# SASE platforms for small business buyers: what AI models recommend, November 2026

Gane Index, November 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/2026-11/smb

**Standing:** Cloudflare One leads with 68% of first choices; verdict clear leader. 44 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) | 68% | 3% | 62 |
| 2 | [Cato Networks](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cato-networks/index.md) | 11% | 3% | 32 |
| 3 | [Fortinet FortiSASE](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/fortinet-fortisase/index.md) | 5% | 18% | 49 |
| 4 | [Cato SASE Cloud](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cato-sase-cloud/index.md) | 5% | 38% | 16 |
| 5 | [Twingate](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/twingate/index.md) | 2% | 0% | 16 |
| 6 | [Check Point Harmony SASE](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/check-point-harmony-sase/index.md) | 2% | 19% | 31 |
| 10 | [NordLayer](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/nordlayer/index.md) | 0% | 0% | 11 |
| 11 | [Todyl Security Platform](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/todyl-security-platform/index.md) | 0% | 8% | 12 |
| 12 | [Cisco Secure Access](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cisco-secure-access/index.md) | 0% | 32% | 31 |
| 55 | [Netskope One](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/netskope-one/index.md) | 0% | 56% | 27 |
| 56 | [Palo Alto Networks Prisma SASE](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/palo-alto-networks-prisma-sase/index.md) | 0% | 62% | 24 |
| 57 | [Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/zscaler-zero-trust-exchange/index.md) | 0% | 61% | 54 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 57 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: Cloudflare One; alternatives Netskope One, Palo Alto Networks Prisma Access, Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Cato Networks, Check Point Harmony SASE, Cloudflare One; alternatives Fortinet FortiSASE, NordLayer, Todyl Security Platform
- Perplexity Sonar: Cloudflare One; alternatives Cato SASE Cloud, Check Point Harmony SASE, Fortinet FortiSASE
- Grok 4.20: Cato Networks, Cloudflare One; alternatives Palo Alto Networks Prisma SASE, Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange
- Mistral Small: Cloudflare One; alternatives Cato Networks, Fortinet FortiSASE
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Cloudflare One; alternatives Cato Networks, Cisco Secure Access, Fortinet FortiSASE
- Llama 4 Maverick: Cloudflare One; alternatives Cato Networks, Check Point Harmony SASE, Fortinet FortiSASE
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Cato Networks; alternatives Cloudflare One, Fortinet FortiSASE
- Kimi K2: Cloudflare One; alternatives Check Point Harmony SASE
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Cloudflare One; alternatives Check Point Harmony SASE, Cisco Secure Connect, Fortinet FortiSASE, Twingate
- MiniMax M2.5: Cisco Secure Connect; alternatives Todyl Security Platform
- GPT-6 Luna: Cato Networks; alternatives Cloudflare One, Fortinet FortiSASE, Netskope One
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Cloudflare One; alternatives Cisco Secure Access, Fortinet FortiSASE, Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange

## 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:

- g2.com: 43 answers, 83 citations
- sase.cloud: 31 answers, 39 citations
- cloudflare.com: 30 answers, 66 citations
- fortinet.com: 24 answers, 36 citations
- gane.ai/index: 24 answers, 27 citations
- netify.co.uk: 22 answers, 26 citations
- techrepublic.com: 17 answers, 19 citations
- blog.openvpn.net: 17 answers, 17 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://g2.com/categories/secure-access-service-edge-sase-platforms/small-business (30 answers)
- https://sase.cloud/vendors (24 answers)
- https://gane.ai/index/it/network/sase-platforms/smb (22 answers)
- https://blog.openvpn.net/best-sase-solution (17 answers)
- https://thenetworkdna.com/2026/04/top-5-sase-solution-providers-with.html (17 answers)
- https://dope.security/post/sase-vendors-2026 (14 answers)
- https://techrepublic.com/article/secure-access-service-edge-platforms (14 answers)
- https://cloudflare.com/plans (12 answers)
- https://netify.co.uk/insights/who-are-the-best-rated-sase-vendors (12 answers)
- https://viewpointanalysis.com/post/sase-software-options-2026 (12 answers)

## Warned against

- Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange: 33 of 54 labels negative. "The recommendation is to avoid ZPA for small business because it is built for large enterprises, with opaque/custom pricing" (Muse Glimmer 30B, negative prompt)
- Netskope One: 15 of 27 labels negative. "58% negative rate - No public pricing ... Support responsiveness issues reported by users" (GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt)
- Palo Alto Networks Prisma SASE: 15 of 24 labels negative. "Platforms with High Negative Feedback Rates ... 88% negative rate - Extremely complex implementation" (GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt)
- Fortinet FortiSASE: 9 of 49 labels negative. "User comments specifically advise to "avoid FortiSASE at all costs" due to its design and usability issues." (Mistral Small, negative prompt)

## Movement since October 2026

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

- Cato Networks: 4% to 11%, +7. Inside the floor by 4 points · rank 5 → 2 of 57.
- Cisco Secure Access: 6% to 0%, −6. Inside the floor by 5 points · rank 3 → 12 of 57.
- Check Point Harmony SASE: 6% to 2%, −4. Inside the floor by 7 points · rank 2 → 6 of 57.
- Cato SASE Cloud: 2% to 5%, +3. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 7 → 4 of 57.
- Twingate: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 12 → 5 of 57.
- Todyl Security Platform: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 8 → 11 of 57.
- Cloudflare One: 69% to 68%, −1. Inside the floor by 10 points · rank 1 of 57, unchanged.
- Fortinet FortiSASE: 4% to 5%, +1. Inside the floor by 10 points · rank 4 → 3 of 57.
- NordLayer: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 11 → 10 of 57.
- Netskope One: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 44 → 55 of 57.
- Palo Alto Networks Prisma SASE: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 54 → 56 of 57.
- Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 55 → 57 of 57.

## Record

- Method: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/methodology
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as Gane Index, November 2026 Edition, www.gane.ai/index/it.