# Zscaler Deception: how AI models rank it, November 2026

Gane Index, November 2026 Edition. Named in 24 judge labels across 1 category by 13 of 14 models. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/zscaler-deception

## Standing by category

| Category | Share | Rank | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [Deception technology](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/security/deception-technology/index.md) | 0% | 20 | 21% | 24 |

## What the models said for it

- "Already on Zscaler → look first at Zscaler Deception." (GPT-5.4 mini, Deception)
- "native deception capabilities already included in your existing EDR/XDR suite (e.g., CrowdStrike, SentinelOne, Zscaler)" (Gemini 3.5 Flash, Deception)
- "FortiDeceptor and Smokescreen integrate deception into broader security operations for enterprise and OT environments" (Claude Haiku 4.5, Deception)
- "Choose Zscaler Deception if: You have a zero-trust architecture and need cloud-native deception." (MiniMax M2.5, Deception)

## And against it

- "33% negative rate with "criticized challenger" status - Zero first-choice share in recent evaluations" (Kimi K2, Deception)
- "Avoid starting with broad enterprise platforms such as Acalvio, CounterCraft, or Zscaler Deception" (Perplexity Sonar, Deception)
- "usually cost tens of thousands of dollars and require extensive tuning" (Gemini 3.5 Flash, Deception)
- "Zscaler Deception 6% is described as a "criticized challenger"." (Muse Glimmer 30B, Deception)

## By model

| Model | First choice | Alternative | Mention | Warning | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| GPT-5.4 mini | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| Perplexity Sonar | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Grok 4.20 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Mistral Small | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Llama 4 Maverick | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kimi K2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| MiniMax M2.5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| GPT-6 Luna | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Muse Glimmer 30B | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |

## Sources returned with these answers

The sites and pages cited by the answers that named Zscaler Deception, from 75 of the 77 answers that named it (only the models that return a source list).

### Domains cited

- verifiedmarketresearch.com: 49
- acalvio.com: 41
- expertinsights.com: 40
- zscaler.com: 34 (its own site)
- guideflow.com: 29
- gane.ai/index: 26
- countercraftsec.com: 21
- fidelissecurity.com: 18
- g2.com: 18
- sourceforge.net: 18

### Pages cited

- https://verifiedmarketresearch.com/blog/best-deception-technology-software: 49
- https://expertinsights.com/network-security/best-deception-technology-companies: 40
- https://guideflow.com/blog/deception-technology-software: 29
- https://zscaler.com/products-and-solutions/deception-technology: 21
- https://www.gane.ai/index/it/security/deception-technology/enterprise: 18
- https://zscaler.com/blogs/product-insights/what-to-look-for-deception-technology: 18
- https://techtarget.com/news/7-top-deception-technology-vendors-for-active-defense/836383: 16
- https://aimultiple.com/deception-tech-companies: 15

## In its own words

What Zscaler Deception's own pages state, read 2026-10-05. Stated by the vendor, not checked by the index.

- Positioning: Allows you to configure and deploy decoys to disrupt active attacks, create fake attack paths, and gain high-fidelity threat intelligence. (https://help.zscaler.com/deception/about-deceive)
- For: security teams (https://help.zscaler.com/deception/about-investigate)

## 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.