes | 14 | 19 s |
Normalization in this category
Every judgment call made between the raw labels and the numbers above, listed so it is visible and reversible.
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Category-scoped readings
Barracuda read as Barracuda CloudGen Firewall
Check Point read as Check Point Quantum
Check Point (Quantum/RQLink) read as Check Point Quantum
Check Point CloudGuard read as Check Point CloudGuard Network Security
Cisco read as Cisco Secure Firewall
Cisco (Firepower NGFW) read as Cisco Secure Firewall
Cisco (Meraki) read as Cisco Secure Firewall
Cisco (e.g., Meraki MX or Firepower 1000 series) read as Cisco Secure Firewall
Cisco Firepower read as Cisco Secure Firewall
Cisco Meraki MX series read as Cisco Meraki MX
Cisco Secure Firewall / Firepower (FPR Series) read as Cisco Secure Firewall
Fortinet read as Fortinet FortiGate
Fortinet (FortiGate) read as Fortinet FortiGate
Fortinet FortiGate 40F read as Fortinet FortiGate
Fortinet FortiGate 70G read as Fortinet FortiGate
Fortinet FortiGate series read as Fortinet FortiGate
Fortinet FortiGate-60F read as Fortinet FortiGate
Juniper read as Juniper SRX Series
Palo Alto read as Palo Alto Networks NGFW
Palo Alto (PA-400 series) read as Palo Alto Networks NGFW
Palo Alto Networks read as Palo Alto Networks NGFW
Palo Alto Networks (Enterprise Series) read as Palo Alto Networks NGFW
Palo Alto Networks (PA Series) read as Palo Alto Networks NGFW
Palo Alto Networks (PA-400 Series) read as Palo Alto Networks NGFW
Palo Alto Networks (PA-400 Series: PA-410 / PA-440) read as Palo Alto Networks NGFW
Palo Alto Networks (PA-Series) read as Palo Alto Networks NGFW
Palo Alto Networks PA series read as Palo Alto Networks NGFW
Palo Alto Networks PA-400 Series read as Palo Alto Networks NGFW
Palo Alto Networks PA-400 series read as Palo Alto Networks NGFW
Palo Alto Networks PA-Series read as Palo Alto Networks NGFW
Palo Alto PA-Series read as Palo Alto Networks NGFW
SonicWall TZ read as SonicWall TZ Series
Sophos read as Sophos Firewall
Sophos (Sophos XG Firewall) read as Sophos Firewall
Sophos (XG/SF Series) read as Sophos Firewall
Sophos (XGS Series) read as Sophos Firewall
Sophos (XGS Series: XGS 116 / 126) read as Sophos Firewall
Sophos Firewall XGS read as Sophos Firewall
Sophos Firewall XGS Series read as Sophos Firewall
Sophos XGS read as Sophos Firewall
Sophos XGS Series read as Sophos Firewall
Sophos XGS Series (XGS 87 or 107) read as Sophos Firewall
Sophos XGS series read as Sophos Firewall
Ubiquiti read as Ubiquiti UniFi
Ubiquiti UniFi Gateway Pro read as Ubiquiti UniFi
WatchGuard read as WatchGuard Firebox
WatchGuard (Firebox) read as WatchGuard Firebox
WatchGuard Firebox T-series read as WatchGuard Firebox
Zscaler read as Zscaler Internet Access
Unresolved, counted raw
ASUS/Netgear "business" routers
Check Point Quantum or SASE
Cisco ASA 5500-X with FirePOWER
Cisco ASA 5508-X and 5516-X
Cisco ASA or Meraki MX
Cisco Firepower NGFW
Cisco Meraki MX64/MX64W
Cisco Secure Firewall 200 series / Firepower 1000 series
FortiGate 90G
FortiGate Cloud
Fortigate VM-VM-Serial (vDOM)
Fortinet FortiGate 40F Series
Fortinet FortiGate FG-40F
Fortinet FortiGate appliance
N-Tier Technology
NetScreen
Netgate
Netgate 2100 pfSense+
Netgate Appliance with pfSense / OPNsense
Netgate/pfSense or OPNsense
Netskope Next Gen SWG
OPNsense®
Older SonicWall TZ models
Palo Alto CN-Series
Palo Alto Networks PA-400
Palo Alto Networks PA-445/PA-850
Palo Alto Networks PA‑410/420
Palo Alto Networks PA‑440 / PA‑410
Palo Alto PA-400 / PA-1400 Series
Palo Alto PA-400 or VM-Series
SonicWall TZ370
SonicWall TZ400
SonicWall TZ80/TZ280
Sophos XG Firewall
Sophos XG physical appliances
Sophos XGS 108 or 118
Sophos xFlow
Stackpoint Alliance
Ubiquiti UniFi Cloud Gateway (Max / Ultra) or Dream Machine Pro
Ubiquiti UniFi Cloud Gateway Max
Ubiquiti UniFi UXG
UniFi Dream Machine
WatchGuard Firebox T15
WatchGuard Firebox T15/T20
WatchGuard T-Series
Zyxel USG FLEX H
Zyxel USG FLEX H Series
pfSense®
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.