Comparison conclusions:
pfSense offers paid options for additional support and features (pfSense Plus), a wider range of features and a larger community, but might have a steeper learning curve.
OPNsense provides a clean interface and built-in security features, but its community and documentation are smaller
The summary above is based on 40 interviews we conducted with pfSense and OPNsense users. To access the review's full transcripts, download our report.
"We were looking for the VPN feature and controlling the inflow and outflow of all the traffic within the site and across the sites. We are also using it for the VPN and VLANs."
"I like how we can achieve total integration."
"You can create multiple Virtual Domains (VDOMs), which are treated as separate firewall instances."
"It's an easy solution to set up."
"Reliability is the best feature. We faced some issues when we were setting it up, but the service, portal, and administration are good."
"Fortinet FortiGate is user-friendly and affordable."
"Fortinet FortiGate is scalable for our users. Right now, we have almost 70 users. We do not have any plan to increase our usage of FortiGate. For maintaining the firewall solution, one staff member is enough."
"It blocks the vulnerabilities that can negatively impact us."
"The documentation is very good."
"The most valuable features of pfSense are security, user-friendliness, and helpful online management."
"I mostly like all of it. Whatever we use is valuable."
"The ability to create a VPN allows me to monitor branch offices from a central location."
"Creation of certificates and the facility to administer services are valuable features."
"Easy to deploy and easy to use."
"The classic features such as content inspection, content protection, and the application-level firewall, are the most important."
"pfSense allows us to spread the hours of connection and do the filtering on the pfSense site."
"OPNsense is highly stable."
"The graphic user interface is very good and it is user-friendly which makes the product easy-to-use."
"OPNsense is easy to use and open source."
"The initial setup is easy. It only takes 15-30 minutes to deploy."
"The interface and the dashboard are the most valuable features of this solution."
"I feel that its valuable features are that it is simple and free."
"The most valuable features of OPNsense are the GUI and frequent updates."
"The solution is user-friendly and easy to configure."
"Fortinet Fortigate could benefit by simplifying some of their processes."
"It could use better throughput on some of the smaller boxes for the branch offices."
"The reports are very basic."
"Difficult to add or define, and not that easy to configure and manage."
"The user interface could be improved to make it less confusing and easier to set up."
"Usually, we sell the bundle with the UTM or threat management piece with IPS, IDS. Other providers, such as Palo Alto, are ahead in terms of safe functionality. So, for me, delivering truly safe service is probably something that still needs to be improved."
"We sometimes have issues with FortiGate's routing table in the latest firmware update. We had to downgrade the device because our customers complained about bugs."
"Lacks training for new features."
"Ultimately, we'd like something stronger, and something that can handle threats better in real-time."
"The solution could improve by having centralized management and API support online."
"Perhaps the documentation is not clear and because it is supported in the community there is no basic documentation."
"The Netgate forums and community don’t provide extensive discussions and topics related to every pfSense service."
"Ease of use is a problem for a user who is unfamiliar with this product because, in the interface, everything has to be set manually."
"The configuration of the solution is a bit difficult."
"If a user doesn't have a large amount of experience in Linux systems, they will have problems using this solution. Users need to be highly skilled in troubleshooting competency. Users who do not have such skills will find the product difficult to use."
"Also, simplifying the rules for the GeoIP. Making it simpler to understand would be an improvement."
"The interface of the solution is an area with shortcomings."
"We did not like the fact that you have to configure everything with the graphic user interface. We have used other firewalls, such as FortiGate, that you can configure via code. OPNsense is not easy to integrate. When you are deploying via GitHub or another source repository, this is not possible. That's one thing we didn't like much."
"The solution could be more secure."
"I would like better documentation concerning the provided packages and their integration."
"There are issues with stability and reliability."
"The scalability needs improvement."
"I think the most important thing is that it should be easily accessible, but currently, that doesn't seem to be the case. We need a hardware platform that's based on common standards and open computing principles, which would be like a commodity and benefit us greatly."
"Given that OPNsense plays a pivotal role as a firewall, safeguarding against various threats, having a reliable backup ensures uninterrupted protection even if unforeseen events impact the primary virtual machine."
Netgate pfSense is ranked 1st in Firewalls with 128 reviews while OPNsense is ranked 3rd in Firewalls with 36 reviews. Netgate pfSense is rated 8.6, while OPNsense is rated 8.4. The top reviewer of Netgate pfSense writes "User-friendly, easy to manage the firewall, rule-wise and interface-wise". On the other hand, the top reviewer of OPNsense writes "Robust network security and management offering a user-friendly interface, open-source flexibility, and cost-effectiveness, with challenges regarding initial setup and the absence of official support". Netgate pfSense is most compared with Sophos XG, KerioControl, Sophos UTM, Cisco Secure Firewall and WatchGuard Firebox, whereas OPNsense is most compared with Sophos XG, Untangle NG Firewall, Sophos UTM, IPFire and WatchGuard Firebox. See our Netgate pfSense vs. OPNsense report.
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