# SASE platforms: 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 a mid-market B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/network/sase-platforms/2026-10

This is the permanent record of the October 2026 Edition, published October 1, 2026 and superseded since.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

**Standing:** Cato Networks leads with 35% of first choices; verdict contested. 49 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [Cato Networks](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cato-networks/index.md) | 35% | 15% | 40 |
| 2 | [Cloudflare One](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cloudflare-one/index.md) | 33% | 13% | 62 |
| 3 | [Cato SASE Cloud](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cato-sase-cloud/index.md) | 10% | 17% | 18 |
| 4 | [Fortinet FortiSASE](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/fortinet-fortisase/index.md) | 6% | 10% | 58 |
| 5 | [Netskope One](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/netskope-one/index.md) | 6% | 19% | 42 |
| 7 | [Check Point Harmony SASE](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/check-point-harmony-sase/index.md) | 2% | 39% | 18 |
| 9 | [Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/zscaler-zero-trust-exchange/index.md) | 2% | 43% | 53 |
| 11 | [Palo Alto Networks Prisma SASE](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/palo-alto-networks-prisma-sase/index.md) | 0% | 27% | 44 |
| 12 | [Cisco Secure Access](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cisco-secure-access/index.md) | 0% | 24% | 29 |
| 13 | [Versa SASE](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/versa-sase/index.md) | 0% | 8% | 12 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 44 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: Cato Networks; alternatives Check Point Harmony SASE, Cloudflare One, Fortinet FortiSASE
- GPT-5.4 mini: Cato SASE Cloud; alternatives Fortinet FortiSASE, Netskope One, Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Cato Networks; alternatives Cisco Secure Connect, Cloudflare One, Fortinet FortiSASE
- Perplexity Sonar: Cato Networks; alternatives Cloudflare One, Fortinet FortiSASE
- Grok 4.20: Cato Networks; alternatives Cloudflare One, Fortinet FortiSASE
- Mistral Small: Cato Networks; alternatives Palo Alto Networks Prisma SASE
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Cato Networks; alternatives Cloudflare One, Fortinet FortiSASE
- Llama 4 Maverick: Cato SASE Cloud; alternatives COSGrid Z3 SASE, Fortinet FortiSASE, Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Cato Networks; alternatives Cloudflare One
- Kimi K2: Cato Networks; alternatives Cloudflare One, Fortinet FortiSASE
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Fortinet FortiSASE; alternatives Cato Networks, Cloudflare One
- MiniMax M2.5: Cato Networks; alternatives Cloudflare One, Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange
- GPT-6 Luna: Cato Networks; alternatives Fortinet FortiSASE, Netskope One, Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Cato Networks; alternatives Cloudflare One, Fortinet FortiSASE, Netskope One

## Sources the answers cite

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

- guideflow.com: 48 answers, 48 citations
- techrepublic.com: 25 answers, 25 citations
- g2.com: 23 answers, 50 citations
- fortinet.com: 23 answers, 48 citations
- esecurityplanet.com: 21 answers, 21 citations
- catonetworks.com: 20 answers, 26 citations
- cyberhaven.com: 19 answers, 19 citations
- cloudsek.com: 18 answers, 18 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://guideflow.com/blog/sase-platform (48 answers)
- https://techrepublic.com/article/secure-access-service-edge-platforms (25 answers)
- https://esecurityplanet.com/products/secure-access-service-edge-sase (21 answers)
- https://cyberhaven.com/blog/top-sase-solutions (19 answers)
- https://cloudsek.com/knowledge-base/sase-solutions (18 answers)
- https://pickmysoft.com/blog/best-secure-access-service-edge-sase-platforms (18 answers)
- https://thenetworkdna.com/2026/04/top-5-sase-solution-providers-with.html (17 answers)
- https://viewpointanalysis.com/post/sase-software-options-2026 (17 answers)
- https://en.softonic.com/business/article/best-sase-solutions (16 answers)
- https://sase.checkpoint.com/blog/zero-trust/top-sase-solutions (16 answers)

## Warned against

- Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange: 23 of 53 labels negative. "Frequent Outages: Over 2,855 tracked incidents over six years on Downdetector" (GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt)
- Cloudflare One: 8 of 62 labels negative. "lacks mature security features ... Avoid if: You need comprehensive security features alongside connectivity" (GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt)
- Netskope One: 8 of 42 labels negative. "enterprises should not assume it automatically matches the routing depth, local services, appliance variety, or failure behavior of competitors" (Claude Haiku 4.5, negative prompt)
- Cato Networks: 6 of 40 labels negative. "Platform to Approach with Caution: Cato Networks. ... peer reviews consistently highlight a lack of granularity" (Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt)

## Movement since September 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
New leader: Cato SASE Cloud (28%) to Cato Networks (35%). Margin 28 points, beyond the floor.

- Cato SASE Cloud: 28% to 7%, −21. Cleared the floor by 10 points · rank 1 → 5 of 42.
- Cloudflare One: 23% to 33%, +10. Inside the floor by 1 point · rank 3 → 2 of 42.
- Cato Networks: 26% to 35%, +9. Inside the floor by 2 points · rank 2 → 1 of 42.
- Fortinet FortiSASE: 0% to 7%, +7. Inside the floor by 4 points · rank 10 → 3 of 42.
- Cisco Umbrella: 7% to 0%, −7. Inside the floor by 4 points · rank 4 → 35 of 42.
- Netskope One: 2% to 7%, +5. Inside the floor by 6 points · rank 7 → 4 of 42.
- Check Point Harmony SASE: 5% to 2%, −3. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 5 → 7 of 42.
- Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 11 → 10 of 42.
- Palo Alto Networks Prisma SASE: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 13 → 11 of 42.
- Cisco Secure Access: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 12 of 42, unchanged.
- Versa SASE: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 14 → 13 of 42.

## 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.