Next-generation firewalls · October 2026 Edition
Sophos Firewall vs Cisco Secure Firewall
One of fourteen models named Sophos Firewall first on the direct prompt; zero named Cisco Secure Firewall. Both were named by all fourteen models and Sophos Firewall carries 35 labels and Cisco Secure Firewall 40, so the shares are not directly comparable.
Named in one category this edition.
Named in one category this edition.
First-choice share4%2%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate3%25%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#2#4A position in a field of 8; printed, not drawn.
Labels3540A count; the two differ.
The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, Sophos Firewall reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.Fortinet FortiGate was named alongside these two in fourteen of the fourteen direct answers. Fortinet FortiGate vs Sophos Firewall · Fortinet FortiGate vs Cisco Secure Firewall · Sophos Firewall vs Palo Alto Networks NGFW
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.
Sophos FirewallFirst choices, of fourteen modelsCisco Secure Firewall
Direct102 against Cisco Secure Firewall
Paraphrase00
Comparative001 against Cisco Secure Firewall
Budget-constrained101 against Cisco Secure Firewall
Scale-constrained01
Negative001 against Sophos Firewall · 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, Sophos Firewall and Cisco Secure Firewall were named in the same answer forty times, of the 94 answers naming Sophos Firewall and the 107 naming Cisco Secure Firewall. In those answers Cisco Secure Firewall took the first choice zero times and Sophos Firewall two.
Every model, every framing
The eighty-four answers behind the chart above, one cell each: where Sophos Firewall 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 | | | | | | |
Sophos Firewall Cisco Secure Firewall first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Sophos Firewall on the left and Cisco Secure Firewall on the right.The direct prompt
The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where Sophos Firewall and Cisco Secure Firewall stood in it.
Sophos Firewall first, Cisco Secure Firewall not the choice
1 of 14 modelsCisco Secure Firewall was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.GLM 4.7 FlashXFortinet FortiGate, Sophos Firewall
Neither was the first choice, one was named
8 of 14 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.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
MiniMax M2.5Fortinet FortiGate alternatives: Palo Alto Networks NGFW, Sophos Firewall
Muse Glimmer 30BFortinet FortiGate alternatives: Palo Alto Networks PA-Series, SonicWall Gen 7, Sophos Firewall
Neither was named
5 of 14 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.Claude Haiku 4.5Fortinet FortiGate alternatives: Check Point Quantum, Palo Alto Networks PA-Series
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
GPT-6 LunaFortinet FortiGate alternatives: Check Point Quantum, Palo Alto Networks NGFW
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
Sophos Firewall leads by twelve points.
Sophos Firewall12%#2 of 8Cisco Secure Firewall0%#8 of 8Mid-marketThe figures above
Sophos Firewall leads by two points.
Sophos Firewall4%#2 of 8Cisco Secure Firewall2%#4 of 8Enterprise
The order flips: Cisco Secure Firewall leads at enterprise.
Cisco Secure Firewall4%#4 of 5Sophos Firewall0%#5 of 5What the models said about Sophos Firewall
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Four of five in this category shown.
“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
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.