# Fortinet FortiGate vs Sophos Firewall: which do AI models recommend for firewalls, October 2026

IT AI Recommendation Index, October 2026 Edition, Next-generation firewalls. Fourteen of fourteen models named Fortinet FortiGate first on the direct prompt; one named Sophos Firewall. Page: https://it-ai-index.com/network/next-generation-firewalls/fortinet-fortigate-vs-sophos-firewall/

| | First-choice share | Rank | Negative rate | Labels | Models naming it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fortinet FortiGate | 73% | #1 of 8 | 10% | 68 | 14 of 14 |
| Sophos Firewall | 4% | #2 of 8 | 3% | 35 | 14 of 14 |

## The direct prompt, model by model

- GLM 4.7 FlashX: both first (first choices: Fortinet FortiGate, Sophos Firewall)
- Claude Haiku 4.5: fortinet fortigate first (first choices: Fortinet FortiGate) (alternatives: Check Point Quantum, Palo Alto Networks PA-Series)
- GPT-5.4 mini: fortinet fortigate first (first choices: Fortinet FortiGate) (alternatives: Check Point Quantum, Cisco Secure Firewall, Palo Alto Networks NGFW)
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: fortinet fortigate first (first choices: Fortinet FortiGate) (alternatives: Check Point Quantum, Palo Alto Networks NGFW, Sophos Firewall)
- Perplexity Sonar: fortinet fortigate first (first choices: Fortinet FortiGate) (alternatives: Palo Alto Networks PA-Series, Sophos Firewall)
- Grok 4.1 Fast: fortinet fortigate first (first choices: Fortinet FortiGate) (alternatives: Sophos Firewall, WatchGuard Firebox)
- Mistral Small: fortinet fortigate first (first choices: Fortinet FortiGate) (alternatives: Palo Alto Networks NGFW, Sophos Firewall)
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: fortinet fortigate first (first choices: Fortinet FortiGate) (alternatives: Sophos Firewall)
- Llama 4 Maverick: fortinet fortigate first (first choices: Fortinet FortiGate) (alternatives: Cisco Secure Firewalls, Palo Alto Networks' PA-Series)
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: fortinet fortigate first (first choices: Fortinet FortiGate) (alternatives: Check Point Harmony Edge / Infinity, Palo Alto Networks PA-Series)
- Kimi K2: fortinet fortigate first (first choices: Fortinet FortiGate) (alternatives: Cisco Meraki MX, Palo Alto Networks PA-Series, SonicWall NSa Series, Sophos XG, WatchGuard Firebox)
- MiniMax M2.5: fortinet fortigate first (first choices: Fortinet FortiGate) (alternatives: Palo Alto Networks NGFW, Sophos Firewall)
- GPT-6 Luna: fortinet fortigate first (first choices: Fortinet FortiGate) (alternatives: Check Point Quantum, Palo Alto Networks NGFW)
- Muse Glimmer 30B: fortinet fortigate first (first choices: Fortinet FortiGate) (alternatives: Palo Alto Networks PA-Series, SonicWall Gen 7, Sophos Firewall)

## What the models said about Fortinet FortiGate

- ""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 Sophos Firewall

- "Avoid SMB UTMs (Sophos, Barracuda) if you have a high-throughput environment" (Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt, hard negative)
- "The best next-generation firewall for a company with a limited budget is Untangle NG Firewall (Arista) or Sophos Firewall." (Llama 4 Maverick, budget prompt, first choice)
- "Most mid-market B2B companies will find Fortinet FortiGate or Sophos Firewall to be the best fit" (GLM 4.7 FlashX, direct prompt, first choice)
- "consolidates IPS, web filtering, application control, VPN, and sandboxing into a single appliance, suitable for mid-sized organizations and SMBs" (Llama 4 Maverick, paraphrase prompt, alternative)

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. Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category. Published under CC BY 4.0; the output is the models' output, and nothing here is a recommendation by the index.