# Zero trust network access for enterprise buyers: what AI models recommend, October 2026

Gane Index, October 2026 Edition. Asked as "ZTNA solution" and as "zero trust remote access tool to replace a VPN", six framings each, to fourteen models with search on, on behalf of an enterprise B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/network/zero-trust-network-access/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This is the permanent record of the October 2026 Edition, published October 1, 2026 and superseded since.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/zero-trust-network-access/enterprise/index.md

**Standing:** Zscaler Private Access leads with 53% of first choices; verdict clear leader. 57 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [Zscaler Private Access](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/zscaler-private-access/index.md) | 53% | 14% | 64 |
| 2 | [Cloudflare One](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cloudflare-one/index.md) | 12% | 2% | 60 |
| 3 | [Palo Alto Networks Prisma Access](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/palo-alto-networks-prisma-access/index.md) | 11% | 12% | 51 |
| 4 | [Microsoft Entra Private Access](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/microsoft-entra-private-access/index.md) | 5% | 0% | 21 |
| 6 | [Netskope Private Access](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/netskope-private-access/index.md) | 4% | 8% | 36 |
| 8 | [Twingate](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/twingate/index.md) | 2% | 24% | 17 |
| 12 | [Fortinet Universal ZTNA](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/fortinet-universal-ztna/index.md) | 0% | 0% | 12 |
| 13 | [Cisco Secure Access](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cisco-secure-access/index.md) | 0% | 20% | 15 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 46 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: Zscaler Private Access; alternatives Cloudflare One, Microsoft Entra Private Access, Palo Alto Networks Prisma Access
- GPT-5.4 mini: Zscaler Private Access; alternatives Cloudflare One, Microsoft Entra Private Access
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Zscaler Private Access; alternatives Cloudflare One, Netskope Private Access, Palo Alto Networks Prisma Access, Twingate
- Perplexity Sonar: Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange; alternatives Cloudflare One, Microsoft Entra Private Access
- Grok 4.20: Zscaler Private Access; alternatives Cloudflare One, Netskope Private Access, Palo Alto Networks Prisma Access
- Mistral Small: Zscaler Private Access; alternatives Cloudflare One, Fortinet Universal ZTNA, Netskope Private Access
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Netskope Private Access, Zscaler Private Access; alternatives Cloudflare One, Palo Alto Networks Prisma Access
- Llama 4 Maverick: no first choice
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Palo Alto Networks Prisma Access, Zscaler Private Access; alternatives Cisco, Microsoft Entra Private Access, Netskope Private Access
- Kimi K2: Netskope Private Access, Zscaler Private Access; alternatives Cisco Secure Access, Palo Alto Networks Prisma Access
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Palo Alto Networks Prisma Access, Zscaler Private Access; alternatives Cisco Secure Access, Cloudflare One, Netskope Private Access
- MiniMax M2.5: Palo Alto Networks Prisma Access, Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange; alternatives Akamai Enterprise Application Access, Cisco Umbrella, Cloudflare One
- GPT-6 Luna: Zscaler Private Access; alternatives Cloudflare One, Netskope Private Access, Prisma Access
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Zscaler Private Access; alternatives Cloudflare One, Netskope Private Access, Palo Alto Networks Prisma Access

## Sources the answers cite

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

- expertinsights.com: 40 answers, 40 citations
- portnox.com: 33 answers, 39 citations
- zendikt.com: 28 answers, 28 citations
- guptadeepak.com: 26 answers, 27 citations
- zscaler.com: 25 answers, 39 citations
- akamai.com: 24 answers, 25 citations
- venn.com: 23 answers, 32 citations
- gartner.com: 23 answers, 31 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://expertinsights.com/network-security/the-top-zero-trust-network-access-solutions (40 answers)
- https://portnox.com/cybersecurity-101/zero-trust/who-are-the-best-ztna-providers (29 answers)
- https://zendikt.com/category/ztna-software (28 answers)
- https://guptadeepak.com/tools/top-5-ztna-solutions-2026 (23 answers)
- https://akamai.com/site/en/documents/analyst-report/2024/kuppingercole-ztna-analyst-report.pdf (23 answers)
- https://venn.com/learn/zero-trust/zero-trust-solutions (20 answers)
- https://cyberpress.org/ztna-solutions-by-business-size (20 answers)
- https://guideflow.com/blog/zero-trust-network-access-software (20 answers)
- https://terrazone.io/best-ztna-service-provider (19 answers)
- https://devopsschool.com/blog/top-10-zero-trust-network-access-ztna-features-pros-cons-comparison (16 answers)

## Warned against

- Zscaler Private Access: 9 of 64 labels negative. "SAML signature validation failure (CVE-2025-54982); auth bypass via forged tokens... renewal price hikes (10-20%) painful for large budgets." (Grok 4.20, negative prompt)
- Palo Alto Networks Prisma Access: 6 of 51 labels negative. "pricing and licensing complexity that is notoriously difficult to navigate, with limited value outside the Palo Alto ecosystem" (Claude Haiku 4.5, negative prompt)
- Tailscale: 5 of 8 labels negative. "Avoid buying: ... Developer-first tools (Tailscale, Twingate) if you need enterprise compliance and centralized governance" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt)
- Twingate: 4 of 17 labels negative. "Developer-first tools (Tailscale, Twingate) if you need enterprise compliance and centralized governance" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt)

## Movement since September 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: Zscaler Private Access at 51%.

- Cloudflare One: 31% to 10%, −21. Cleared the floor by 10 points · rank 2 → 3 of 44.
- Palo Alto Networks Prisma Access: 5% to 12%, +7. Inside the floor by 4 points · rank 3 → 2 of 44.
- Zscaler Private Access: 57% to 51%, −6. Inside the floor by 5 points · rank 1 of 44, unchanged.
- Microsoft Entra Private Access: 2% to 6%, +4. Inside the floor by 7 points · rank 4 of 44, unchanged.
- Netskope Private Access: 0% to 4%, +4. Inside the floor by 7 points · rank 8 → 6 of 44.
- Akamai Enterprise Application Access: 0% to 4%, +4. Inside the floor by 7 points · rank 9 → 7 of 44.
- Twingate: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 10 → 8 of 44.
- Fortinet Universal ZTNA: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 7 → 12 of 44.
- Cisco Secure Access: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 11 → 13 of 44.
- Check Point Harmony SASE: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 35 → 43 of 44.
- Tailscale: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 16 → 44 of 44.

## 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.