# Network access control for enterprise buyers: what AI models recommend, October 2026

IT AI Recommendation Index, October 2026 Edition. Asked as "network access control solution" and as "NAC system", six framings each, to fourteen models with search on, on behalf of an enterprise B2B company. Added to the October 2026 Edition on October 4, 2026; its answers are read by the distilled judge (ai-indexes-judge-qwen3-14b-run3), not the claude-opus-5 judge of the earlier categories. Page: https://it-ai-index.com/network/network-access-control/enterprise/

**Standing:** Cisco Identity Services Engine leads with 31% of first choices; verdict contested. 51 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| # | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cisco Identity Services Engine | 31% | 11% | 36 |
| 2 | Cisco ISE | 20% | 33% | 30 |
| 3 | Portnox Cloud | 18% | 5% | 44 |
| 4 | HPE Aruba ClearPass | 8% | 5% | 21 |
| 5 | Aruba ClearPass | 6% | 20% | 20 |
| 6 | Forescout | 2% | 17% | 35 |
| 7 | Fortinet FortiNAC | 2% | 16% | 31 |

## Each model's first choice on the direct prompt

- Claude Haiku 4.5: Cisco Identity Services Engine; alternatives Arista, Awake Security, Fortinet FortiNAC, Microsoft Entra ID
- GPT-5.4 mini: Cisco Identity Services Engine; alternatives FortiNAC
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: HPE Aruba Networking ClearPass Policy Manager; alternatives Cisco Identity Services Engine, Forescout Vistaro Platform, Portnox Cloud
- Perplexity Sonar: Cisco Identity Services Engine, Forescout; alternatives Aruba ClearPass, Ivanti Policy Secure, Portnox Cloud
- Grok 4.1 Fast: Cisco Identity Services Engine; alternatives Fortinet FortiNAC, HPE Aruba ClearPass, Portnox Cloud NAC
- Mistral Small: Cisco Identity Services Engine; alternatives Aruba ClearPass Policy Manager, Forescout
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Cisco Identity Services Engine, Portnox Cloud; alternatives Forescout, HPE Aruba ClearPass
- Llama 4 Maverick: Cisco ISE; alternatives Extreme Networks NAC, FortiNAC, Pulse Secure NAC
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Cisco Identity Services Engine; alternatives Cisco Secure Networking, Fortinet, Microsoft Entra ID, Palo Alto Networks
- Kimi K2: Cisco Identity Services Engine; alternatives Elisity, Forescout eyeSight/4D Platform, HPE Aruba ClearPass Policy Manager, Portnox Cloud
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Aruba ClearPass, Cisco ISE; alternatives Fortinet FortiNAC, Portnox Cloud
- MiniMax M2.5: no first choice
- GPT-6 Luna: Cisco ISE; alternatives HPE Aruba Networking ClearPass, Portnox Cloud
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Cisco ISE, HPE Aruba ClearPass; alternatives Portnox Cloud

## 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:

- portnox.com: 48 answers, 96 citations
- cyberpress.org: 41 answers, 41 citations
- purple.ai: 40 answers, 59 citations
- cybersecuritynews.com: 40 answers, 40 citations
- us.fitgap.com: 35 answers, 49 citations
- gartner.com: 29 answers, 46 citations
- elisity.com: 28 answers, 32 citations
- virima.com: 28 answers, 28 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://cyberpress.org/nac-solutions-by-business-size (41 answers)
- https://cybersecuritynews.com/best-nac-solutions (40 answers)
- https://us.fitgap.com/search/network-access-control-software (32 answers)
- https://virima.com/blog/best-network-access-control-solutions (28 answers)
- https://purple.ai/en-us/blogs/best-network-access-control (27 answers)
- https://cloudnuro.ai/blog/top-10-network-access-control-nac-solutions-for-zero-trust-implementation (24 answers)
- https://comparitech.com/net-admin/network-access-control-software (24 answers)
- https://gartner.com/reviews/market/network-access-control (23 answers)
- https://geekflare.com/cybersecurity/best-nac-software (23 answers)
- https://portnox.com/cybersecurity-101/access-control/top-nac-solutions (22 answers)

## Warned against

- Cisco ISE: 10 of 30 labels negative. "Avoid Cisco ISE unless you're already a Cisco-committed shop, due to licensing complexity that makes TCO forecasting difficult." (DeepSeek V4 Flash, budget prompt)
- Forescout: 6 of 35 labels negative. "Avoid: Cisco ISE and Forescout if cost predictability is your top priority" (Kimi K2, budget prompt)
- Fortinet FortiNAC: 5 of 31 labels negative. "makes prompt patching non-negotiable... deepest value assumes Fortinet infrastructure; multi-vendor enforcement is workable but less elegant." (Claude Haiku 4.5, negative prompt)
- Aruba ClearPass: 4 of 20 labels negative. "Avoid if predictability is a strict requirement (pricing is opaque)." (GLM 4.7 FlashX, budget prompt)

## Record

- Method: https://it-ai-index.com/methodology/
- Raw judge labels and full responses: https://it-ai-index.com/data/
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as IT AI Recommendation Index, October 2026 Edition, it-ai-index.com.