Small business=heldSince September 2026: 2% → 2%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.
2%from 2% in September 2026
Inside the floor by 11 pointsRank 6 → 5 of 52
Cato · 2 categories · RankedCato SASE Cloud
126Judge labels
17First choices
18Negative labels
14 / 14Models named it
2Categories
October 2026 Edition. Every number here is derived from the raw labels under vendor table v2026-10.8, every buyer segment counted.
Best standing
10% in SASE for mid-market buyers
Rank 3 of 45 in the mid-market standingaccepted challenger
2 of 14 models made it the first choice on the direct prompt; 17% of its 18 labels there were negative.
What the models named instead of Cato SASE Cloud →By buyer segmentRead the same way at every buyer size.
Small business7 of 57
2%21 labels
accepted challenger
Mid-market3 of 45
10%18 labels
accepted challenger
Enterprise5 of 48
6%14 labels
criticized challenger
In sase · each standing computed within its segment · bars are 0 to 100 · the accent bar is the product's own best reading
Standing by category
Every category where a model named Cato SASE Cloud for a mid-market B2B company. Share is first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts; rank is within every product named in that category.
| Category | Function | Share | Rank | Negative rate | Labels | Quadrant | Since September 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SASE platforms | Network and edge | 10% | 3 of 45 | 17% | 18 | accepted challenger | ▼−21Since September 2026: 28% → 7%, −21 points. Past the 11-point floor: movement. Read over the models both editions asked. |
| SD-WAN | Network and edge | 6% | 4 of 73 | 0% | 27 | accepted challenger | ▲+7Since September 2026: 0% → 7%, +7 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. |
Movement
Since September 2026, Cato SASE Cloud moved past the floor in one of two categories: SASE, −21 points to 7%. It held within the floor in the other one.
Best category · SASE · by segment
Mid-market▼−21Since September 2026: 28% → 7%, −21 points. Past the 11-point floor: movement. Read over the models both editions asked.
7%from 28% in September 2026
Cleared the floor by 10 pointsRank 1 → 5 of 43
Enterprise▼−2Since September 2026: 10% → 7%, −2 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.
7%from 10% in September 2026
Inside the floor by 9 pointsRank 4 → 5 of 46
All categories · Mid-market
| Category | September 2026 | Now | Change | Reading | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SASE | 28% | 7% | ▼−21Since September 2026: 28% → 7%, −21 points. Past the 11-point floor: movement. Read over the models both editions asked. | Moved past the floor | Rank 1 → 3 of 45 |
| SD-WAN | 0% | 7% | ▲+7Since September 2026: 0% → 7%, +7 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. | Within noise | Rank 12 → 4 of 73 |
Shares here are read over the models both editions asked, so they can differ by a point or two from the standing above, which counts every model in this edition.
The floor is 11 points of share, measured: how far the models move a leader on their own when the same questions are asked twice with nothing changed. A larger change is movement; a smaller one is noise, and both are shown. Movement is read over the twelve models both editions asked; GPT-6 Luna, Muse Glimmer 30B joined this edition and are in the standing but not yet in the comparison. How the floor is measured · The editions
By model
How each model treated Cato SASE Cloud across every prompt where it was named for a mid-market B2B company. Fourteen models, six prompts per category.ShowHide
By model
How each model treated Cato SASE Cloud across every prompt where it was named for a mid-market B2B company. Fourteen models, six prompts per category.
ShowHide| Model | First choice | Alternative | Mention | Negative | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| GPT-5.4 mini | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Perplexity Sonar | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| Grok 4.20 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Mistral Small | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 7 |
| Llama 4 Maverick | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Kimi K2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| MiniMax M2.5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| GPT-6 Luna | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| Muse Glimmer 30B | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
By framing
Which of the six questions produced the naming. By model says how often; this says asked what. The first-choice count on the right carries the marks of the models that produced it.
FramingLabels by classFirst choices
Direct25 labels5
Paraphrase19 labels4
Comparative36 labels6not counted in share
Budget-constrained18 labels6
Scale-constrained10 labels2
Negative18 labels1not counted in share
First choiceAlternativeMentionNegative126 labels in all, every segment counted; 17 of the 24 first choices count toward share, since the comparative and negative framings do not. The bar is one segment per label class, to scale within the framing.
What the models said for it
Verbatim evidence the judge attached to positive labels.
“For most mid-market B2B companies, Cato Networks and Fortinet are the two names that come up most consistently as the strongest fits” DeepSeek V4 Flash · SD-WAN · direct prompt · first choice
“Cato Networks offers a cloud-native SASE platform that's been scored as the easiest-to-use platform by Netify for the third year running” Claude Haiku 4.5 · SD-WAN · direct prompt · first choice
“If you forced me to pick one best "default" SASE platform for a typical mid-market B2B company, I'd say Cato SASE Cloud Platform” GPT-5.4 mini · SASE · direct prompt · first choice
“1) Cato Networks - Why it fits mid-market: A single converged SD-WAN + SASE platform with a cloud-native private backbone.” GLM 4.7 FlashX · SD-WAN · direct prompt · first choice
And against it
Verbatim evidence attached to negative labels. A warning on a product with few labels is a warning; on a product with many, it is one voice among them.
“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 · SASE · budget prompt · soft negative
“Cato has a lack of some advanced security features, including limited CASB functionality and less third-party integrations” Claude Haiku 4.5 · SASE · negative prompt · soft negative
“Gartner Leaders but higher costs/minimums; not ideal for tight budgets.” Grok 4.20 · SASE · budget prompt · soft negative
Named alongside
The products named in the same answers as Cato SASE Cloud, over the 126 answers that named it. Took the first choice instead counts the answers where the other product was the first choice and Cato SASE Cloud was named but was not.ShowHide
Named alongside
The products named in the same answers as Cato SASE Cloud, over the 126 answers that named it. Took the first choice instead counts the answers where the other product was the first choice and Cato SASE Cloud was named but was not.
ShowHideProductSame answerTook the first choice insteadHead to head
A head-to-head page exists where both products are among a category's top eight. The other rows are the same fact without a page behind them, so they link to the product instead.
What carried it into the answer
The sites and pages cited by the answers that named Cato SASE Cloud. A fact about retrieval, not a lever on the model.
Citations exist only for the models that return a source list, five of the fourteen in this edition, so these counts come from 121 of the 126 answers that named Cato SASE Cloud and are not a share of its labels.
Domains cited
guideflow.com75
g2.com49
fortinet.com42
cisco.com33
peerspot.com29
netify.co.uk28
gartner.com26
palomarr.com24
it-ai-index.com23
catonetworks.comYour site22
329 of the 351 domain citations in answers naming Cato SASE Cloud came from somebody else's page.
Pages cited
Pages are listed as the models cited them.
Search and answers
catonetworks.com ranks 4 on Google for the category's searches. In the answers, Cato SASE Cloud takes 10% of first choices and Cato Networks takes 35%.ShowHide
Search and answers
catonetworks.com ranks 4 on Google for the category's searches. In the answers, Cato SASE Cloud takes 10% of first choices and Cato Networks takes 35%.
ShowHideIn search
Google, US estimatesPosition for “sase platform”
4
Position for “sase platforms”
–
not in the top ten
- Searches for its name, Google
- 30 a month (“cato sase cloud”)
- AI search demand for its name, est.
- 1 a month
- Its company's site
- catonetworks.com shared with Cato's other products; the figures are the site's
- Organic visits to its site
- about 20,161 a month
- Searches its site ranks for
- 3,673 · 203 in the top three
- Sites linking to it
- 6,215
- Paid Google search
- No ads found in the estimate; that does not mean it runs none
In answers
This editionShare of first choices
10%
rank 3 of 45 in SASE
Segment leader
35%
Cato Networks
- First choices
- 17 across its categories
- Named in
- 126 answers
- Its own site cited
- in 121 of the answers that named it
Search figures are US estimates from DataForSEO, read September 28, 2026; AI search demand is its modeled, directional estimate, not a count of queries to any assistant. The answers are this edition's. Two measurements side by side: neither is read as the cause of the other.
Names read as Cato SASE Cloud
What the judge wrote, as written, with how often. The vendor table decides that these count as Cato SASE Cloud; a claim can dispute any of them.
Cato Networks 16Cato Networks SASE Cloud 8Cato 7Cato Networks (Cato SASE Cloud) 1Cato Networks SD-WAN 1Cato Networks SD‑WAN (Cato Socket) 1Cato SASE 1Cato SASE Cloud (Cato Networks) 1Cato SASE Cloud Platform 1Cato SD-WAN / SASE 1Cato SD-WAN/SASE 1
Follow Cato SASE Cloud
An email the morning each edition publishes: where this product moved, where it held, and by how much against the noise floor. One address, confirmed by a click; a stop link in every email.
Already following? Everything you follow, with a stop for each.
The company
Cato is the company behind Cato SASE Cloud.ShowHide
The company
Cato is the company behind Cato SASE Cloud.
ShowHideOn record
Company records- Also from Cato
- Cato Networks, Cato SASE Networks, Cato SD-WAN/SASE
In its own words
Stated by the vendor, not checked- Positioning
- with a true SASE platform
- For
- working information security and Cybersecurity professionals and leadership including: Security engineers, Cybersecurity pros, Infosec pros, Security team leaders, CISOs, CIOs, as well as IT and networking pros who want to deepen their security expertise
- Free plan or trial
- free certifications.catonetworks.com/courses/sase-advanced-security
- Certifications
- ISO 27001 CertifiedSOC2 ApprovedGDPR Compliant
- Not stated on the pages read
- Price, starting price, integrations, hosting, customers
What Cato SASE Cloud's own pages state, read September 28, 2026: certifications.catonetworks.com/courses/sase-advanced-security. A claimed page can correct any of them.
Is this your product?
Claim this page
Claiming is free and changes nothing in the data. A claimed page shows a verified contact who is told when each edition publishes and when Cato SASE Cloud's standing changes by more than the noise floor; the right to propose corrections to the vendor table, meaning names the judge wrote that should or should not read as Cato SASE Cloud, applied by version and listed in the change log; and a one-line description supplied by the vendor and marked as such.
What a new claim receivesHide what a new claim receives
A new claim receives the current edition's vendor brief for Cato SASE Cloud by email, built from the raw record of the edition. It shows:
- where Cato SASE Cloud is named, by buyer and by framing, and which cells hold its first choices;
- the claims the models make when they name it, ranked, with the strongest and the weakest quoted;
- its vocabulary against the segment leader's, and the pages the models cited;
- who was chosen in the answers that did not name Cato SASE Cloud, and every reason the record gives;
- a battlecard for each top rival: the head-to-head split, why they win, and the reservation quoted against them;
- one page of published figures cleared to show a buyer.
Badges
Wins only: a badge exists where Cato SASE Cloud is ranked in a category's top three this edition. Three sizes, one file each, light and dark; the code is under each.ShowHide
Badges
Wins only: a badge exists where Cato SASE Cloud is ranked in a category's top three this edition. Three sizes, one file each, light and dark; the code is under each.
ShowHideCato SASE Cloud is among the products AI models recommend first in SASE platforms this edition. Each badge says so in the buyer's words, names the edition, and links to the standing. The next edition issues a new badge; this one stays true as a record of October 2026.
Wide · 320 × 104 Website, beside other badges
Square · 240 × 240 LinkedIn, slides
Compact · 200 × 56 Email signature, footer
Badges read on light and dark pages. Alt text carries the claim, the category, the edition and the index, so it stays a citation where the image does not load.