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

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

| | First-choice share | Rank | Negative rate | Labels | Models naming it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Netskope One | 6% | #5 of 11 | 19% | 42 | 14 of 14 |
| Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange | 2% | #7 of 11 | 43% | 53 | 14 of 14 |

## The direct prompt, model by model

- 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)
- 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)
- Claude Haiku 4.5: neither named (first choices: Cato Networks) (alternatives: Check Point Harmony SASE, Cloudflare One, Fortinet FortiSASE)
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: neither named (first choices: Cato Networks) (alternatives: Cisco Secure Connect, Cloudflare One, Fortinet FortiSASE)
- Perplexity Sonar: neither named (first choices: Cato Networks) (alternatives: Cloudflare One, Fortinet FortiSASE)
- Grok 4.1 Fast: neither named (first choices: Cato Networks) (alternatives: Cloudflare One, Fortinet FortiSASE)
- Mistral Small: neither named (first choices: Cato Networks) (alternatives: Palo Alto Networks Prisma SASE)
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: neither named (first choices: Cato Networks) (alternatives: Cloudflare One, Fortinet FortiSASE)
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: neither named (first choices: Cato Networks) (alternatives: Cloudflare One)
- Kimi K2: neither named (first choices: Cato Networks) (alternatives: Cloudflare One, Fortinet FortiSASE)
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: neither named (first choices: Fortinet FortiSASE) (alternatives: Cato Networks, Cloudflare One)

## What the models said about Netskope One

- "enterprises should not assume it automatically matches the routing depth, local services, appliance variety, or failure behavior of competitors" (Claude Haiku 4.5, negative prompt, soft negative)
- "Mixed support experiences - some users report sluggish/inadequate support; High price point mentioned" (MiniMax M2.5, negative prompt, soft negative)
- "A security-first vendor (such as Zscaler or Netskope) ... an SSE-first platform may struggle" (Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt, soft negative)
- "Netskope One SASE is the strongest fit for a midmarket company because it is explicitly positioned as a single-vendor SASE solution tailored for midmarket to large enterprises" (Perplexity Sonar, paraphrase prompt, first choice)
- "Netskope took top position in Gartner\u2019s latest rankings of secure access service edge vendors" (Muse Glimmer 30B, comparative prompt, first choice)
- "1. Netskope One SASE: A cloud-native, fully converged, and single-vendor SASE solution" (Llama 4 Maverick, 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.