# Zero trust network access for small business buyers: what AI models recommend, November 2026

Gane Index, November 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/smb

**Standing:** Cloudflare One leads with 53% of first choices; verdict clear leader. 62 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) | 53% | 0% | 66 |
| 2 | [Twingate](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/twingate/index.md) | 37% | 2% | 64 |
| 3 | [Tailscale](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/tailscale/index.md) | 6% | 5% | 41 |
| 4 | [NordLayer](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/nordlayer/index.md) | 2% | 0% | 30 |
| 6 | [Check Point Harmony SASE](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/check-point-harmony-sase/index.md) | 0% | 8% | 24 |
| 7 | [Microsoft Entra Private Access](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/microsoft-entra-private-access/index.md) | 0% | 0% | 10 |
| 57 | [Palo Alto Networks Prisma Access](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/palo-alto-networks-prisma-access/index.md) | 0% | 89% | 18 |
| 58 | [Zscaler Private Access](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/zscaler-private-access/index.md) | 0% | 70% | 37 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 58 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; alternatives NordLayer, Twingate
- GPT-5.4 mini: Cloudflare One; alternatives Cisco Secure Access, Cisco Universal ZTNA, Tailscale, Zscaler Private Access
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Cloudflare One; alternatives NordLayer, Tailscale, Twingate
- Perplexity Sonar: Twingate; alternatives Check Point Harmony SASE, Cloudflare One, Microsoft Entra Private Access, Tailscale
- Grok 4.20: Twingate; alternatives Cloudbrink, Cloudflare One, ConnectaSec
- Mistral Small: Twingate; alternatives Cato Networks, Check Point Harmony SASE, Cloudflare One
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Cloudflare One; alternatives Tailscale, Twingate
- Llama 4 Maverick: Twingate; alternatives Check Point Harmony SASE, Cloudflare One, NordLayer
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Microsoft Entra ID; alternatives Cloudflare One, Teleport
- Kimi K2: Cloudflare One, Twingate; alternatives Check Point Harmony SASE, GoodAccess
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Cloudflare One; alternatives Check Point Harmony SASE, Cisco Duo, FortiClient ZTNA, NordLayer
- MiniMax M2.5: Cloudflare One, Tailscale; alternatives Cisco Duo Remote Access, Cloudbrink
- GPT-6 Luna: Twingate; alternatives Cloudflare One, Tailscale
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Cloudflare One, Twingate; alternatives Check Point Harmony SASE

## Sources the answers cite

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

- cyberpress.org: 36 answers, 37 citations
- cloudflare.com: 31 answers, 54 citations
- twingate.com: 25 answers, 57 citations
- slashdot.org: 25 answers, 26 citations
- aimultiple.com: 23 answers, 23 citations
- petronellatech.com: 22 answers, 23 citations
- cybersecuritynews.com: 22 answers, 22 citations
- costbench.com: 20 answers, 33 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://cyberpress.org/ztna-solutions-by-business-size (36 answers)
- https://slashdot.org/software/zero-trust-network-access-ztna/f-small-business (24 answers)
- https://aimultiple.com/ztna-solutions (23 answers)
- https://cloudflare.com/sase/products/access (23 answers)
- https://cybersecuritynews.com/best-ztna-solutions (22 answers)
- https://petronellatech.com/blog/zero-trust-vendors-compared-top-10-smbs-2026 (20 answers)
- https://gane.ai/index/it/network/zero-trust-network-access/smb (15 answers)
- https://twingate.com/pricing (15 answers)
- https://portnox.com/cybersecurity-101/zero-trust/who-are-the-best-ztna-providers (14 answers)
- https://expertinsights.com/network-security/the-top-zero-trust-network-access-solutions (13 answers)

## Warned against

- Zscaler Private Access: 26 of 37 labels negative. "Enterprise-heavy vendors (e.g., Zscaler, Palo Alto Prisma Access, Netskope) often require a minimum of 100 to 500 licenses... Avoid these unless you have specialized compliance requirements." (Gemini 3.5 Flash, scale prompt)
- Palo Alto Networks Prisma Access: 16 of 18 labels negative. "High negative sentiment (around 88-95% in SMB contexts) due to per-user pricing geared toward enterprises, feature bloat, and being "overkill"" (Grok 4.20, negative prompt)
- Cisco Secure Access: 6 of 8 labels negative. "Avoid enterprise-centric, per-user pricing platforms (Zscaler, Palo Alto, Cisco SASE)" (Muse Glimmer 30B, negative prompt)
- Netskope Private Access: 4 of 6 labels negative. "Avoid these unless you have specialized compliance requirements." (Gemini 3.5 Flash, scale prompt)

## Movement since October 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: Cloudflare One at 53%.

- Twingate: 30% to 37%, +7. Inside the floor by 4 points · rank 2 of 58, unchanged.
- Cloudflare One: 58% to 53%, −5. Inside the floor by 6 points · rank 1 of 58, unchanged.
- Tailscale: 8% to 6%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 3 of 58, unchanged.
- NordLayer: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 6 → 4 of 58.
- Check Point Harmony SASE: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 4 → 6 of 58.
- OpenVPN CloudConnexa: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 5 → 8 of 58.
- Microsoft Entra Private Access: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 13 → 7 of 58.
- Netskope Private Access: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 42 → 54 of 58.
- Cisco Secure Access: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 43 → 56 of 58.
- Palo Alto Networks Prisma Access: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 44 → 57 of 58.
- Zscaler Private Access: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 45 → 58 of 58.

## 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.