We performed a comparison between Netgate pfSense and Smoothwall Firewall based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out what your peers are saying about Netgate, Fortinet, OPNsense and others in Firewalls."The most important features of Fortinet FortiGate are the Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) and firewall control applications."
"The solution has very good threat and content filtering switches."
"It's very fast and easy to configure."
"In terms of security, we have not experienced any security flaws or loopholes, and it has proven to be quite stable."
"The Intrusion Prevention System and the web filtering are both working well."
"The user interface (UI) is very, very good."
"The pipe filter application is an outstanding feature."
"All of the features of Fortinet FortiGate are useful and the security protection is good."
"pfSense is a nice product, and I find that there's a lot of information out there. There are some good tutorials on YouTube and other websites with helpful information."
"The solution is very robust."
"The documentation is very good."
"We like the fact that the product is open-source. It's free to use. There are no costs associated with it."
"It has a very nice web interface, and it is very simple to use. The way policies are working is also good."
"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."
"The performance and functionality are good."
"The solution has good customization abilities and plenty of features."
"It was easy to initially deploy it."
"Its price could be better."
"With the reports, you can see it, and you can get good feelings so upper management can go, "Oh, wow. That looks pretty." However, it's very basic."
"I would like to see more advanced developments of a wireless controller in the future."
"It would be good if they had fewer updates."
"For the migration, everyone has a firewall in use and I am selling Fortinet. Typically, I am replacing another firewall. Previously, there was a tool available to convert configurations from one firewall, such as Palo Alto, to Fortinet, but this tool is no longer free. If it could be made free again, it would be very beneficial."
"The support team for Fortinet FortiGate needs to be more customer friendly."
"The initial setup and configuration are not intuitive and require training."
"With the addition of some features, it is possible that FortiGate can be used in all verticals."
"I would like to see pfSense integrate WireGuard. Currently, pfSense uses OpenVPN, and there's nothing wrong with it, but WireGuard is a lot leaner and meaner."
"More documentation would be great, especially on new features because sometimes, when new features come out, you don't get to understand them right off the bat. You have to really spend a lot of time understanding them. So, more documentation would be awesome."
"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 would like to see multiple DNS servers running on individual interfaces."
"A malware blocker should be included. I do not know if it is included yet. However, until now, we have not experienced a large malware invasion."
"A way to clean squid cache from the GUI."
"The product must provide integration with other solutions."
"Web interface could be enhanced and more user friendly."
"There is room for improvement in the UI. They can improve it by making it so that everything is in one place, so we don't have to jump around to different pages."
Netgate pfSense is ranked 1st in Firewalls with 128 reviews while Smoothwall Firewall is ranked 34th in Firewalls with 1 review. Netgate pfSense is rated 8.6, while Smoothwall Firewall is rated 9.0. 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 Smoothwall Firewall writes "Offers good scalability and monitoring features ". Netgate pfSense is most compared with OPNsense, Sophos XG, KerioControl, Sophos UTM and Cisco Secure Firewall, whereas Smoothwall Firewall is most compared with OPNsense.
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