# SASE platforms for enterprise buyers: what AI models recommend, September 2026

IT AI Recommendation Index, September 2026 Edition. Asked as "SASE platform" and as "secure access service edge solution", six framings each, to twelve models with search on, on behalf of an enterprise B2B company. Page: https://it-ai-index.com/network/sase-platforms/enterprise/

**Standing:** Palo Alto Networks Prisma SASE leads with 31% of first choices; verdict contested. 42 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| # | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Palo Alto Networks Prisma SASE | 31% | 14% | 49 |
| 2 | Cato Networks | 17% | 9% | 35 |
| 3 | Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange | 17% | 24% | 58 |
| 4 | Cato SASE Cloud | 10% | 19% | 16 |
| 5 | Netskope One | 7% | 11% | 45 |
| 6 | Cloudflare One | 7% | 26% | 34 |
| 7 | Fortinet FortiSASE | 2% | 12% | 43 |
| 8 | Cisco Secure Access | 2% | 23% | 13 |
| 9 | Cisco | 2% | 25% | 12 |
| 10 | Versa SASE | 0% | 7% | 14 |
| 11 | Check Point Harmony SASE | 0% | 46% | 13 |

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

- Claude Haiku 4.5: Cisco; alternatives Cato Networks, Check Point Harmony SASE, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SASE, Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange
- GPT-5.4 mini: Palo Alto Networks Prisma SASE; alternatives Cato Networks, Netskope One, Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Netskope One, Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange; alternatives Cato Networks, Fortinet FortiSASE, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SASE
- Perplexity Sonar: Cato Networks; alternatives Cisco Secure Access, Fortinet FortiSASE, Netskope One, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SASE
- Grok 4.1 Fast: Palo Alto Networks Prisma SASE; alternatives Cato SASE Cloud, Cisco Secure Connect, Fortinet FortiSASE, Netskope One
- Mistral Small: Palo Alto Networks Prisma SASE; alternatives Cato Networks, Netskope One, Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Netskope One; alternatives Cato Networks, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SASE
- Llama 4 Maverick: Palo Alto Networks Prisma SASE; alternatives Cato Networks, Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Palo Alto Networks Prisma SASE, Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange; alternatives Cato Networks, Netskope One
- Kimi K2: Palo Alto Networks Prisma SASE; alternatives Cato Networks, Cisco Secure Connect, Fortinet FortiSASE, Netskope One
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Cato Networks, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SASE; alternatives Cisco Secure Access, Fortinet FortiSASE, Netskope One, Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange
- MiniMax M2.5: Cato Networks, Palo Alto Networks Prisma SASE; alternatives Fortinet FortiSASE

## Sources the answers cite

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

- gartner.com: 34 answers, 41 citations
- fortinet.com: 24 answers, 35 citations
- sase.cloud: 23 answers, 46 citations
- pickmysoft.com: 19 answers, 19 citations
- netify.co.uk: 18 answers, 29 citations
- macronetservices.com: 18 answers, 18 citations
- sasecompare.com: 18 answers, 18 citations
- techrepublic.com: 18 answers, 18 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://gartner.com/reviews/market/single-vendor-sase (27 answers)
- https://pickmysoft.com/blog/best-secure-access-service-edge-sase-platforms (19 answers)
- https://macronetservices.com/sase-leaders-vendors-comparison (18 answers)
- https://techrepublic.com/article/secure-access-service-edge-platforms (18 answers)
- https://guideflow.com/blog/sase-platform (16 answers)
- https://sasecompare.com/blog/best-sase-providers-2026-comparison-criteria (15 answers)
- https://crn.com/news/security/2024/palo-alto-networks-cato-netskope-top-gartner-s-sase-magic-quadrant-for-2024 (14 answers)
- https://cyberhaven.com/blog/top-sase-solutions (14 answers)
- https://blog.openvpn.net/best-sase-solution (13 answers)
- https://guptadeepak.com/tools/top-5-sase-platforms-2026 (13 answers)

## Warned against

- Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange: 14 of 58 labels negative. "Scalability/performance issues in reviews: Limited effective PoPs (40-60 despite 150+ claims), regional surcharges, latency from traffic hairpinning" (Grok 4.1 Fast, negative prompt)
- Cloudflare One: 9 of 34 labels negative. "Cloudflare One | Complex onboarding, steep learning curve, limited features, opaque pricing." (GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt)
- Check Point Harmony SASE: 6 of 13 labels negative. "Check Point SASE | Slow connections, complex management, user‑experience degradation." (GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt)
- Palo Alto Networks Prisma SASE: 7 of 49 labels negative. ""expensive compared with most other vendors" ... Not an "avoid" — but ... budget approval and localization need serious scrutiny." (DeepSeek V4 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.