Next-generation firewalls · October 2026 Edition
Fortinet FortiGate vs Cisco Secure Firewall
Fourteen of fourteen models named Fortinet FortiGate first on the direct prompt; zero named Cisco Secure Firewall. Both were named by all fourteen models and Fortinet FortiGate carries 68 labels and Cisco Secure Firewall 40, so the shares are not directly comparable.
Named in four categories this edition.
Named in one category this edition.
First-choice share73%2%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate10%25%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#1#4A position in a field of 8; printed, not drawn.
Labels6840A count; the two differ.
The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, Fortinet FortiGate reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.Sophos Firewall was named alongside these two in eight of the fourteen direct answers. Fortinet FortiGate vs Sophos Firewall · Fortinet FortiGate vs Palo Alto Networks NGFW · Sophos Firewall vs Cisco Secure Firewall
Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all fourteen models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category; every quote names the model and the prompt it came from. Both figures come from the next-generation firewalls page.
By framing
How many of the fourteen models made each the first choice, per way of asking, and how many argued against it.
Fortinet FortiGateFirst choices, of fourteen modelsCisco Secure Firewall
Direct1402 against Cisco Secure Firewall
Paraphrase100
Comparative701 against Cisco Secure Firewall
Budget-constrained1001 against Cisco Secure Firewall
Scale-constrained41
Negative107 against Fortinet FortiGate · 6 against Cisco Secure Firewall
Bars are first choices, 0 to 14 each sideModels that argued againstA model can name both, so the two sides of a row do not sum to fourteen.
Across every category in the October 2026 Edition, Fortinet FortiGate and Cisco Secure Firewall were named in the same answer ninety-nine times, of the 203 answers naming Fortinet FortiGate and the 107 naming Cisco Secure Firewall. In those answers Cisco Secure Firewall took the first choice one time and Fortinet FortiGate forty.
Every model, every framing
The eighty-four answers behind the chart above, one cell each: where Fortinet FortiGate and Cisco Secure Firewall stood in it.
| Model | Direct | Paraphrase | Comparative | Budget-constrained | Scale-constrained | Negative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | | | | | ||
| GPT-5.4 mini | | | | | | |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | | | | | | |
| Perplexity Sonar | | | | | ||
| Grok 4.1 Fast | | | | | | |
| Mistral Small | | | | |||
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | | | | | ||
| Llama 4 Maverick | | | ||||
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | | | | | | |
| Kimi K2 | | | | | | |
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | | | | | | |
| MiniMax M2.5 | | | | |||
| GPT-6 Luna | | | | | ||
| Muse Glimmer 30B | | | | | | |
Fortinet FortiGate Cisco Secure Firewall first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Fortinet FortiGate on the left and Cisco Secure Firewall on the right.The direct prompt
The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where Fortinet FortiGate and Cisco Secure Firewall stood in it.
Fortinet FortiGate first, Cisco Secure Firewall an alternative
14 of 14 modelsCisco Secure Firewall was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.Claude Haiku 4.5Fortinet FortiGate alternatives: Check Point Quantum, Palo Alto Networks PA-Series
GPT-5.4 miniFortinet FortiGate alternatives: Check Point Quantum, Cisco Secure Firewall, Palo Alto Networks NGFW
Gemini 3.5 FlashFortinet FortiGate alternatives: Check Point Quantum, Palo Alto Networks NGFW, Sophos Firewall
Perplexity SonarFortinet FortiGate alternatives: Palo Alto Networks PA-Series, Sophos Firewall
Grok 4.1 FastFortinet FortiGate alternatives: Sophos Firewall, WatchGuard Firebox
Mistral SmallFortinet FortiGate alternatives: Palo Alto Networks NGFW, Sophos Firewall
DeepSeek V4 FlashFortinet FortiGate alternatives: Sophos Firewall
Llama 4 MaverickFortinet FortiGate alternatives: Cisco Secure Firewalls, Palo Alto Networks' PA-Series
Qwen 3.7 FlashFortinet FortiGate alternatives: Check Point Harmony Edge / Infinity, Palo Alto Networks PA-Series
Kimi K2Fortinet FortiGate alternatives: Cisco Meraki MX, Palo Alto Networks PA-Series, SonicWall NSa Series, Sophos XG, WatchGuard Firebox
GLM 4.7 FlashXFortinet FortiGate, Sophos Firewall
MiniMax M2.5Fortinet FortiGate alternatives: Palo Alto Networks NGFW, Sophos Firewall
GPT-6 LunaFortinet FortiGate alternatives: Check Point Quantum, Palo Alto Networks NGFW
Muse Glimmer 30BFortinet FortiGate alternatives: Palo Alto Networks PA-Series, SonicWall Gen 7, Sophos Firewall
Bold names in an answer are the products the judge labeled a first choice; a model naming several gives each of them that label. The full answer text for every row is in the record.
By buyer segment
The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment and they are never added together. The figures above are the mid-market standing, which is the one the category orders by.
Small business
Fortinet FortiGate leads by fifty-one points.
Fortinet FortiGate51%#1 of 8Cisco Secure Firewall0%#8 of 8Mid-marketThe figures above
Fortinet FortiGate leads by seventy-one points.
Fortinet FortiGate73%#1 of 8Cisco Secure Firewall2%#4 of 8Enterprise
Fortinet FortiGate leads by thirty-three points.
Fortinet FortiGate37%#1 of 5Cisco Secure Firewall4%#4 of 5What the models said about Fortinet FortiGate
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of eight in this category shown.
“"20+ CVEs on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog — among the highest for any firewall vendor"; Caution rating” Muse Glimmer 30B · negative prompt · hard negative
“Avoid: SonicWall ..., Fortinet (due to high CVE count)” GLM 4.7 FlashX · negative prompt · hard negative
“Fortinet FortiGate/FortiOS deployments where SSL-VPN or other exposed services remain enabled without tight patching and monitoring” GPT-5.4 mini · negative prompt · soft negative
“Fortinet FortiGate: Top-rated for value, performance, scalability (Gartner Customers' Choice 5x). Great for mid-market; integrated Fabric ecosystem.” Grok 4.1 Fast · scale prompt · first choice
“For most enterprises the shortlist starts with Fortinet FortiGate (best price-performance) and Palo Alto Networks (deepest application control).” Muse Glimmer 30B · comparative prompt · first choice
“Most mid-market B2B companies will find Fortinet FortiGate or Sophos Firewall to be the best fit, with Fortinet offering the best value” GLM 4.7 FlashX · direct prompt · first choice
What the models said about Cisco Secure Firewall
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of eight in this category shown.
“Cisco failed one critical TCP-segmentation evasion, reducing its exploit-evasion resistance to 40 percent” Muse Glimmer 30B · negative prompt · hard negative
“Avoid Cisco if you do not have a dedicated, highly trained Cisco administrator on staff.” Gemini 3.5 Flash · negative prompt · hard negative
“Cisco Secure Firewall shows performance degradation when multiple security features are simultaneously enabled and typically falls below Fortinet and Palo Alto at equivalent price points” Claude Haiku 4.5 · negative prompt · soft negative
“Consider vendors like Fortinet, Palo Alto Networks, or Cisco that have proven mid-market solutions” GLM 4.7 FlashX · scale prompt · first choice
“If your organization's infrastructure is already built entirely on Cisco switches, routers, and identity services, choose Cisco” Gemini 3.5 Flash · comparative prompt · alternative
“Choose Cisco if you already rely heavily on Cisco infrastructure and want advanced traffic-analysis features.” Perplexity Sonar · comparative prompt · alternative
Also compared
Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category, each against each. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.