Next-generation firewalls · September 2026 Edition
Fortinet FortiGate vs Palo Alto Networks
Eleven of twelve models named Fortinet FortiGate first on the direct prompt; one named Palo Alto Networks. Both were named by all twelve models and Fortinet FortiGate carries 38 labels and Palo Alto Networks 31, so the shares are not directly comparable.
Named in two categories this edition.
Named in eight categories this edition.
First-choice share61%2%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate8%29%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#1#3A position in a field of 10; printed, not drawn.
Labels3831A 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.Fortinet FortiGate vs Fortinet · Fortinet vs Palo Alto Networks
Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all twelve 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 twelve models made each the first choice, per way of asking, and how many argued against it.
Fortinet FortiGateFirst choices, of twelve modelsPalo Alto Networks
Direct111
Paraphrase80
Comparative19
Budget-constrained601 against Palo Alto Networks
Scale-constrained303 against Palo Alto Networks
Negative003 against Fortinet FortiGate · 5 against Palo Alto Networks
Bars are first choices, 0 to 12 each sideModels that argued againstA model can name both, so the two sides of a row do not sum to twelve.
The direct prompt
The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where Fortinet FortiGate and Palo Alto Networks stood in it.
Fortinet FortiGate first, Palo Alto Networks an alternative
11 of 12 modelsPalo Alto Networks was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.Claude Haiku 4.5Fortinet FortiGate alternatives: Palo Alto Networks PA-Series
Gemini 3.5 FlashFortinet FortiGate alternatives: Palo Alto Networks, Sophos Firewall
Perplexity SonarFortinet FortiGate alternatives: Check Point Quantum, Palo Alto Networks PA-Series, Sophos Firewall XGS
Grok 4.1 FastFortinet FortiGate alternatives: Cisco Secure Firewall, Palo Alto PA-Series, Sophos Firewall, WatchGuard Firebox
Mistral SmallFortinet FortiGate alternatives: Palo Alto Networks, Sophos
DeepSeek V4 FlashFortinet FortiGate alternatives: Check Point, Cisco Secure Firewall, Palo Alto Networks, Sophos XGS, WatchGuard Firebox
Llama 4 MaverickFortinet FortiGate alternatives: Palo Alto Networks PA-Series, Sophos Firewall
Qwen 3.7 FlashFortinet FortiGate alternatives: Cisco Security Firewall, Palo Alto Networks
Kimi K2Fortinet FortiGate alternatives: Palo Alto Networks PA-Series, SonicWall NSa Series, WatchGuard Firebox
GLM 4.7 FlashXFortinet FortiGate alternatives: Cisco Secure Firewall, Palo Alto Networks PA-Series, Sophos XGS
MiniMax M2.5Fortinet FortiGate alternatives: Palo Alto Networks PA-Series, Sophos Firewall
Palo Alto Networks first, Fortinet FortiGate not the choice
1 of 12 modelsFortinet FortiGate was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.GPT-5.4 miniPalo Alto Networks alternatives: Check Point, Fortinet
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 thirty-five points.
Fortinet FortiGate35%#1 of 8Palo Alto Networks0%#8 of 8Mid-marketThe figures above
Fortinet FortiGate leads by fifty-nine points.
Fortinet FortiGate61%#1 of 10Palo Alto Networks2%#3 of 10Enterprise
Level: the same share of first choices.
Fortinet FortiGate28%#2 of 7Palo Alto Networks28%#1 of 7What 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 seven in this category shown.
“Older models of Fortigate, Palo Alto, and other NGFW devices can become security liabilities if not regularly updated.” Mistral Small · negative prompt · soft negative
“"Caution" in NSS Labs 2025 (79.24% effectiveness). Massive CVE volume (100+ tracked)” Grok 4.1 Fast · negative prompt · soft negative
“Verdict: Caution (High Maintenance)” GLM 4.7 FlashX · negative prompt · soft negative
“The Overall Best Value & Price-Performance: Fortinet FortiGate ... go with the Fortinet FortiGate. It offers the most future-proof scalability” Gemini 3.5 Flash · direct prompt · first choice
“The Best All-Rounder: Fortinet FortiGate (Series 600) ... market leader for mid-sized businesses because it offers the best price-to-performance ratio” Qwen 3.7 Flash · paraphrase prompt · first choice
“For a 500-person company, Fortinet FortiGate is frequently recommended as the sweet spot—enterprise-grade features at mid-market pricing.” Kimi K2 · scale prompt · first choice
What the models said about Palo Alto Networks
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Five of five in this category shown.
“Earned "Caution" in NSS Labs 2025 (lowest security effectiveness at 46.37%, failed critical network/transport-layer evasions)” Grok 4.1 Fast · negative prompt · soft negative
“Highest cost. Both the hardware and the annual subscription renewals are significantly more expensive than competitors.” Gemini 3.5 Flash · scale prompt · soft negative
“Palo Alto is usually favored for deepest application visibility and advanced threat prevention... often positioned as the most feature-rich option” Perplexity Sonar · comparative prompt · first choice
“Palo Alto Networks is usually the best overall choice if you want top-tier security, strong app visibility, and a mature management stack.” GPT-5.4 mini · direct prompt · first choice
“Industry leader with powerful threat detection, AI-driven analytics, cloud-native firewalling (Prisma), and a strong ecosystem” Claude Haiku 4.5 · comparative prompt · first choice
Also compared
Comparisons are drawn for the top three products in each category. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.