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This is the permanent record of the October 2026 Edition, published October 1, 2026 and superseded since.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

**Standing:** Cloudflare One leads with 58% of first choices; verdict clear leader. 60 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) | 58% | 3% | 69 |
| 2 | [Twingate](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/twingate/index.md) | 30% | 2% | 62 |
| 3 | [Tailscale](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/tailscale/index.md) | 8% | 0% | 49 |
| 4 | [Check Point Harmony SASE](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/check-point-harmony-sase/index.md) | 2% | 12% | 34 |
| 5 | [OpenVPN CloudConnexa](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/openvpn-cloudconnexa/index.md) | 2% | 5% | 19 |
| 6 | [NordLayer](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/nordlayer/index.md) | 0% | 0% | 24 |
| 42 | [Netskope Private Access](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/netskope-private-access/index.md) | 0% | 91% | 11 |
| 43 | [Cisco Secure Access](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cisco-secure-access/index.md) | 0% | 91% | 11 |
| 44 | [Palo Alto Networks Prisma Access](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/palo-alto-networks-prisma-access/index.md) | 0% | 95% | 19 |
| 45 | [Zscaler Private Access](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/zscaler-private-access/index.md) | 0% | 81% | 43 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 45 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: Cloudflare One, Twingate; alternatives Check Point Harmony SASE, NordLayer
- GPT-5.4 mini: Cloudflare One; alternatives Microsoft Entra Private Access
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Twingate; alternatives Check Point Harmony SASE, Cloudflare One, Tailscale
- Perplexity Sonar: Twingate; alternatives Cloudflare One, Microsoft Entra ID + Intune, NordLayer, Okta Access Gateway
- Grok 4.20: Cloudflare One, Twingate; alternatives Tailscale
- Mistral Small: Twingate; alternatives ConnectaSec
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Cloudflare One; alternatives NordLayer, Tailscale, Twingate
- Llama 4 Maverick: OpenVPN CloudConnexa; alternatives Check Point Harmony SASE, Harmony SASE
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Cloudflare One; alternatives Cisco Umbrella, Microsoft Entra ID, Tailscale
- Kimi K2: Cloudflare One; alternatives Check Point Harmony SASE, Twingate
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Cloudflare One; alternatives GoodAccess, Microsoft Entra ID, Twingate
- MiniMax M2.5: Cloudflare One, Twingate; alternatives Google BeyondCorp Enterprise, Microsoft Entra ID
- GPT-6 Luna: Twingate; alternatives Cloudflare One, Tailscale
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Cloudflare One; alternatives Check Point Harmony SASE, Cisco Duo, OpenVPN CloudConnexa, Tailscale

## Sources the answers cite

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

- petronellatech.com: 47 answers, 47 citations
- cybersecuritynews.com: 38 answers, 44 citations
- cyberpress.org: 38 answers, 43 citations
- startwithidentity.com: 29 answers, 29 citations
- comparitech.com: 27 answers, 29 citations
- en.softonic.com: 25 answers, 28 citations
- zendikt.com: 24 answers, 25 citations
- venn.com: 22 answers, 26 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://petronellatech.com/blog/zero-trust-vendors-compared-top-10-smbs-2026 (47 answers)
- https://cybersecuritynews.com/best-ztna-solutions (37 answers)
- https://cyberpress.org/ztna-solutions-by-business-size (36 answers)
- https://startwithidentity.com/articles/top-8-zero-trust-network-access-tools (29 answers)
- https://comparitech.com/net-admin/zero-trust-networking-software (24 answers)
- https://zendikt.com/category/ztna-software (24 answers)
- https://en.softonic.com/business/article/best-ztna-solutions (22 answers)
- https://portnox.com/cybersecurity-101/zero-trust/who-are-the-best-ztna-providers (19 answers)
- https://venn.com/learn/zero-trust/zero-trust-solutions (19 answers)
- https://gane.ai/index/it/network/zero-trust-network-access/smb (18 answers)

## Warned against

- Zscaler Private Access: 35 of 43 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)
- Palo Alto Networks Prisma Access: 18 of 19 labels negative. "88% negative sentiment. Enterprise-centric per-user pricing, enterprise-focused features, overkill for small organizations" (GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt)
- Cisco Secure Access: 10 of 11 labels negative. "Avoid enterprise-centric, per-user pricing platforms (Zscaler, Palo Alto, Cisco SASE)" (Grok 4.20, negative prompt)
- Netskope Private Access: 10 of 11 labels negative. "grouped with Zscaler as an enterprise ZTNA/SASE suite that is powerful but overbuilt and expensive for SMBs" (Muse Glimmer 30B, negative prompt)

## Movement since September 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: Cloudflare One at 58%.

- Tailscale: 4% to 8%, +4. Inside the floor by 7 points · rank 3 of 42, unchanged.
- Cloudflare One: 60% to 58%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 1 of 42, unchanged.
- Check Point Harmony SASE: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 5 → 4 of 42.
- OpenVPN CloudConnexa: 4% to 2%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 4 → 5 of 42.
- Twingate: 31% to 31%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 2 of 42, unchanged.
- NordLayer: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 6 of 42, unchanged.
- Palo Alto Networks Prisma Access: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 51 → 41 of 42.
- Zscaler Private Access: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 52 → 42 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.