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Index › IT › Products › Cisco › Alternatives · November 2026 Edition
One category · what the models named instead

Alternatives to Cisco, as AI models named them

In the November 2026 Edition, 247 of the 252 answers collected in the one category where Cisco holds a standing named it neither as a first choice nor as an alternative. These are the products those answers put first, category by category and buyer by buyer. The output is the models' output.

Named instead, most often
Illumio Segmentation71
Zero Networks Segment36
ColorTokens Xshield19
Akamai Guardicore Segmentation18
Cisco Secure Workload5
Tailscale4
First choices in the 247 answers that did not name Cisco, every category and segment above added together; a product can be counted in several. Each category below keeps its own denominator.

Microsegmentation

Network and edge. Six framings, fourteen models, one answer each per buyer segment; an answer counts here when Cisco is not its first choice or an alternative in it.
Small businessCisco holds 6 labels here, under the 10-label cutoff, so it is unranked.

Eighty-four of the eighty-four answers did not name Cisco; it was the first choice in zero. The first choices in those eighty-four answers, twenty-eight products in all, the eight most named:

Zero Networks Segment23 of 84
Illumio Segmentation8 of 84
Akamai Guardicore Segmentation6 of 84
Tailscale4 of 84
AWS Security Groups3 of 84
ColorTokens Xshield3 of 84
Azure Network Security Groups2 of 84
Calico2 of 84
20 more in the record.The full small business standing →
Mid-marketCisco is #8 of 8 here at 0% of first choices, 10 labels.

Eighty-one of the eighty-four answers did not name Cisco; it was the first choice in zero. The first choices in those eighty-one answers, sixteen products in all, the eight most named:

ColorTokens Xshield16 of 81
Illumio Segmentation13 of 81
Zero Networks Segment8 of 81
Akamai Guardicore Segmentation6 of 81
Faddom3 of 81
Cilium2 of 81
Cisco Secure Workload2 of 81
Calico1 of 81
8 more in the record.The full mid-market standing →
EnterpriseCisco holds 9 labels here, under the 10-label cutoff, so it is unranked.

Eighty-two of the eighty-four answers did not name Cisco; it was the first choice in zero. The first choices in those eighty-two answers, five products in all:

Illumio Segmentation50 of 82
Akamai Guardicore Segmentation6 of 82
Zero Networks Segment5 of 82
Cisco Secure Workload3 of 82
Elisity1 of 82
The full enterprise standing →

How to read this

A category is asked six ways of each of fourteen models on behalf of each buyer segment, so a segment is eighty-four answers. An answer belongs on this page when the judge labeled Cisco neither its first choice nor an alternative in it; the products listed are the first choices those answers made, counted once per answer. An answer that named nothing first, or named Cisco only in passing, is in the denominator and adds to no product. The counts are not the category standing, which is on the category page with its share and rank; they are the same record read from Cisco's side.

The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index, and a product named instead of Cisco was named by a model, not endorsed by anyone.

Cisco's pageAll products