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Arista Edge Threat Management NG Firewall vs Netgate pfSense comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 16, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
5.7
Arista Edge Threat Management NG Firewall reduces incidents, enhances detection, and saves $540, though not all see tangible returns.
Sentiment score
5.9
Netgate pfSense provides significant ROI with cost-effectiveness, eliminating license fees, ideal for small to mid-sized companies replacing costly systems.
it comes from multiple areas such as the reduction in annual security incidents, mean time to detect and mean time to respond, audit preparation time reduction, reduction in internet bandwidth misuse, and also with respect to firewall uptime and availability.
Global Leadership Council at a tech company with 10,001+ employees
Compared to what we were doing with Sophos, it provides a great value financially and in terms of time savings.
Director of IT at a religious institution with 51-200 employees
I have seen a return on investment with cost savings after implementing Netgate pfSense, as other firewalls would cost me lakhs of rupees while pfSense is free.
Information Technology Infrastructure Manager at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
We have been saving by having a stable, well-known product.
Managing Director at a consultancy with 1-10 employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.8
Users appreciate Arista's customer service and support but suggest improvements in global support for small and medium enterprises.
Sentiment score
7.8
Netgate pfSense receives praise for effective support, though some users experience slow responses; forums often suffice for troubleshooting.
The response from the engineers is good, they have a strong documentation knowledge base.
Global Leadership Council at a tech company with 10,001+ employees
My experience with Arista Edge Threat Management NG Firewall's customer support has been very good as the response times were satisfactory.
Supervisor at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
When we're down, that's $8000 an hour on a $1500 firewall.
Chief information security officer at Center for Information Management, Inc.
The support is prompt and effective, making it well worth the investment.
Owner at GroupGates, LLC
Even when they're in the middle of deploying a new version, I've reached out and received a download link within five minutes.
Senior Network Engineer at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
Arista Edge Threat Management NG Firewall efficiently supports organizational growth, adaptability, and diverse environments for any enterprise size.
Sentiment score
6.6
Netgate pfSense is highly scalable for SMBs, supporting high user counts and complex configurations depending on hardware choices.
I consider the scalability of Arista Edge Threat Management NG Firewall to be good as it adapts well to different environment sizes.
Supervisor at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
The next step up now is to the 4100, which gives you an additional preconfigured WAN port that allows you to easily separate networks.
CIO and President at Aim High! Inc.
Netgate doesn't come anywhere close to the scalability that its competitors do.
Chief information security officer at Center for Information Management, Inc.
Due to the absence of a single pane of glass management feature, scaling out pfSense becomes quite challenging.
Technical Project Manager at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.7
Arista Edge Threat Management NG Firewall is highly stable and reliable, rated nine out of ten by users.
Sentiment score
7.1
Netgate pfSense is highly stable, with users attributing minimal issues to hardware rather than the firewall, ensuring reliable performance.
Overall stability would be a nine out of ten; it's quite reliable.
Global Leadership Council at a tech company with 10,001+ employees
Netgate pfSense rates a 10 for stability, and I have experienced no issues there.
Workday Reporting & Analytics Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Otherwise, I've never seen one have a problem. It's just rock solid.
Chief information security officer at Center for Information Management, Inc.
It has been running for four years now without any issues.
Director Solutions Architecture and Business Development at Puma Cybersystems, Inc.
 

Room For Improvement

Arista Edge Threat Management NG Firewall needs AI advancements, better integration, improved UI, documentation, support, and threat detection.
Netgate pfSense requires better centralized management, an updated user interface, improved security integrations, and enhanced documentation for ease of use.
It has fewer third-party integrations, and therefore the adoption amongst very large enterprises is less; it's largely with the SMBs.
Global Leadership Council at a tech company with 10,001+ employees
I see the need for improvements in Arista Edge Threat Management NG Firewall particularly in automatic threat detection and rule optimization.
Supervisor at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
Arista Edge Threat Management NG Firewall can be improved, particularly the user interface, which is not very good.
systems engineer at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
I need to speak to someone immediately.
Owner at GroupGates, LLC
You could add AI for troubleshooting with Netgate pfSense because it will be easier for new engineers.
Network & Security Engineer at Arrow PC Network Pvt Ltd
I would like to have the ability to control all my devices from one place.
CIO and President at Aim High! Inc.
 

Setup Cost

Arista Edge Threat Management NG Firewall offers modular, budget-friendly licensing, especially discounted for non-profits, educational, and government organizations.
Netgate pfSense is affordable, offering open-source and paid versions with robust features and competitive hardware pricing.
Licensing is modular, allowing customers to pay only for the applications they need, and especially for non-profit organizations, education institutions, and government organizations, they offer discounted pricing.
Global Leadership Council at a tech company with 10,001+ employees
The cost of the 3500 was closer to $4,000.
CIO and President at Aim High! Inc.
I don't always seek the cheapest or most expensive option but rather the best value for my investment.
IT Supervisor at a consumer goods company with 11-50 employees
The total cost of ownership is very low.
Technical Project Manager at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
 

Valuable Features

Arista Edge Threat Management NG Firewall offers robust threat detection, flexible deployment, user-friendly configuration, and enhanced cyber risk reduction capabilities.
Netgate pfSense offers reliable VPN and firewall features, user-friendly management, flexibility, cost-effectiveness, scalability, and strong community support.
Bandwidth management and traffic policy help my organization by keeping our internet subscription low.
systems engineer at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Arista Edge Threat Management NG Firewall very useful. It combines firewall and intrusion prevention system, web filtering, VPN, application control, bandwidth monitoring, and reporting.
Global Leadership Council at a tech company with 10,001+ employees
Arista Edge Threat Management NG Firewall is quite a user-friendly solution at the configuration level, its features have made my work easier and optimized processes for my clients because the initial startup of the solution is quite agile in terms of configuration deployments.
Supervisor at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
pfSense's flexibility is great. If you don't have the money to buy the NetGate hardware, anything works with it. You can toss it on any low-end piece of hardware or virtualize it if you choose to virtualize it.
Senior Network Administrator at Elite Computers
We have multiple VLANs, and with assistance, it was easy to get everything set up and running in our organization the way we needed it to.
Director of IT at a religious institution with 51-200 employees
We had downtime before pfSense. We've never gone down using the solution.
Head of IT at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Arista Edge Threat Manageme...
Ranking in Firewalls
39th
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Netgate pfSense
Ranking in Firewalls
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
221
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Arista Edge Threat Management NG Firewall is 0.3%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Netgate pfSense is 7.4%, down from 11.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Netgate pfSense7.4%
Arista Edge Threat Management NG Firewall0.3%
Other92.3%
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

TarunKumar11 - PeerSpot reviewer
Global Leadership Council at a tech company with 10,001+ employees
Secure internet access has reduced threats and simplifies firewall management for distributed teams
Threat detection needs improvement; Arista Edge Threat Management NG Firewall should follow Alto and Fortinet. One limitation that I've seen is AI-driven automation which needs to vastly improve. It has fewer third-party integrations, and therefore the adoption amongst very large enterprises is less; it's largely with the SMBs. Customer support can be improved. It's a smaller global footprint that Arista provides, with fewer certified partners in some regions and limited 24/7 support for premium vendors. I've categorically mentioned that it has sophisticated threat detection capabilities but they can be bettered. AI-driven automation can be improved, and therefore, I think the adoption with large enterprises can be much better. I think the current AI capabilities of Arista Edge Threat Management NG Firewall are a bit limited compared to other vendors. It primarily relies on threat intelligence feeds, signature-based detection, and reputation services. Currently, I would rate its AI capabilities as probably a seven out of ten because it does not provide for extensive GenAI or advanced ML-driven autonomous capabilities like some of its competitors. Threat intelligence aspects can be further improved, and I think there's a lot that the product can do with respect to the usage of AI. AI-driven automation and threat detection can vastly improve. I don't think they were purchased through AWS Marketplace. The adoption has to increase amongst large customers, and threat intelligence needs to improve for many customers to adopt, enhancing the security ecosystem that is relatively small.
JA
Principal Cloud Architect - Software Engineer at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
Rapid VPN setup has connected offices in minutes and brings live insights for proactive issue control
What I appreciate the most about Netgate pfSense is the ease and straightforward nature of the platform. I can set up a new office in less than 10 minutes. The benefits of using Netgate pfSense are that I can set up VPNs in less than two to three minutes, and then just deploy the file across my networks, where everybody would be connected in less than an hour. The dashboards of Netgate pfSense bring all the necessary information that I need at a glance, and it is actually a live update every three to five seconds. It is spotless, and I have been able to catch issues before they hit operations.
report
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
36%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Healthcare Company
8%
Logistics Company
3%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business171
Midsize Enterprise33
Large Enterprise29
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Arista Edge Threat Management NG Firewall?
I do not handle the economic aspects of negotiations with the client, so I do not have experience with the pricing, implementation cost, and licensing of Arista Edge Threat Management NG Firewall.
What needs improvement with Arista Edge Threat Management NG Firewall?
I believe Arista Edge Threat Management NG Firewall could be improved by adapting even more to advances in artificial intelligence and I would like the platform to offer or improve on that front.I ...
What advice do you have for others considering Arista Edge Threat Management NG Firewall?
I would not like to add anything else about the main use case or any situation.I would not like to add anything else about the tool's features. I would not like to add anything else about the neces...
Help me find the best open source router
You don't really specify what type of router you are looking for but if you are talking about a gateway router I recommend PFSense. This software solutions can be installed on youf own hardware or ...
How do I choose between Fortinet FortiGate and pfSense?
Fortinet’s Fortigate is a firewall solution we use and are very much satisfied with its performance. We find Fortigate both cost-effective and efficient. One of the features we like most is that Fo...
What is the difference between PfSense and OPNsense?
Two of the most common and well recognized firewalls, PfSense and OPNsense both support site-to-site IPsec VPN and client, Open VPN and client, and PPTP client. Both also have intrusion detection a...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Nerds On Site Inc., RKC Development Inc., Expertech, Fisher's Technology, Ncisive, Consulting, CPURX, Vaughn's Computer House Calls, Imeretech LLC, Digital Crisis, Carolina Digital Phone, Technigogo Technology Services, The Simple Solution, SwiftecITInc, Rocky Mountain Tech Team, Free Range Geeks, Alaska Computer Geeks, Lark Information Technology, Renaissance Systems Inc., Cutting Edge Computers, Caretech LLC, GoVanguard, Network Touch Ltd, P.C. Solutions.Net, Vision Voice and Data Systems LLC, Montgomery Technologies, Techforce, Concero Networks, ASONInc, CPS Electronics and Consulting, Darkwire.net LLC, IT Specialists, MBS-Net Inc., VOICE1 LLC, Advantage Networking Inc., Powerhouse Systems, Doxa Multimedia Inc., Pro Computer Service, Virtual IT Services, A&J Computers Inc., Envision IT LLC, CommunicaONE Inc., Bone Computer Inc., Amax Engineering Corporation, QPG Ltd. Co., IT 101 Inc., Perfect Cloud Solutions, Applied Technology Group Inc., The Digital Sun Group LLC, Firespring
Find out what your peers are saying about Arista Edge Threat Management NG Firewall vs. Netgate pfSense and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
909,153 professionals have used our research since 2012.