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.
"LinkGreat firewall capabilities"
"Advanced routing (RIP, OSPF, BGP, PBR). It gives you a seamless and simple integration into a large network."
"Fortigate is very scalable to serve our customers' needs. We have scaled already from fifty to more than a hundred instances of Fortinet FortiGate. Around 20 staff are required for deployment and maintenance, mostly engineers."
"It's user-friendly and easy to operate."
"We can use our devices to check all of the perimeters. It secures email websites."
"UTM/NGFW features and FortiCloud for logs and backups are awesome."
"FortiGate SD-WAN facilitated a smooth transition for our customers between their two internet service providers, ensuring uninterrupted connectivity without any downtime."
"Fortinet FortiGate protects against internet-based threats, both internal and external. It is scalable, stable, easy to use, and easy to install."
"Firewall system for small, medium, and large data networks. It allows you to provide security to your environment: DMZ networks, LAN, WAN, etc."
"This solution has increased the level of security, given us more control, provided a deep insight into network traffic, and is a great VPN solution."
"Its features rival many of the high cost solutions out there."
"The firewall sensor is highly effective, and it's easy to deploy. You can deploy pfSense with limited hardware resources. It's not necessary to have an appliance with much RAM to make it work. It's cost-effective and performs well."
"What I like about pfSense is that it works well and runs on an inexpensive appliance."
"Its scalability is a strong point."
"The main features of this solution are customization and ease to use."
"Its reliability and cost-effectiveness stand out."
"It's open source."
"The solution has high availability."
"One of the most valuable features is the network checking. Additionally, the firewall and web filtering functionalities are highly useful."
"The IDS and IPS features are valuable. From the usability perspective, there is a lot of good documentation. As IT professionals, we found it very easy to configure the firewall. It was easy to configure and use."
"The feature I find most valuable, is that the program helped me to realize all the requested functionality that was needed."
"URL blocking, Wireguard, Tail Scale, Engine Blocker, and VPN are the most valuable features for me."
"We can open a new VPN connection easily. It's much easier than with Fortinet in our experience."
"The solution is good for a basic firewall for a small business or for home use."
"Price, of course, can always be more competitive or better."
"There are problems with the custom reporting of the unique traffic. The data is there, but it is too difficult for us to extract."
"It needs more available central management."
"They have to just improve its performance when we enable all UTM features. When you enable all the features, the performance of FortiGate, as well as of Sophos and SonicWall, goes down."
"I would like to see improvements with the antivirus and IPS as they are not working properly all the time."
"In the next release, I would like to see the interface simplified to be more user-friendly."
"The reports are very basic."
"I have to say that the initial setup was complex. The deployment took a few days to get set up. Initially, we were using an IPVanish. We switched to this tool since we thought it would be easier. But it turns out it wasn't easier to set up and run."
"I would like to see SD1 integration into the software. That would be fantastic."
"I would like to see different graphs available in the reporting."
"We would like to see ready-made profiles to cover most users' needs."
"It's just not listed as FIPS compliant for where we're at now in government, which is an issue."
"The integration should be improved."
"Perhaps the documentation is not clear and because it is supported in the community there is no basic documentation."
"Web interface could be enhanced and more user friendly."
"It needs better parsing of logs. At the moment, you have to use an external server for this if you want a deeper analysis."
"The logging could improve in OPNsense."
"I would like better documentation concerning the provided packages and their integration."
"You will need additional training before you can actually start to use it."
"The IPS solution could be more reliable."
"The ability to set the VPN IP address would be a welcome addition."
"The support for OPNsense is good because we have documents available on the internet. The support could improve a little."
"The user interface could be improved, and the DNS section should be more intuitive."
"Its interface should be a little bit better."
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, Sophos UTM, KerioControl, Cisco Secure Firewall and WatchGuard Firebox, whereas OPNsense is most compared with Sophos XG, Untangle NG Firewall, Sophos UTM, IPFire and Cisco Secure Firewall. See our Netgate pfSense vs. OPNsense report.
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