Zero trust network access · October 2026 Edition
Zscaler Private Access vs Tailscale
One of fourteen models named Zscaler Private Access first on the direct prompt; zero named Tailscale. Zscaler Private Access was named by fourteen of the fourteen models and Tailscale by twelve and Zscaler Private Access carries 51 labels and Tailscale 25, so the shares are not directly comparable.
Named in three categories this edition.
Named in three categories this edition.
First-choice share3%2%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate45%24%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#6#7A position in a field of 11; printed, not drawn.
Labels5125A count; the two differ.
The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, Zscaler Private Access reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.Cloudflare One was named alongside these two in thirteen of the fourteen direct answers. Twingate vs Zscaler Private Access · Twingate vs Tailscale · Cloudflare One vs Zscaler Private Access
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 zero trust network access page.
By framing
How many of the fourteen models made each the first choice, per way of asking, and how many argued against it.
Zscaler Private AccessFirst choices, of fourteen modelsTailscale
Direct105 against Zscaler Private Access
Paraphrase105 against Zscaler Private Access · 2 against Tailscale
Comparative801 against Tailscale
Budget-constrained001 against Zscaler Private Access · 2 against Tailscale
Scale-constrained014 against Zscaler Private Access
Negative018 against Zscaler Private Access · 1 against Tailscale
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, Zscaler Private Access and Tailscale were named in the same answer fifty-one times, of the 209 answers naming Zscaler Private Access and the 98 naming Tailscale. In those answers Tailscale took the first choice six times and Zscaler Private Access eight.
Every model, every framing
The eighty-four answers behind the chart above, one cell each: where Zscaler Private Access and Tailscale 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 | | | | | |
Zscaler Private Access Tailscale first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Zscaler Private Access on the left and Tailscale on the right.The direct prompt
The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where Zscaler Private Access and Tailscale stood in it.
Zscaler Private Access first, Tailscale not the choice
1 of 14 modelsTailscale was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.GPT-5.4 miniZscaler Private Access alternatives: Cloudflare One, Netskope One SSE, Prisma Access
Neither was the first choice, one was named
2 of 14 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.Mistral SmallCheck Point Harmony SASE, Netskope Private Access alternatives: Cloudflare One, Twingate, Zscaler Private Access
Kimi K2Cloudflare One, Twingate alternatives: Cato Networks, Netskope Private Access, NordLayer, Zscaler Private Access
Neither was named
11 of 14 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.Claude Haiku 4.5Cato Networks, Twingate alternatives: Cloudflare One, NordLayer
Gemini 3.5 FlashTwingate alternatives: Cato Networks, Check Point Harmony SASE, Cloudflare One, Microsoft Entra Private Access
Perplexity SonarCloudflare One, NordLayer alternatives: Cato Networks, Cisco Secure Access, Portnox
Grok 4.1 FastCloudflare One, Twingate alternatives: Cato Networks, Microsoft Entra Private Access, OpenVPN CloudConnexa
DeepSeek V4 FlashCloudflare One, Twingate alternatives: Cato Networks, Check Point Harmony SASE, NordLayer
Llama 4 MaverickCato Networks alternatives: Check Point Harmony SASE, OpenVPN CloudConnexa
Qwen 3.7 FlashTwingate alternatives: Cloudflare One, Fortinet Universal ZTNA
GLM 4.7 FlashXCato Networks alternatives: Check Point Harmony SASE, Cloudflare One, Fortinet FortiZTNA
MiniMax M2.5Cato Networks, Cloudflare One alternatives: Axis Security, Banyan Security, OpenVPN CloudConnexa
GPT-6 LunaCloudflare One alternatives: Microsoft Entra Private Access, Twingate
Muse Glimmer 30BCloudflare One, Twingate alternatives: Cato Networks, Check Point Harmony SASE, Fortinet Universal ZTNA
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
Tailscale leads by eight points.
Tailscale8%#3 of 10Zscaler Private Access0%#10 of 10Mid-marketThe figures above
The order flips: Zscaler Private Access leads at mid-market.
Zscaler Private Access3%#6 of 11Tailscale2%#7 of 11Enterprise
Zscaler Private Access leads by fifty-three points.
Zscaler Private Access53%#1 of 8Tailscale0%#– of 8What the models said about Zscaler Private Access
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of eight in this category shown.
“Avoid Zscaler for mid-market: It's powerful but designed for Fortune 500 scale—complex, expensive, and often overkill” Kimi K2 · paraphrase prompt · hard negative
“ZTNA Vendors to Approach with Caution ... Zscaler ... CVE-2025-54982: A SAML authentication bypass” DeepSeek V4 Flash · negative prompt · hard negative
“CVE-2025-54982: SAML authentication bypass due to failure to validate signed assertions” Kimi K2 · negative prompt · hard negative
“Zscaler Private Access is the market-leading ZTNA solution, delivering inside-out connectivity that never exposes applications to the internet” Claude Haiku 4.5 · comparative prompt · first choice
“Complex, global enterprise needing high compliance | Zscaler Private Access | Robust, highly certified, and built for massive scale.” Gemini 3.5 Flash · comparative prompt · first choice
“Zscaler is often treated as the canonical pure-play ZTNA vendor... Choose Zscaler if you want a widely recognized ZTNA leader” GPT-5.4 mini · comparative prompt · first choice
What the models said about Tailscale
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of eight in this category shown.
“Good for developer-heavy environments, but operates more at network layer (Layer 4) than true application-layer zero trust” Kimi K2 · paraphrase prompt · soft negative
“may lack full enterprise ZTNA compliance (e.g., advanced posture or auditing) without self-hosting effort” Grok 4.1 Fast · budget prompt · soft negative
“License concerns: 2024 BSL (Business Source License) switch raised community concerns” MiniMax M2.5 · negative prompt · soft negative
“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
“Tailscale: For rapid deployment and ease of use (avoid if you need strict compliance granularities)” Qwen 3.7 Flash · negative prompt · first choice
“Best for developer-friendly private networking: Tailscale, for engineering teams that need fast, lightweight secure remote access.” Muse Glimmer 30B · paraphrase prompt · alternative
Also compared
Twingate vs Zscaler Private AccessTwingate vs TailscaleCloudflare One vs Zscaler Private AccessCloudflare One vs TailscaleCato Networks vs Zscaler Private AccessCato Networks vs TailscaleNordLayer vs Zscaler Private AccessNordLayer vs TailscaleOpenVPN CloudConnexa vs Zscaler Private AccessOpenVPN CloudConnexa vs TailscaleZscaler Private Access vs Check Point Harmony SASETailscale vs Check Point Harmony SASEAll twenty-eight head-to-head pages and the full ZTNA 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.