# Cloudflare One vs NordLayer: which do AI models recommend for ZTNA, October 2026

IT AI Recommendation Index, October 2026 Edition, Zero trust network access. Seven of fourteen models named Cloudflare One first on the direct prompt; one named NordLayer. Page: https://it-ai-index.com/network/zero-trust-network-access/cloudflare-one-vs-nordlayer/

| | First-choice share | Rank | Negative rate | Labels | Models naming it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cloudflare One | 38% | #2 of 11 | 4% | 56 | 14 of 14 |
| NordLayer | 3% | #4 of 11 | 11% | 18 | 9 of 14 |

## The direct prompt, model by model

- Perplexity Sonar: both first (first choices: Cloudflare One, NordLayer) (alternatives: Cato Networks, Cisco Secure Access, Portnox)
- Grok 4.1 Fast: cloudflare one first (first choices: Cloudflare One, Twingate) (alternatives: Cato Networks, Microsoft Entra Private Access, OpenVPN CloudConnexa)
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: cloudflare one first (first choices: Cloudflare One, Twingate) (alternatives: Cato Networks, Check Point Harmony SASE, NordLayer)
- Kimi K2: cloudflare one first (first choices: Cloudflare One, Twingate) (alternatives: Cato Networks, Netskope Private Access, NordLayer, Zscaler Private Access)
- MiniMax M2.5: cloudflare one first (first choices: Cato Networks, Cloudflare One) (alternatives: Axis Security, Banyan Security, OpenVPN CloudConnexa)
- GPT-6 Luna: cloudflare one first (first choices: Cloudflare One) (alternatives: Microsoft Entra Private Access, Twingate)
- Muse Glimmer 30B: cloudflare one first (first choices: Cloudflare One, Twingate) (alternatives: Cato Networks, Check Point Harmony SASE, Fortinet Universal ZTNA)
- Claude Haiku 4.5: neither first, one named (first choices: Cato Networks, Twingate) (alternatives: Cloudflare One, NordLayer)
- GPT-5.4 mini: neither first, one named (first choices: Zscaler Private Access) (alternatives: Cloudflare One, Netskope One SSE, Prisma Access)
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: neither first, one named (first choices: Twingate) (alternatives: Cato Networks, Check Point Harmony SASE, Cloudflare One, Microsoft Entra Private Access)
- Mistral Small: neither first, one named (first choices: Check Point Harmony SASE, Netskope Private Access) (alternatives: Cloudflare One, Twingate, Zscaler Private Access)
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: neither first, one named (first choices: Twingate) (alternatives: Cloudflare One, Fortinet Universal ZTNA)
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: neither first, one named (first choices: Cato Networks) (alternatives: Check Point Harmony SASE, Cloudflare One, Fortinet FortiZTNA)
- Llama 4 Maverick: neither named (first choices: Cato Networks) (alternatives: Check Point Harmony SASE, OpenVPN CloudConnexa)

## What the models said about Cloudflare One

- "Pure ZTNA (e.g., Twingate, Tailscale, Cloudflare Zero Trust): Great if you just want to kill the VPN and grant app-level access. Low overhead, easy to implement." (Qwen 3.7 Flash, scale prompt, first choice)
- "Cloudflare Zero Trust (specifically Cloudflare Access for ZTNA) stands out as the best option for a company with a limited budget." (Grok 4.1 Fast, budget prompt, first choice)

## What the models said about NordLayer

- "More of a "business VPN with ZTNA features" than a pure zero trust architecture" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, paraphrase prompt, soft negative)
- "Affordable but no robust free tier." (Grok 4.1 Fast, budget prompt, soft negative)
- "NordLayer is the safest pick if you want the simplest mid-market VPN replacement with fast onboarding" (Perplexity Sonar, direct prompt, first choice)
- "I'd lean toward Twingate or NordLayer" (Kimi K2, paraphrase prompt, first choice)
- "A strong option for mid-sized organizations wanting zero trust access controls without extensive infrastructure changes" (Claude Haiku 4.5, direct prompt, alternative)

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.