Check Point UTM-1 [EOL] vs Netgate pfSense comparison

Check Point Software Technologies and Netgate are both solutions in the Firewalls category. Additionally, 84% of Check Point Software Technologies users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 94% of Netgate users who would recommend it.

Check Point UTM-1 [EOL]

Read 19 Check Point UTM-1 [EOL] reviews

84% willing to recommend

Netgate pfSense

Read 221 Netgate pfSense reviews

34,014 Views
31,973 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

Check Point UTM-1 [EOL]

Netgate pfSense

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Check Point UTM-1 [EOL] and Netgate pfSense based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet, Netgate, Cisco and others in Firewalls.

To learn more, read our detailed Firewalls Report (Updated: July 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Firewalls

July 2026

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Review summaries and opinions

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

Categories and Ranking

Check Point UTM-1 [EOL]

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Netgate pfSense

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

221

Ranking in other categories

Firewalls (2nd)

Featured Reviews

William Cambronero

Consultant at ITQS

Great firewalls, VPN, and Intrusion prevention capabilities

Some features that could be improved are advanced threat protection, sandboxing, and vulnerability management. Another point is to improve the technical support provided by Check Point UTM-1. Although the company offers different standards, including basic and premium, by mail and by telephone, they present a very large deficiency in the time it takes to comply with the provisions of the SLA. Coordinating a meeting is complicated by the schedules. The documentation should also be improved by having it unified.

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Juan-Arias

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.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most outstanding feature is being able to centralize each of the functions in a single device."

"The major improvement was the ability to have a very good log, as we are able to log all details and troubleshoot when a problem occurs."

"It provides visibility and drives organizational security."

"The most important features are performance and ease of management."

"The solution came to give us an elimination of having independent products such as antivirus firewalls and all the types of applications that were previously used for this type of content filtering, and now it is a single solution."

"When we were evaluating services, we knew we needed something robust and easy to implement with the old equipment and something that was safe."

"The pricing is reasonable for the performance and support we are getting."

"The UTM platform has been the most valuable, as it's a great system with the possibility of having several plates implemented on the same appliance."

More Check Point UTM-1 [EOL] pros

"The solution pretty much is our only firewall security at the moment, handling the integration with our active directory and making sure that all communications are channeled through a secure network."

"It is a very good solution for enterprises that need a VPN for their employees. It is the best way to provide a remote work facility to employees at a very low cost. Other solutions that I have had in the past were very expensive. Enterprises don't always have that kind of money to invest."

"Netgate pfSense has positively impacted my organization because when we look at other firewalls or alternatives, they are costly."

"This is a good product and I have no issues with it."

"If you haven't invested a lot of money, you will definitely see the return on investment with pfSense because you hardly spend anything, except for the hardware."

"It is very easy to use. The interface is quite understandable. There is a good community, and I can take over at any time I want. If there is anything wrong with it, I could just reinstall the whole thing and start all over again, and I'll be up again in less than a few minutes"

"The GUI is an all in one solution that includes features such as DHCP, VPN, Squid, Firewall, etc."

"The scalability is very good, where you can do an HA configuration and then bring in another box, if necessary."

More Netgate pfSense pros

Cons

"The solution should be more user-friendly."

"Customer service is not their strong suite. It takes a lot of time until they fix anything, and it can be better to try and fix the issue without them."

"The pricing is too high."

"Yes, about once a year we have a catastrophic failure. It's pretty random."

"As we don't have a representative of Check Point supplier in our country, this makes it very difficult when we have some issues to resolve."

"What has been the issue of firewalls is they ask me for policies and content filtering application control and all these features that are now part of Harmony."

"Customer service is definitely degrading, according to me."

"The solution could be improved if there was a better way to report. The reporting functionality is not really good. Even though it's not the major function. Maybe adding a way to make a custom report."

More Check Point UTM-1 [EOL] cons

"I'd like to see it become more of a next-gen firewall or deep packet inspection, however, I'm very happy with the way it is as of now."

"I would like to see different graphs available in the reporting."

"The overall documentation has room for improvement."

"Reporting and real-time monitoring, since I'm used to Watchguard's reporting features, it would be nice to have an embedded solution for reporting."

"Ultimately, we'd like something stronger, and something that can handle threats better in real-time."

"Something that I do not appreciate about Netgate pfSense and I wish they would change would be the feature limitations."

"One area where Netgate could improve is communication with its user base."

"RadiusServer needs some work done."

More Netgate pfSense cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"This cost is between 3,000 and 5,000 euros per year, so some other solutions are cheaper and the pricing should be improved."

"The pricing is too high."

"We are using its Community Edition, which is free. My company is a government school, and we don't have much budget."

"The pricing is reasonable."

"It's a very good solution, but it's a bit too expensive for private use."

"pfSense is a free solution."

"Unlike many firewalls that require annual licensing fees, making them expensive for small businesses, pfSense is an affordable option."

"The price of pfSense seems reasonable. I pay around a hundred dollars a year for pfSense Plus, which is inexpensive for such a complex product. It's also good that they can still release a community edition. If it started to get extremely expensive to the point where it was more of an enterprise-only product that costs thousands of dollars a year or something like that, I might consider stepping down to the community edition or looking elsewhere."

"We are using the open-source version, not the commercial one."

"It's highly cost-effective for both the average consumer and business users."

More Netgate pfSense pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Comms Service Provider

12%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	10
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	6

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	171
Midsize Enterprise	33
Large Enterprise	29

Questions from the Community

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Help me find the best open source router

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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...

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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...

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Comparisons

Fortinet FortiGate vs Check Point UTM-1 [EOL]

Compared 19% of the time

Check Point Quantum Force (NGFW) vs Check Point UTM-1 [EOL]

Compared 14% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Check Point UTM-1 [EOL]

Compared 12% of the time

Sophos UTM vs Check Point UTM-1 [EOL]

Compared 12% of the time

More Check Point UTM-1 [EOL] Competitors

OPNsense vs Netgate pfSense

Compared 54% of the time

Fortinet FortiGate vs Netgate pfSense

Compared 8% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Netgate pfSense

Compared 3% of the time

Sophos Firewall vs Netgate pfSense

Compared 3% of the time

Sophos UTM vs Netgate pfSense

Compared 3% of the time

More Netgate pfSense Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Check Point UTM-1 [EOL]

July 2026

Download Check Point UTM-1 [EOL] product report

Buyer's Guide

Netgate pfSense

June 2026

Download Netgate pfSense product report

Overview

Check Point UTM-1 delivers proven, best-in-class security ideal for use in industrial Ethernet and SCADA environments. Robust performance and central management provide unmatched value in a simple, all-in-one solution.

Check Point Software Technologies

Netgate pfSense is an open-source firewall and router software known for scalability, cost-effectiveness, and community support. It includes customizable packages for varied network management needs, offering solid performance and straightforward management for diverse setups.

Netgate pfSense provides an impressive range of functionalities including firewall capabilities, VPN options, and extensive customization through packages. Its low resource usage and high availability make it viable for businesses of all sizes, especially when dealing with tailored network demands. Despite its strengths, users suggest improvements in ease of use, mobile compatibility, and support for plug-ins. Enhanced centralized management, better documentation, and additional security features are frequent requests.

What are the key features of Netgate pfSense?

Scalability: Suits any network size from small home setups to large enterprises.
Open-source: Offers transparency and flexibility, allowing for community-driven development.
Firewall Capabilities: Provides robust protection against unauthorized access.
VPN Options: Supports secure remote connectivity with various VPN protocols.
Customizable Packages: Allows users to personalize functionalities to fit network needs.
High Availability: Ensures continuous network operations with redundancy features.
Load Balancing: Distributes traffic efficiently across multiple paths or connections.
Traffic Shaping: Manages bandwidth allocation to optimize network performance.

What benefits should users consider in reviews?

Cost-effectiveness: Significant savings due to low operational costs and open-source nature.
Performance: Reliable service delivery with minimal hardware demands.
User-friendly Interface: Intuitive design that simplifies complex network management.
Community Support: Access to extensive community resources for troubleshooting and advice.
Comprehensive Documentation: Detailed guides and tutorials to facilitate installation and configuration.

In education and healthcare, Netgate pfSense is employed for secure connectivity and efficient traffic management, accommodating distinct demands of remote access and content filtering. Organizations in these sectors often utilize features such as load balancing and VPNs to maintain secure and reliable network operations while integrating with services like Active Directory for streamlined identity management. Small to medium-sized enterprises benefit from its affordability and robust functionality, making it a go-to choice for managed service environments requiring effective network security and control.

Netgate

Sample Customers

AccessIT Group Inc., Accuvant, Cadre Computer Resources Inc., Compuquip Technologies Inc, Dimension Data North America Inc., Forsythe Solutions Group, Gotham Technology Group LLC, GuidePoint Security LLC, Iovations, IPS

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 Fortinet, Netgate, Cisco and others in Firewalls. Updated: July 2026.

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