# SASE platforms for enterprise buyers: what AI models recommend, October 2026

Gane Index, October 2026 Edition. Asked as "SASE platform" and as "secure access service edge solution", six framings each, to fourteen models with search on, on behalf of an enterprise B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/network/sase-platforms/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This is the permanent record of the October 2026 Edition, published October 1, 2026 and superseded since.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/sase-platforms/enterprise/index.md

**Standing:** Palo Alto Networks Prisma SASE leads with 26% of first choices; verdict contested. 50 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [Palo Alto Networks Prisma SASE](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/palo-alto-networks-prisma-sase/index.md) | 26% | 15% | 52 |
| 2 | [Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/zscaler-zero-trust-exchange/index.md) | 22% | 21% | 62 |
| 3 | [Cloudflare One](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cloudflare-one/index.md) | 18% | 22% | 40 |
| 4 | [Cato Networks](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cato-networks/index.md) | 12% | 11% | 36 |
| 5 | [Cato SASE Cloud](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cato-sase-cloud/index.md) | 6% | 36% | 14 |
| 6 | [Netskope One](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/netskope-one/index.md) | 4% | 14% | 49 |
| 12 | [Fortinet FortiSASE](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/fortinet-fortisase/index.md) | 0% | 26% | 46 |
| 13 | [Cisco Secure Access](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cisco-secure-access/index.md) | 0% | 26% | 35 |
| 14 | [Versa SASE](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/versa-sase/index.md) | 0% | 29% | 14 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 47 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: Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange; alternatives Cisco Secure Access, Cloudflare One, Fortinet FortiSASE, Netskope One
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Palo Alto Networks Prisma SASE; alternatives Cato Networks, Fortinet FortiSASE, Netskope One, Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange
- Perplexity Sonar: Palo Alto Networks Prisma Access, Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange; alternatives Cato Networks, Cisco Secure Access, Netskope One
- Grok 4.20: Cato Networks, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SASE; alternatives Cisco Secure Access, Cloudflare One, Fortinet FortiSASE, Netskope One
- Mistral Small: Palo Alto Networks Prisma SASE; alternatives Cato Networks, Cloudflare One, Netskope One
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Palo Alto Networks Prisma SASE, Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange; alternatives Cato Networks, Netskope One
- Llama 4 Maverick: no first choice
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: no first choice; alternatives Cisco Secure, Fortinet FortiSASE, Microsoft Cloud Security, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SASE
- Kimi K2: Palo Alto Networks Prisma SASE; alternatives Cato Networks, Netskope One, Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Palo Alto Networks - Prisma SASE; alternatives Cato Networks, Cisco Secure Access, Fortinet FortiSASE, Zscaler - Zero Trust Exchange
- MiniMax M2.5: Cloudflare One, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SASE; alternatives Checkpoint SASE, Versa SASE
- GPT-6 Luna: Cato Networks; alternatives Fortinet FortiSASE, Netskope One, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SASE, Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Palo Alto Networks Prisma SASE; alternatives Fortinet FortiSASE, Netskope One, Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange

## Sources the answers cite

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

- guideflow.com: 43 answers, 43 citations
- fortinet.com: 31 answers, 51 citations
- netify.co.uk: 28 answers, 37 citations
- cloudsek.com: 23 answers, 23 citations
- catonetworks.com: 22 answers, 33 citations
- paloaltonetworks.com: 21 answers, 37 citations
- sase.checkpoint.com: 20 answers, 21 citations
- sase.cloud: 19 answers, 27 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://guideflow.com/blog/sase-platform (43 answers)
- https://cloudsek.com/knowledge-base/sase-solutions (23 answers)
- https://techrepublic.com/article/secure-access-service-edge-platforms (17 answers)
- https://pickmysoft.com/blog/best-secure-access-service-edge-sase-platforms (16 answers)
- https://netify.co.uk/insights/who-are-the-best-rated-sase-vendors (15 answers)
- https://comparitech.com/net-admin/best-sase-tools (14 answers)
- https://cyberhaven.com/blog/top-sase-solutions (14 answers)
- https://guptadeepak.com/tools/top-5-sase-platforms-2026 (14 answers)
- https://sase.checkpoint.com/blog/zero-trust/top-sase-solutions (14 answers)
- https://macronetservices.com/sase-leaders-vendors-comparison (13 answers)

## Warned against

- Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange: 13 of 62 labels negative. "Zscaler deployments can also become operationally complex when traffic forwarding, private application connectors, source-IP requirements, identity, browser behavior, multiple portals" (Claude Haiku 4.5, negative prompt)
- Fortinet FortiSASE: 12 of 46 labels negative. "Implementation is complex, the product is considered underdeveloped, and customer support is unhelpful." (Mistral Small, negative prompt)
- Cisco Secure Access: 9 of 35 labels negative. "Cisco's single-vendor SASE has product limitations regarding granular adaptive access... PoP footprint that lags behind native-cloud rivals." (Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt)
- Palo Alto Networks Prisma SASE: 8 of 52 labels negative. "strong enterprise options, but both generally require a custom quote, which makes upfront cost predictability weaker" (Perplexity Sonar, budget prompt)

## Movement since September 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: Palo Alto Networks Prisma SASE at 26%.

- Cloudflare One: 7% to 19%, +12. Cleared the floor by 1 point · rank 6 → 3 of 45.
- Cato Networks: 17% to 10%, −7. Inside the floor by 4 points · rank 2 → 4 of 45.
- Palo Alto Networks Prisma SASE: 31% to 26%, −5. Inside the floor by 6 points · rank 1 of 45, unchanged.
- Cisco Secure Access: 5% to 0%, −5. Inside the floor by 6 points · rank 7 → 11 of 45.
- Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange: 17% to 21%, +4. Inside the floor by 7 points · rank 3 → 2 of 45.
- Cato SASE Cloud: 10% to 7%, −3. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 4 → 5 of 45.
- Netskope One: 7% to 5%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 5 → 6 of 45.
- Fortinet FortiSASE: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 8 → 12 of 45.
- Versa SASE: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 11 → 13 of 45.
- Check Point Harmony SASE: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 37 → 45 of 45.

## 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.