# SASE platforms for small business 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 a small B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/network/sase-platforms/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This is the permanent record of the October 2026 Edition, published October 1, 2026 and superseded since.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/sase-platforms/smb/index.md

**Standing:** Cloudflare One leads with 69% of first choices; verdict clear leader. 51 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [Cloudflare One](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cloudflare-one/index.md) | 69% | 1% | 71 |
| 2 | [Check Point Harmony SASE](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/check-point-harmony-sase/index.md) | 6% | 27% | 30 |
| 3 | [Cisco Secure Access](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cisco-secure-access/index.md) | 6% | 45% | 20 |
| 4 | [Fortinet FortiSASE](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/fortinet-fortisase/index.md) | 4% | 11% | 47 |
| 5 | [Cato Networks](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cato-networks/index.md) | 4% | 22% | 27 |
| 7 | [Cato SASE Cloud](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cato-sase-cloud/index.md) | 2% | 19% | 21 |
| 11 | [NordLayer](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/nordlayer/index.md) | 0% | 0% | 14 |
| 44 | [Netskope One](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/netskope-one/index.md) | 0% | 43% | 23 |
| 54 | [Palo Alto Networks Prisma SASE](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/palo-alto-networks-prisma-sase/index.md) | 0% | 62% | 21 |
| 55 | [Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/zscaler-zero-trust-exchange/index.md) | 0% | 77% | 43 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 55 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: OpenVPN CloudConnexa; alternatives Check Point Harmony SASE, Cloudflare One, Todyl Security Platform, Twingate
- GPT-5.4 mini: Cloudflare One; alternatives Fortinet FortiSASE
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Check Point Harmony SASE; alternatives Cato Networks, Cloudflare One, NordLayer, Todyl Security Platform
- Perplexity Sonar: Cloudflare One; alternatives Fortinet FortiSASE
- Grok 4.20: Cloudflare One; alternatives Cato Networks, Netskope One, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SASE
- Mistral Small: Cloudflare One; alternatives Cato SASE Cloud, Cisco Secure Access
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Cloudflare One; alternatives Cato SASE Cloud
- Llama 4 Maverick: Cloudflare One; alternatives Cato SASE Cloud, Check Point Harmony SASE, Fortinet FortiSASE
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Cloudflare One; alternatives Cato Networks
- Kimi K2: Cloudflare One; alternatives Cato SASE Cloud, Cisco Secure Access
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Cloudflare One; alternatives Check Point Harmony SASE, Cisco Secure Access, Fortinet FortiSASE
- MiniMax M2.5: Cloudflare One; alternatives Fortinet FortiSASE, Todyl Security Platform
- GPT-6 Luna: Cloudflare One; alternatives Cato SASE Cloud, Fortinet FortiSASE
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Cisco Secure Access, Cisco Umbrella; alternatives Cloudflare One, Microsoft Entra Internet Access, Netskope One

## Sources the answers cite

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

- guideflow.com: 40 answers, 40 citations
- esecurityplanet.com: 37 answers, 37 citations
- g2.com: 29 answers, 56 citations
- en.softonic.com: 28 answers, 30 citations
- cloudflare.com: 26 answers, 43 citations
- fortinet.com: 23 answers, 26 citations
- pickmysoft.com: 23 answers, 23 citations
- blog.openvpn.net: 22 answers, 25 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://guideflow.com/blog/sase-platform (40 answers)
- https://esecurityplanet.com/products/secure-access-service-edge-sase (37 answers)
- https://en.softonic.com/business/article/best-sase-solutions (28 answers)
- https://pickmysoft.com/blog/best-secure-access-service-edge-sase-platforms (23 answers)
- https://blog.openvpn.net/best-sase-solution (22 answers)
- https://cotocus.com/blog/top-10-sase-platforms-features-pros-cons-comparison (22 answers)
- https://techrepublic.com/article/secure-access-service-edge-platforms (21 answers)
- https://sourceforge.net/software/secure-access-service-edge-sase/for-small-business (19 answers)
- https://tufin.com/blog/sase-solutions (17 answers)
- https://devopsschool.com/blog/top-10-sase-platforms-features-pros-cons-comparison (16 answers)

## Warned against

- Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange: 33 of 43 labels negative. "the platforms to be most cautious about are Palo Alto Prisma, Zscaler, and Versa (enterprise-priced, complex, and over-scaled)" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt)
- Netskope One: 10 of 23 labels negative. "Some AI recommendations explicitly advise avoiding "full SASE" platforms like Netskope for small businesses" (Kimi K2, negative prompt)
- Palo Alto Networks Prisma SASE: 13 of 21 labels negative. "Overkill for small needs — The depth of features and management overhead vastly exceeds what most small businesses require." (DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt)
- Check Point Harmony SASE: 8 of 30 labels negative. "complex implementation and configuration—especially policy setup—which overwhelms small IT teams. High licensing costs for SMBs make it hard to justify" (Grok 4.20, negative prompt)

## Movement since September 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: Cloudflare One at 68%.

- Cloudflare One: 54% to 68%, +14. Cleared the floor by 3 points · rank 1 of 50, unchanged.
- Cato Networks: 12% to 5%, −7. Inside the floor by 4 points · rank 2 → 4 of 50.
- Cisco Secure Access: 2% to 5%, +3. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 11 → 5 of 50.
- Netskope One: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 12 → 27 of 50.
- Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 13 → 50 of 50.
- Check Point Harmony SASE: 6% to 7%, +1. Inside the floor by 10 points · rank 4 → 2 of 50.
- Fortinet FortiSASE: 6% to 5%, −1. Inside the floor by 10 points · rank 3 of 50, unchanged.
- Cato SASE Cloud: 2% to 2%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 6 of 50, unchanged.
- NordLayer: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 14 → 11 of 50.
- Palo Alto Networks Prisma SASE: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 47 → 49 of 50.

## 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.