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

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

| | First-choice share | Rank | Negative rate | Labels | Models naming it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fortinet FortiSASE | 6% | #4 of 11 | 10% | 58 | 14 of 14 |
| Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange | 2% | #7 of 11 | 43% | 53 | 14 of 14 |

## The direct prompt, model by model

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

## What the models said about Fortinet FortiSASE

- "Critical Compliance Failures: Fails FedRAMP authorization, HIPAA-BAA, and PCI-DSS" (GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt, hard negative)
- "Good if you are already heavily invested in Fortinet hardware at your branches, though it can sometimes be more complex to implement." (Qwen 3.7 Flash, direct prompt, soft negative)
- "The platform struggles with integration challenges, particularly integrating with legacy applications" (Claude Haiku 4.5, negative prompt, soft negative)
- "For most mid-market B2B companies, Fortinet FortiSASE offers the best balance of price, features, and reliability." (GLM 4.7 FlashX, direct prompt, first choice)
- "The Best All-Rounder: Fortinet (FortiGate)... Fortinet offers the highest "bang for your buck."" (Qwen 3.7 Flash, paraphrase prompt, first choice)
- "Top Recommendation: FortiSASE" (GLM 4.7 FlashX, paraphrase 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.