# Cato Networks vs Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange: which do AI models recommend for SASE, October 2026

IT AI Recommendation Index, October 2026 Edition, SASE platforms. Eleven of fourteen models named Cato Networks first on the direct prompt; zero named Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange. Page: https://it-ai-index.com/network/sase-platforms/cato-networks-vs-zscaler-zero-trust-exchange/

| | First-choice share | Rank | Negative rate | Labels | Models naming it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cato Networks | 35% | #1 of 11 | 15% | 40 | 13 of 14 |
| Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange | 2% | #7 of 11 | 43% | 53 | 14 of 14 |

## The direct prompt, model by model

- Claude Haiku 4.5: cato networks first (first choices: Cato Networks) (alternatives: Check Point Harmony SASE, Cloudflare One, Fortinet FortiSASE)
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: cato networks first (first choices: Cato Networks) (alternatives: Cisco Secure Connect, Cloudflare One, Fortinet FortiSASE)
- Perplexity Sonar: cato networks first (first choices: Cato Networks) (alternatives: Cloudflare One, Fortinet FortiSASE)
- Grok 4.1 Fast: cato networks first (first choices: Cato Networks) (alternatives: Cloudflare One, Fortinet FortiSASE)
- Mistral Small: cato networks first (first choices: Cato Networks) (alternatives: Palo Alto Networks Prisma SASE)
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: cato networks first (first choices: Cato Networks) (alternatives: Cloudflare One, Fortinet FortiSASE)
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: cato networks first (first choices: Cato Networks) (alternatives: Cloudflare One)
- Kimi K2: cato networks first (first choices: Cato Networks) (alternatives: Cloudflare One, Fortinet FortiSASE)
- MiniMax M2.5: cato networks first (first choices: Cato Networks) (alternatives: Cloudflare One, Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange)
- GPT-6 Luna: cato networks first (first choices: Cato Networks) (alternatives: Fortinet FortiSASE, Netskope One, Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange)
- Muse Glimmer 30B: cato networks first (first choices: Cato Networks) (alternatives: Cloudflare One, Fortinet FortiSASE, Netskope One)
- GPT-5.4 mini: neither first, one named (first choices: Cato SASE Cloud) (alternatives: Fortinet FortiSASE, Netskope One, Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange)
- Llama 4 Maverick: neither first, one named (first choices: Cato SASE Cloud) (alternatives: COSGrid Z3 SASE, Fortinet FortiSASE, Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange)
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: neither first, one named (first choices: Fortinet FortiSASE) (alternatives: Cato Networks, Cloudflare One)

## What the models said about Cato Networks

- "Platform to Approach with Caution: Cato Networks. ... peer reviews consistently highlight a lack of granularity" (Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt, soft negative)
- "Makes Cato a poor fit for environments that need on-prem inline controls or guaranteed log residency." (Muse Glimmer 30B, negative prompt, soft negative)
- "Cato Networks: Some speed/performance issues in user reviews ... licensing/fine-tuning challenges" (Grok 4.1 Fast, negative prompt, soft negative)
- "Widely considered the pioneer of true "single-vendor SASE." ... incredibly popular with mid-market companies because of its ease of deployment and low management overhead." (Gemini 3.5 Flash, scale prompt, first choice)
- ""For most mid-market teams that want one vendor, one console, and predictable per-site pricing, Cato Networks SASE Cloud is the strongest overall pick."" (Muse Glimmer 30B, direct prompt, first choice)
- "Cato is widely considered the top choice for mid-market companies that want to replace their legacy firewalls with a single, managed solution." (Qwen 3.7 Flash, direct prompt, first choice)

## What the models said about Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange

- "Frequent Outages: Over 2,855 tracked incidents over six years on Downdetector" (GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt, hard negative)
- "vendors like Zscaler or Cato may be worth considering—but they generally skew more enterprise and are less obviously budget-first" (GPT-5.4 mini, budget prompt, soft negative)
- "they are often too complex, too expensive, and require too much dedicated staff to manage and fine-tune for a mid-market organization" (Gemini 3.5 Flash, paraphrase prompt, soft negative)
- "Pros: Advanced threat protection, high scalability, strong integration with cloud environments" (Mistral Small, comparative prompt, first choice)
- "Zscaler is the vendor most enterprises benchmark everyone else against." (Muse Glimmer 30B, comparative prompt, first choice)
- "Cloudflare One or Zscaler offer the best value" (MiniMax M2.5, budget prompt, first choice)

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.