Gartner SASE 2026 rankings: Netskope leads, Cato Networks leaps, and Palo Alto Networks falls
Gartner’s SASE 2026 rankings place Netskope and Cato Networks in the Leaders, with Zscaler newly entering the top group. Gartner cited Netskope’s AI security focus and Cato’s modular approach and higher pricing. Palo Alto Networks fell, Fortinet dropped to Challengers, and Cisco and Versa Networks joined it. Gartner forecasts the SASE market to exceed $18B in 2026.
How this was made
The 30-second read
Why it matters
For traders, the main actionable angle is relative competitive sentiment across SASE vendors, with specific cited weaknesses (pricing, customer experience, feature focus, sovereignty) that can influence near-term positioning and sales narratives.
Market read
This is a competitive positioning read-through for SASE vendors based on Gartner’s 2026 quadrant, with the clearest negative sentiment for PANW and FTNT and positive tilt for ZS and NTSK.
What to watch
The article cites “comparatively low financial score” without disclosing methodology or exact scores, so the ranking’s predictive power for near-term revenue is uncertain.
Background
The article summarizes Gartner’s SASE 2026 quadrant, categorizing vendors into Leaders, Challengers, Visionaries, and Niche Players, and provides Gartner’s qualitative rationale for each.
Ticker impact
Gartner’s SASE 2026 quadrant says Netskope is a Leader but warns it should stop overly focusing on securing AI at the expense of core SASE needs.
Likely limited, mostly sentiment-driven unless traders treat the Gartner quadrant as a near-term demand signal.
This is a ranking/qualitative assessment with no new financials, but it includes specific Gartner critiques that can affect competitive read-through.
Gartner’s SASE 2026 quadrant highlights Cato’s modular adoption weakness versus its unified-platform reputation and notes higher pricing than peers.
Moderate relative-momentum impact versus peers, but not a standalone catalyst for a large repricing.
The text provides concrete Gartner rationale (modular vs unified, pricing, low financial score) but no new company-specific numbers or guidance.
Gartner’s SASE 2026 rankings place Palo Alto Networks lower this year, with the article citing reportedly expensive pricing and more constrained, cloud-reliant on-prem ION intrusion prevention.
Short-term downside bias possible, but magnitude likely constrained without new financial or product disclosures.
The article includes specific Gartner-quoted drivers for the drop, yet it is still a third-party quadrant rather than a fresh earnings or contract event.
Gartner’s SASE 2026 quadrant names Zscaler as a new Leader entry with a sunnier financial profile and commended networking feature enhancements and PoP infrastructure.
Potential relative outperformance versus SASE peers on sentiment, but not a high-conviction fundamental repricing.
The article provides new competitive placement and qualitative praise, but lacks quantitative financial disclosures or guidance changes.
Gartner’s SASE 2026 quadrant drops Fortinet out of the Leaders box, citing delayed feature enhancements, below-average customer experience, and frequent patching concerns.
Short-term negative bias possible, though likely limited without new earnings, guidance, or contract news.
The text attributes specific Gartner criticisms to Fortinet, but the article does not disclose new financial results or regulatory actions.
Gartner’s SASE 2026 quadrant places Cisco in the Challengers box alongside Fortinet and Versa, with the article citing management complexity and SD-WAN/SSE operational challenges.
Low-to-moderate impact, more likely relative than absolute given no new Cisco financials.
The article provides limited Cisco-specific detail beyond being grouped in Challengers; the strongest specifics are for other vendors.
Gartner’s SASE 2026 quadrant places Hewlett Packard Enterprise in niche players and suggests it may integrate Juniper SRX, EdgeConnect SD-WAN, and Juniper Mist with HPE networking central.
Low impact on trading today; more relevant for medium-term competitive positioning.
The article is largely speculative about integrations and does not provide new HPE performance metrics.
Gartner’s SASE 2026 quadrant places Cloudflare in visionaries, praising AI and post-quantum cryptography leanings while flagging narrow sovereignty focus.
Small, sentiment-driven effect at most without new revenue or customer contract disclosures.
The article is a qualitative quadrant summary with no new Cloudflare financial or deal information.
Market effects
Reinforces that Gartner’s SASE evaluation emphasizes core SASE needs, pricing/value, customer experience, PoP quality, and sovereignty controls, which can shift competitive messaging across the SASE vendor set.
No explicit regional demand or regulatory changes; impact is primarily competitive positioning in enterprise security.
Gartner’s forecast of SASE market growth to over $18B in 2026 with 23% CAGR can support broad sector sentiment, but it is not vendor-specific.
Counterpoint
Gartner quadrants are slow-moving and qualitative; traders may overreact versus actual pipeline conversion, contract wins, and renewal rates.
Key entities
- research_firmGartner
Publishes the SASE 2026 quadrant and qualitative scoring commentary referenced in the article.
- companyNetskope
Named as a Leader but criticized for over-focusing on securing AI at the expense of core SASE needs.
- companyCato Networks
Described as potentially able to leapfrog but flagged for modular adoption mismatch and higher pricing.
- companyPalo Alto Networks
Shown as falling this year, with reasons including expensive pricing and constrained, cloud-reliant on-prem ION capabilities.
- companyZscaler
New entry in Leaders with a sunnier financial profile and praised networking feature enhancements and PoP infrastructure.
