We performed a comparison between Meraki MX and pfSense based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Comparison Results: The main difference between the two solutions is that Meraki MX is expensive, while pfSense is an open-source solution and is free of charge. In addition, Meraki’s monitoring capabilities could use improvement.
"Their interface is very easy to use, it is without bugs."
"FortiGate SD-WAN facilitated a smooth transition for our customers between their two internet service providers, ensuring uninterrupted connectivity without any downtime."
"The product offers very good security."
"The reporting you receive out of this appliance is excellent. You will not need an external management system."
"I have found Fortinet FortiGate to be scalable."
"The most valuable features are the policies, filtering, and configuration."
"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are it is one of the most mature firewalls in the UTM bundle."
"It blocks the vulnerabilities that can negatively impact us."
"Since it has an integrated dashboard for all the products, customers can get complete network analytics regarding what the user is doing, monitoring, and observing."
"The technical support people from Meraki are brilliant."
"The dashboard is very intuitive and easy to understand."
"It has a helpful feature for database troubleshooting issues."
"The simplicity of configuration is the most valuable feature of the solution."
"The product's initial setup phase is very easy."
"I use Meraki in my POCs and with my customers as well."
"Intrusion detection and prevention (IDS/IPS): The best feature. It can detect malware, even a virus, and warn you by email about the device that has it. When the Meraki detects that something is wrong, it automatically blocks the connection or the intrusion, delivering a graphic report with all the necessary content."
"I mostly like all of it. Whatever we use is valuable."
"Some of the terminologies were more familiar to me than it was when I first encountered Cisco."
"Open source and support are valuable. I have community support."
"Routing, load balancing, Traffic Limiter and queues. Since this company relies on an Internet connection, having these features is a must."
"A very stable product that lasts over time, easy to understand, and administer."
"The documentation is very good."
"Sophos Intercept X is scalable. Currently, we have almost 30 people using it in our company."
"The performance and functionality are good."
"The solution is very expensive."
"The pricing could be a bit better, especially when you consider how they have the most basic offering priced."
"Fortinet could improve the windows opener or the virtual IP solutions for opening windows. The virtual IP settings need improvement as firewalls are trending in new development directions."
"The cloud features can be improved."
"It needs more available central management."
"The solution needs to improve its integration with cybersecurity."
"They should improve high CPU and memory usage that occurs."
"It is stable, but its stability can be improved."
"It is very expensive."
"The solution's pricing should be reduced."
"It would be nice to get detailed logging information without third-party software."
"The IPS, the Intrusion Prevention System, can be improved."
"We do not have account managers in our region for the solution. Some governments don't use the product since it is attached to the internet."
"We have been having a problem with the VPN. When the energy goes down and is back again, the VPN link doesn't get established. We have to manually turn off the modems and other pieces of equipment and manually establish the VPN. It has been around one month since we have been having this problem, and we don't have enough support from Meraki to solve the problem."
"It would be nice if the different services, including the SIEM SOC and endpoint detection and response (EDR) were integrated into one, so that I don't have to go to different vendors for different services."
"Pricing is an area where the solution lacks since it is an expensive tool."
"One concern I have with Netgate pfSense is related to packet filtering. Specifically, issues can arise with certain functionalities like GP, and, at times, there may be bugs."
"The solution could be more user-friendly, and the graphical interface needs some work so that someone without an IT background can use the application. I would like the ability to manage the on-premise appliance from the cloud. When I'm not in the office, it would be great to connect to the pfSense server and administer the network remotely."
"The configuration of the solution is a bit difficult."
"They can improve the dynamic of the input of IPs from outside."
"We would like to see ready-made profiles to cover most users' needs."
"We have not had any problems with it, and we also do not have a need for any new features. If anything, its reporting can be better. Sophos has better reporting than pfSense. Sophos has more detailed information. pfSense is not as detailed. It is summarized."
"I believe improving integration with various antivirus vendors could be beneficial."
"I've never tried it in large environments. All my clients are small businesses with a handful of employees, so I am not sure how it works in large environments. I keep up with recent versions, and there's nothing I'm waiting for, and nothing breaks when I get a new version."
Meraki MX is ranked 2nd in Unified Threat Management (UTM) with 57 reviews while Netgate pfSense is ranked 1st in Firewalls with 128 reviews. Meraki MX is rated 8.2, while Netgate pfSense is rated 8.6. The top reviewer of Meraki MX writes "Cost-effective, simplified, easy to manage, and reliable with advanced security features and granular visibility". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Netgate pfSense writes "User-friendly, easy to manage the firewall, rule-wise and interface-wise". Meraki MX is most compared with Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls, Cisco Secure Firewall, Sophos XG, SonicWall TZ and SonicWall NSa, whereas Netgate pfSense is most compared with OPNsense, Sophos XG, KerioControl, Sophos UTM and Check Point NGFW. See our Meraki MX vs. Netgate pfSense report.
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We monitor all Firewalls reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.