SASE platforms · October 2026 Edition
Cloudflare One vs Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange
Zero of fourteen models named Cloudflare One first on the direct prompt; zero named Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange. Both were named by all fourteen models and Cloudflare One carries 62 labels and Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange 53, so the shares are not directly comparable.
Named in six categories this edition.
Named in two categories this edition.
First-choice share33%2%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate13%43%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#2#7A position in a field of 11; printed, not drawn.
Labels6253A count; the two differ.
The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, Cloudflare One reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.Cato Networks was named alongside these two in twelve of the fourteen direct answers. Cato Networks vs Cloudflare One · Cato Networks vs Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange · Cloudflare One vs Cato SASE Cloud
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 SASE platforms page.
By framing
How many of the fourteen models made each the first choice, per way of asking, and how many argued against it.
Cloudflare OneFirst choices, of fourteen modelsZscaler Zero Trust Exchange
Direct006 against Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange
Paraphrase103 against Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange
Comparative021 against Cloudflare One
Budget-constrained1313 against Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange
Scale-constrained202 against Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange
Negative007 against Cloudflare One · 9 against Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange
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, Cloudflare One and Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange were named in the same answer 121 times, of the 397 answers naming Cloudflare One and the 166 naming Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange. In those answers Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange took the first choice fourteen times and Cloudflare One thirty-eight.
Every model, every framing
The eighty-four answers behind the chart above, one cell each: where Cloudflare One and Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange 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 | | | | | |
Cloudflare One Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Cloudflare One on the left and Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange on the right.The direct prompt
The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where Cloudflare One and Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange stood in it.
Neither was the first choice, one was named
13 of 14 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.Claude Haiku 4.5Cato Networks alternatives: Check Point Harmony SASE, Cloudflare One, Fortinet FortiSASE
GPT-5.4 miniCato SASE Cloud alternatives: Fortinet FortiSASE, Netskope One, Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange
Gemini 3.5 FlashCato Networks alternatives: Cisco Secure Connect, Cloudflare One, Fortinet FortiSASE
Perplexity SonarCato Networks alternatives: Cloudflare One, Fortinet FortiSASE
Grok 4.1 FastCato Networks alternatives: Cloudflare One, Fortinet FortiSASE
DeepSeek V4 FlashCato Networks alternatives: Cloudflare One, Fortinet FortiSASE
Llama 4 MaverickCato SASE Cloud alternatives: COSGrid Z3 SASE, Fortinet FortiSASE, Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange
Qwen 3.7 FlashCato Networks alternatives: Cloudflare One
Kimi K2Cato Networks alternatives: Cloudflare One, Fortinet FortiSASE
GLM 4.7 FlashXFortinet FortiSASE alternatives: Cato Networks, Cloudflare One
MiniMax M2.5Cato Networks alternatives: Cloudflare One, Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange
GPT-6 LunaCato Networks alternatives: Fortinet FortiSASE, Netskope One, Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange
Muse Glimmer 30BCato Networks alternatives: Cloudflare One, Fortinet FortiSASE, Netskope One
Neither was named
1 of 14 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.Mistral SmallCato Networks alternatives: Palo Alto Networks Prisma SASE
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
Cloudflare One leads by sixty-nine points.
Cloudflare One69%#1 of 10Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange0%#10 of 10Mid-marketThe figures above
Cloudflare One leads by thirty-one points.
Cloudflare One33%#2 of 11Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange2%#7 of 11Enterprise
The order flips: Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange leads at enterprise.
Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange22%#2 of 10Cloudflare One18%#3 of 10What the models said about Cloudflare One
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Five of five in this category shown.
“lacks mature security features ... Avoid if: You need comprehensive security features alongside connectivity” GLM 4.7 FlashX · negative prompt · hard negative
“recommends testing it rather than assuming it matches the traditional routing, local-services, and survivability depth” Perplexity Sonar · negative prompt · soft negative
“Complex onboarding, steep learning curve, limited features, opaque pricing (26% negative labels in AI review analysis)” Grok 4.1 Fast · negative prompt · soft negative
“My recommendation: Start with Cloudflare One's free tier... It's the lowest-risk, most transparent SASE option on the market right now” DeepSeek V4 Flash · budget prompt · first choice
“the strongest practical choice is usually Cloudflare One, because it has the clearest low-cost entry point and even a free tier” Perplexity Sonar · budget prompt · first choice
What the models said about Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of eight in this category shown.
“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
Also compared
Cato Networks vs Cloudflare OneCato Networks vs Zscaler Zero Trust ExchangeCloudflare One vs Cato SASE CloudCloudflare One vs Fortinet FortiSASECloudflare One vs Netskope OneCloudflare One vs Check Point Harmony SASECato SASE Cloud vs Zscaler Zero Trust ExchangeFortinet FortiSASE vs Zscaler Zero Trust ExchangeNetskope One vs Zscaler Zero Trust ExchangeCheck Point Harmony SASE vs Zscaler Zero Trust ExchangeAll twenty-one head-to-head pages and the full SASE standing
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.