# Next-generation firewalls for small business buyers: what AI models recommend, September 2026

IT AI Recommendation Index, September 2026 Edition. Asked as "next-generation firewall" and as "enterprise firewall appliance or virtual firewall", six framings each, to twelve models with search on, on behalf of a small B2B company. Page: https://it-ai-index.com/network/next-generation-firewalls/smb/

**Standing:** Fortinet FortiGate leads with 35% of first choices; verdict contested. 46 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| # | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fortinet FortiGate | 35% | 2% | 42 |
| 2 | WatchGuard Firebox | 13% | 0% | 30 |
| 3 | Sophos Firewall | 11% | 0% | 15 |
| 4 | Sophos XGS | 2% | 0% | 14 |
| 5 | SonicWall TZ Series | 2% | 33% | 12 |
| 6 | Cisco Meraki MX | 0% | 18% | 11 |
| 7 | SonicWall | 0% | 50% | 10 |
| 8 | Palo Alto Networks | 0% | 62% | 16 |

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

- Claude Haiku 4.5: no first choice
- GPT-5.4 mini: Fortinet FortiGate; alternatives Palo Alto Networks
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Fortinet FortiGate; alternatives Cisco Meraki, Palo Alto Networks, Sophos XGS
- Perplexity Sonar: Sophos Firewall; alternatives Fortinet FortiGate, WatchGuard Firebox
- Grok 4.1 Fast: Sophos Firewall; alternatives Fortinet FortiGate, WatchGuard Firebox
- Mistral Small: WatchGuard Firebox; alternatives Fortinet FortiGate, SonicWall TZ Series
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: WatchGuard Firebox; alternatives Fortinet FortiGate, SonicWall, Sophos Firewall
- Llama 4 Maverick: WatchGuard Firebox; alternatives Fortinet FortiGate, SonicWall Gen 7
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Fortinet FortiGate; alternatives Sophos XGS, WatchGuard Firebox
- Kimi K2: Sophos Firewall; alternatives Fortinet FortiGate, WatchGuard Firebox
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Fortinet FortiGate 40F; alternatives Cisco Meraki MX, Sophos Firewall XGS, WatchGuard Firebox
- MiniMax M2.5: no first choice

## Sources the answers cite

63 of 72 answers came back with a source list, from 12 of 12 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- cyberpress.org: 35 answers, 35 citations
- cybersecuritynews.com: 32 answers, 36 citations
- fortinet.com: 25 answers, 36 citations
- enterprisenetworkingplanet.com: 25 answers, 25 citations
- reddit.com: 23 answers, 41 citations
- comparitech.com: 20 answers, 26 citations
- cisco.com: 18 answers, 27 citations
- mspcompared.com: 16 answers, 23 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://cyberpress.org/best-next-generation-firewall-ngfw-solutions-for-every-business-size (34 answers)
- https://cybersecuritynews.com/best-next-generation-firewall (31 answers)
- https://enterprisenetworkingplanet.com/guides/best-firewalls-for-small-medium-business (25 answers)
- https://comparitech.com/net-admin/best-small-business-firewalls (17 answers)
- https://fortinet.com/solutions/small-business/firewall (17 answers)
- https://blog.invgate.com/best-firewall-for-small-business (14 answers)
- https://mspcompared.com/best/firewall (14 answers)
- https://smbsecureguide.com/network-security/small-business-firewall-buyers-guide-2026 (13 answers)
- https://firewalls.com/blog/best-firewalls-for-small-businesses-2024 (12 answers)
- https://secithub.com/smb-firewall-ranking-guide-2025 (12 answers)

## Warned against

- Palo Alto Networks: 10 of 16 labels negative. "small businesses should avoid or be cautious about high-end enterprise NGFWs (like Palo Alto) unless they have the resources to manage them" (Mistral Small, negative prompt)
- SonicWall: 5 of 10 labels negative. "Older SonicWall appliances or virtual models that are in the retirement pipeline... they're a poor choice unless you're certain the lifecycle fits your replacement plan." (GPT-5.4 mini, negative prompt)
- Zyxel: 4 of 4 labels negative. "it appears frequently in "avoid" lists within Managed Service Provider (MSP) communities" (Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt)
- Check Point: 4 of 5 labels negative. "Palo Alto Networks & Check Point (The "Overkill" Risk)... Why to avoid (unless you have an MSP)" (Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative 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, September 2026 Edition, it-ai-index.com.