Next-generation firewalls · September 2026 Edition
Fortinet vs Palo Alto Networks
Zero of twelve models named Fortinet first on the direct prompt; one named Palo Alto Networks. Fortinet was named by eleven of the twelve models and Palo Alto Networks by twelve and Fortinet carries 19 labels and Palo Alto Networks 31, so the shares are not directly comparable.
Named in five categories this edition.
Named in eight categories this edition.
First-choice share9%2%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate26%29%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#2#3A position in a field of 10; printed, not drawn.
Labels1931A count; the two differ.
The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, Fortinet reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.Fortinet FortiGate was named alongside these two in eleven of the twelve direct answers. Fortinet FortiGate vs Fortinet · Fortinet FortiGate 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.
FortinetFirst choices, of twelve modelsPalo Alto Networks
Direct01
Paraphrase20
Comparative29
Budget-constrained101 against Palo Alto Networks
Scale-constrained103 against Palo Alto Networks
Negative005 against Fortinet · 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 and Palo Alto Networks stood in it.
Palo Alto Networks first, Fortinet an alternative
1 of 12 modelsFortinet was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.GPT-5.4 miniPalo Alto Networks alternatives: Check Point, Fortinet
Neither was the first choice, one was named
4 of 12 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.Gemini 3.5 FlashFortinet FortiGate alternatives: Palo Alto Networks, Sophos Firewall
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
Qwen 3.7 FlashFortinet FortiGate alternatives: Cisco Security Firewall, Palo Alto Networks
Neither was named
7 of 12 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.Claude Haiku 4.5Fortinet FortiGate alternatives: Palo Alto Networks PA-Series
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
Llama 4 MaverickFortinet FortiGate alternatives: Palo Alto Networks PA-Series, Sophos Firewall
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
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 leads by two points.
Fortinet2%#– of 8Palo Alto Networks0%#8 of 8Mid-marketThe figures above
Fortinet leads by seven points.
Fortinet9%#2 of 10Palo Alto Networks2%#3 of 10Enterprise
The order flips: Palo Alto Networks leads at enterprise.
Palo Alto Networks28%#1 of 7Fortinet11%#3 of 7What the models said about Fortinet
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Five of six in this category shown.
“20+ CVEs on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog — among the highest for any firewall vendor ... Fortinet and SonicWall currently require the most aggressive hardening” Kimi K2 · negative prompt · hard negative
“Be cautious with Palo Alto and Fortinet; they are top-tier platforms, but you must be prepared to patch them constantly” Gemini 3.5 Flash · negative prompt · soft negative
“Fortinet is currently the most deployed NGFW globally, holding a significant market share (~50%). It is widely recognized for its price-performance ratio.” GLM 4.7 FlashX · comparative prompt · first choice
“Fortinet is widely considered the best choice for mid-sized businesses that want high performance and robust security without paying premium-tier pricing.” Gemini 3.5 Flash · paraphrase prompt · first choice
“Fortinet FortiGate (appliance or virtual) is the best all-around choice due to its balance of performance, features, and cost.” Mistral Small · paraphrase 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.