OPNsense vs WatchGuard Firebox comparison

OPNsense and WatchGuard are both solutions in the Firewalls category. OPNsense is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.1, while WatchGuard is ranked #11 with an average rating of 8.0. OPNsense holds a 11.5% mindshare in Firewalls, compared to WatchGuard’s 2.7% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of OPNsense users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of WatchGuard users who would recommend it.

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 9, 2025

OPNsense and WatchGuard Firebox compete in the network security solutions category. OPNsense appears to have the upper hand due to its cost-effectiveness and flexibility without licensing fees, appealing to small and mid-sized businesses.

Features: OPNsense is appreciated for its rich feature set, including IPsec VPN, Let's Encrypt certificate integration, and advanced reporting and visibility options. Its open-source nature provides significant flexibility and customization. WatchGuard Firebox is recognized for its Active Directory integration, threat detection and response capabilities, and comprehensive security suite, offering a layered security approach.

Room for Improvement: OPNsense users express a need for better virtual server integration and enhanced VPN solutions, citing ease-of-use challenges and insufficient documentation for non-technical users. WatchGuard Firebox, while powerful, is critiqued for its complex interface and expensive licensing. Suggestions include improved reporting and easier policy management to enhance usability.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: OPNsense relies heavily on community support due to its open-source nature, which some find inconsistent. It supports on-premises deployment with some hybrid options. WatchGuard Firebox offers broader deployment choices, including public cloud systems. Its customer service is well-rated, though setup may require external expertise.

Pricing and ROI: OPNsense is a cost-effective solution due to its lack of licensing fees, making it attractive for businesses seeking to lower operational costs while maintaining robust features. WatchGuard Firebox, while competitively priced in its segment, can be costly compared to open-source alternatives. Its comprehensive feature set and support provide valuable ROI with customizable subscription models.

To learn more, read our detailed OPNsense vs. WatchGuard Firebox Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

OPNsense vs. WatchGuard Firebox

December 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 879,371 peers since 2012

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

5.8

Fortinet FortiGate offers cost-effective, robust security, reducing expenses, enhancing efficiency, easy implementation, quick ROI, and improved network management.

Sentiment score

3.8

OPNsense offers quick ROI, annual savings, improved network protection, efficiency, but faces challenges like market disruptions and cyber threats.

Sentiment score

7.0

WatchGuard Firebox boosts security, reduces admin costs, and increases productivity with efficient threat management and reliable VPN solutions.

Clients are now comfortable and not wasting productive hours on IT support.

MURALI NIDAMANURI

Managing Director at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

The automation part is giving us a cost benefit and speed; we can react faster.

Bart Homblé

BDM Fortinet & BDM Teamlead at Exclusive Networks

It's a very useful tool to mitigate and protect your enterprise.

Bernard Samontanes

Staff Infrastructure & Security Engineer at Mozn Systems

For more quotes and insights, download the Fortinet FortiGate report

The network attacks reduced by approximately 60% after using that, even without customizing the custom configuration yet.

Mahmoud Suleiman

Senior IT Infrastructure Engineer at a real estate/law firm with 11-50 employees

For a very little investment, I was able to increase the security of my network.

Richard Chamberlain

Administrator at a retailer with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the OPNsense report

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the WatchGuard Firebox report

Customer Service

Sentiment score

6.6

Fortinet FortiGate's customer service is generally praised for responsiveness, though some users experience delays in critical situations.

Sentiment score

4.9

Users often solve issues using online resources, valuing community help, but suggest OPNsense centralize and improve support options.

Sentiment score

6.2

Users praise WatchGuard Firebox's responsive, knowledgeable support, though some note delays due to time differences.

The quick resolution of issues with Fortinet FortiGate is due to the support of the company and the fact that the equipment is easy to work with.

Alexandre Menezes

IT Manager at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees

I would rate the technical support for Fortinet FortiGate a ten out of ten.

AnishKumar

NAC Support at Rah Infotech Pvt Ltd

As a solution provider, when I encounter problems, I connect directly with Fortinet support, and they provide solutions within a very short time.

Vasu Gala

Manager, Information Technology Operation/Presales at TechMonarch

For more quotes and insights, download the Fortinet FortiGate report

Compared to some open-source projects with weak support, OPNsense stands out for having both a strong community and commercial backing options.

Moutaz Sheikh Alard

ISO 27001 Lead Implementer at a consultancy with 11-50 employees

I mainly rely on community support since the solution is open source.

Stephen Zoran

Senior Client Solutions Architect at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees

If you say you do not have one, it is finished. This is where the monopoly starts.

Harry Fusser

Senior Solutions Engineer at a educational organization with 201-500 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the OPNsense report

On a scale of one to 10, I would rate the technical support of the WatchGuard Firebox a 10.

reviewer2698002

Consultant at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Finally, we connected with someone, and I would rate their support as eight or nine out of ten once we were able to speak with them.

Syed Pasha

Senior Network Consultant at NETOPS

The technical support is good.

Manish Nalawade

Owner at It logic

For more quotes and insights, download the WatchGuard Firebox report

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score

7.1

Fortinet FortiGate is scalable and popular for SMEs but requires careful design and may incur scaling costs and licensing constraints.

Sentiment score

6.6

OPNsense is scalable and adaptable, supporting small to large deployments with flexibility in hardware upgrades and virtual machines.

Sentiment score

7.0

WatchGuard Firebox offers strong scalability for diverse needs, though selecting the appropriate model is crucial for optimal performance.

They scale up really well from smaller models like the FortiGate 40 and 50 to bigger sites with the FortiGate 100 for more throughput - up to enterprise datacenters.

Ian Manton

IT Manager at Daltons Limited

The variation comes in terms of the interfaces and throughputs, but from a security perspective, you get the same benefit, irrespective of whether you have an entry-level unit or an enterprise.

reviewer2667480

Cewa Solutions Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

We determine sizing based on multiple factors: number of users, available links, traffic types, server count, services in use, and whether services will be published.

FatmaSamy

General Surgery Specialist at Helwan University Cairo

For more quotes and insights, download the Fortinet FortiGate report

OPNsense is an extremely scalable solution.

Chirosca Alecsandru

Owner at Networks srl

I use Zenarmor, pinning it to one core for packet inspection, and the CPU performance seems very good.

Stephen Zoran

Senior Client Solutions Architect at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees

OPNsense's scalability is excellent; I just need to resize my hardware and upgrade the server, and voilà, I am good to go.

Mahmoud Suleiman

Senior IT Infrastructure Engineer at a real estate/law firm with 11-50 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the OPNsense report

The user interface and features compared to newer firewalls are not up to the mark, which includes functionalities such as filtering, web filtering, threat protection, user identity, and UTM features that need improvement.

Syed Pasha

Senior Network Consultant at NETOPS

If we're going for more concurrent users, we need to change the entire box.

Manish Nalawade

Owner at It logic

I find the WatchGuard Firebox scalable, as it's easy to change configurations from this product to another one.

reviewer2698002

Consultant at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the WatchGuard Firebox report

Stability Issues

Sentiment score

7.7

Fortinet FortiGate is praised for its stability, with effective long-term performance and improvements in newer firmware versions.

Sentiment score

7.5

OPNsense is highly stable and reliable, excelling in security and usability, but occasionally faces VPN and update issues.

Sentiment score

7.9

WatchGuard Firebox is praised for stability and reliability, requiring minimal maintenance and quick resolutions for occasional hardware issues.

We're experiencing 99.999% availability consistently.

Ricardo Biggs

Manager, Information Technology at a consumer goods company with 11-50 employees

I would rate the stability of Fortinet FortiGate a ten out of ten.

AnishKumar

NAC Support at Rah Infotech Pvt Ltd

Currently, we are experiencing a general outage of one of the main internet service providers of the Dominican Republic, and we have not been impacted in our operations because with SD-WAN, we have another internet service provider and we are working with the second WAN connection without any disruption.

Juan Frias

CISO at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Fortinet FortiGate report

For home and small network use, OPNsense is also reliable, providing enterprise-grade security at no cost.

Moutaz Sheikh Alard

ISO 27001 Lead Implementer at a consultancy with 11-50 employees

OPNsense is the same, but it does have a way of installing the Realtek drivers, which gives you a lot more stability overall on the system.

RicardoDias

Network and Programming Specialist at Twentytwo Integration

The only challenge faced was its inadequacy to manage large voice traffic effectively, even with dedicated hardware.

reviewer1027455

Senior Network Engineer at a comms service provider with 11-50 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the OPNsense report

There are issues with traffic hitting the firewall, which could indicate performance problems related to throughput.

Syed Pasha

Senior Network Consultant at NETOPS

For more quotes and insights, download the WatchGuard Firebox report

Room For Improvement

Fortinet FortiGate needs enhanced UI, simplified licensing, improved performance, reporting, third-party integration, and expanded automation features.

OPNsense's challenges include interface usability, integration issues, and the need for improved VPN, analytics, and virtualization support.

WatchGuard Firebox users seek a user-friendly interface, improved integrations, clearer reporting, better support, and enhanced threat detection features.

When considering Sophos XG, which we also use, the logging and reporting functionality is notably more efficient.

Taha Turkestani

Senior IT specialist at SAUDIA ALIRLINES

These sessions should be around five to ten minutes long, allowing users and partners to quickly grasp the information without disrupting their daily tasks.

MURALI NIDAMANURI

Managing Director at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

The solution should be able to implement machine learning and analytics of all the logs for threat detection and protection.

Elvis Mahadeo

Senior Systems Engineer at Caribbean Development Company

For more quotes and insights, download the Fortinet FortiGate report

I would like the APIs to be more mature and more developed and have more options to automate threat hunting.

Chirosca Alecsandru

Owner at Networks srl

Enhancing its performance for significant amounts of data traffic would make it closer to a perfect solution.

reviewer1027455

Senior Network Engineer at a comms service provider with 11-50 employees

It would be beneficial if they could create some videos on how to set it up themselves.

Richard Chamberlain

Administrator at a retailer with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the OPNsense report

The cost for renewal after three years is 75% of the hardware cost, which is a significant problem.

Manish Nalawade

Owner at It logic

When implementing a rule using a group of IPs, it is not possible to do that directly.

Victor Massey

Solution Architect at Simvicitsolutions

It is also difficult to diagnose issues if any devices get compromised; for example, if someone hacks our system, it becomes hard to trace who made changes or accessed the firewall.

Syed Pasha

Senior Network Consultant at NETOPS

For more quotes and insights, download the WatchGuard Firebox report

Setup Cost

Enterprise buyers find Fortinet FortiGate costly initially, but cheaper overall, despite some high renewal and setup costs.

OPNsense is a cost-effective, open-source firewall solution offering affordability compared to commercial firewalls, appealing to enterprises.

WatchGuard Firebox offers cost-effective pricing and discounts, making it attractive to enterprises seeking affordable security solutions.

Last year, I renewed the support for three years, which can sometimes be expensive but depends on the security benefits and how it helps us.

AiméKouchade

Network & System Admin at Invoke Studios

It offers cost savings as it is generally cheaper than the competition.

NilsPaley

IT Infrastructure Architect at Apotek 1

It is about 20% cheaper.

MithatBulut

Network Security Engineer at TD SYNNEX

For more quotes and insights, download the Fortinet FortiGate report

It is free.

Samo Primožič

Technical support engineer at ADVANT računalniški inženiring, komunikacije, svetovanje in distribucija d.o.o.

They use AI for packet inspection, which integrates with OPNsense and pfSense.

RicardoDias

Network and Programming Specialist at Twentytwo Integration

I consider the pricing of OPNsense to be high when compared with other market products.

reviewer1027455

Senior Network Engineer at a comms service provider with 11-50 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the OPNsense report

When we tried to renew the Palo Alto license, the cost was beyond any reasonable range.

PedroSoteras

Digital Solution Designer at Accenture

It's expensive us here.

Manish Nalawade

Owner at It logic

I have faced challenges with the WatchGuard Firebox regarding price since we work with customers who use the Stormshield product, which is less expensive and French-made.

reviewer2698002

Consultant at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the WatchGuard Firebox report

Valuable Features

Fortinet FortiGate provides robust, flexible security solutions with key features like web filtering, SSL VPN, SD-WAN, and centralized management.

OPNsense is user-friendly and cost-effective, offering extensive VPN, firewall features, and easy scalability with strong community support.

WatchGuard Firebox provides user-friendly interface, robust security features, and cloud support for efficient multi-site management and enhanced protection.

These features help reduce our downtime, manage the ISPs, and deploy SLAs for all the website traffic.

Syed Ali Waqas

Head IT at Burraq Cyber Security Solutions

The most valuable feature of FortiGate is FortiView which provides proactive monitoring.

Viraj Fernandopulle

General Manager Group IT at DART GLOBAL LOGISTICS PTE. LTD.

We got a firewall and gave an SSL VPN to my client to connect to their servers, after which, such kind of activities involving ransomware attacks stopped.

VINAY GUJARATHI

Owner at Mindware Computer Solutions

For more quotes and insights, download the Fortinet FortiGate report

The most valuable features include the basic firewall functionality and the GeoIP location services.

reviewer1027455

Senior Network Engineer at a comms service provider with 11-50 employees

I can have a Wi-Fi VLAN and feel secure that the server network or the VM network that I have on a different VLAN are isolated, and they cannot talk to one another, which adds a great level of security.

Richard Chamberlain

Administrator at a retailer with 10,001+ employees

It offers enterprise-grade features such as intrusion detection and prevention system, VPN support, traffic shaping, and web filtering, all without license cost.

Moutaz Sheikh Alard

ISO 27001 Lead Implementer at a consultancy with 11-50 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the OPNsense report

The Firebox offers valuable features such as network security, URL filtering, UTM features, intrusion prevention and detection, and authentication.

Victor Massey

Solution Architect at Simvicitsolutions

Basically, we have received a good return on investment.

Manish Nalawade

Owner at It logic

I utilize AI within the WatchGuard Firebox, as we use the interconnection with threat syncs, and AI is implemented.

reviewer2698002

Consultant at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the WatchGuard Firebox report

Categories and Ranking

Fortinet FortiGate

Mindshare comparison

As of December 2025, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 19.1%, down from 20.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OPNsense is 11.5%, down from 13.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of WatchGuard Firebox is 2.7%, down from 2.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Firewalls Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Fortinet FortiGate	19.1%
OPNsense	11.5%
WatchGuard Firebox	2.7%
Other	66.69999999999999%

Firewalls

Featured Reviews

Vasu Gala

Manager, Information Technology Operation/Presales at TechMonarch

A stable solution with an intuitive interface and quick customer service

I have been working with Fortinet FortiGate, WatchGuard, Sophos, and SonicWall. I'm not as comfortable with SonicWall because of their UI and limitations. I prefer Fortinet above all other options. When it comes to configuration, I am confident in my ability to handle various tasks, including creating policies such as firewall rules, web policies, and application policies. Additionally, I can configure VPNs and implement load balancing, among other tasks. Overall, I feel much more comfortable working with Fortinet. Fortinet has made significant improvements by integrating AI with firewalls for threat analysis and prevention. In the past 2-3 years, they have launched FortiSASE and SIEM, and they also provide SOC services. Both Palo Alto and Fortinet FortiGate are excellent. While Fortinet FortiGate comes at higher prices, the functionality and support justify the cost. They promptly resolve firmware issues and inform all support providers about configuration changes.

Read full review

Moutaz Sheikh Alard

ISO 27001 Lead Implementer at a consultancy with 11-50 employees

Has helped simulate enterprise security setups and strengthens network segmentation practices

For my capstone, I use OPNsense for my project and its broader benefits for enterprise and cybersecurity context. OPNsense is an open source based firewall and routing platform. It offers enterprise-grade features such as intrusion detection and prevention system, VPN support, traffic shaping, and web filtering, all without license cost. This platform has a modular design, a clean web-based GUI, and frequent updates that prioritize security and usability. It competes with commercial firewalls such as Cisco ASA, FortiGate, and Palo Alto, but stands out because it's community-driven, cost-effective, and transparent. I find OPNsense's feature of acting as a central firewall and gateway most valuable, providing robust point segmentation between the internal network and DMZs in my capstone project, intrusion detection to monitor malicious traffic, VPN services for secure remote access, and logging and monitoring for compliance and auditing. This allows me to simulate a real-world enterprise environment on a smaller scale, demonstrating both security hardening and network efficiency. OPNsense impacts my projects and home network positively because its cost-effectiveness is perfect for lab and enterprise setup without expensive licensing. The flexibility, easy VLAN and DMZ configuration supports different zones such as web servers, mail servers, and log servers. The security-first design for IDS/IPS integration helps me showcase modern defense-in-depth strategies. The user-friendly management through the web GUI makes it possible to manage complex firewall rules clearly, which is critical when documenting and presenting a capstone. Scalability is also an advantage. Although my project is lab-based, OPNsense can scale into production deployments in SMBs and enterprise.

Read full review

Syed Pasha

Senior Network Consultant at NETOPS

Makes defining policies simpler but lacks performance and modern features

WatchGuard Firebox is only deployed in one location within my customer's organization, and at the other locations, we are using Meraki and FortiGate. We plan to replace WatchGuard Firebox soon. My impression of the spam blocking capabilities of WatchGuard is not very favorable, as I don't think it is very capable. I haven't noticed effective web ratings or IPS signatures, which may be due to managing an older OS; I'm not certain about the performance of the newer versions. I am not aware of whether the transition to faster ports on WatchGuard Firebox supports maintaining productivity levels during peak usage times. Based on my experience, I would rate WatchGuard Firebox as five out of ten overall.

Read full review

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Firewalls solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

879,371 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

14%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

16%

Computer Software Company

15%

Manufacturing Company

University

Computer Software Company

13%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Manufacturing Company

Retailer

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	357
Midsize Enterprise	132
Large Enterprise	188

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	30
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	8

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	92
Midsize Enterprise	25
Large Enterprise	15

Questions from the Community

Which is the better NGFW: Fortinet Fortigate or Cisco Firepower?

When you compare these firewalls you can identify them with different features, advantages, practices and usage a...

See all answers

What is the biggest difference between Sophos XG and FortiGate?

From my experience regarding both the Sophos and FortiGate firewalls, I personally would rather use FortiGate. I know...

See all answers

What are the biggest technical differences between Sophos UTM and Fortinet FortiGate?

As a solution, Sophos UTM offers a lot of functionality, it scales well, and the stability and performance are quite ...

See all answers

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 cl...

See all answers

What do you like most about OPNsense?

What I like the most about OPNsense is that it offers an easy-to-use dashboard for device management and control.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for OPNsense?

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that since OPNsense is free, the licensing and setup was eas...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for WatchGuard Firebox?

We are providing our services to all WatchGuard customers in the region.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for WatchGuard Firebox?

We just use it as a secondary WiFi device. We're a small office and we needed to set up a WiFi device for a few of ou...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for WatchGuard Firebox?

We're a hospital and we use it for developing our incoming and outgoing policies, and we also use it for VPN.

See all answers

Comparisons

Sophos XG vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 19% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 12% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 7% of the time

Cisco Meraki MX vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 3% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 3% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate Competitors

Netgate pfSense vs OPNsense

Compared 43% of the time

IPFire vs OPNsense

Compared 12% of the time

Sophos XG vs OPNsense

Compared 7% of the time

Sophos XGS vs OPNsense

Compared 3% of the time

KerioControl vs OPNsense

Compared 2% of the time

More OPNsense Competitors

SonicWall TZ vs WatchGuard Firebox

Compared 5% of the time

Sophos UTM vs WatchGuard Firebox

Compared 4% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs WatchGuard Firebox

Compared 4% of the time

SonicWall NSa vs WatchGuard Firebox

Compared 4% of the time

Sophos XGS vs WatchGuard Firebox

Compared 4% of the time

More WatchGuard Firebox Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

December 2025

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Buyer's Guide

OPNsense

December 2025

Download OPNsense product report

Buyer's Guide

WatchGuard Firebox

December 2025

Download WatchGuard Firebox product report

Also Known As

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall

No data available

WatchGuard Threat Detection and Response, WatchGuard Application Control, WatchGuard Data Loss Prevention, WatchGuard Gateway AntiVirus, WatchGuard Intrusion Prevention Service

Overview

Fortinet FortiGate is a versatile network security tool offering features like VPN, firewall, web filtering, intrusion prevention, and scalability. It is known for its performance and integration with other Fortinet products, making it a preferred choice for robust cybersecurity.

Fortinet FortiGate stands out as a comprehensive cybersecurity solution with strong performance and ease of configuration. It delivers unified threat management, integrating features such as dynamic routing, SD-WAN support, and centralized management. Despite its strengths, improvements in the web interface's stability, pricing structures, and reporting capabilities are needed. Users seek better integration with third-party tools and automation advancements to enhance the experience further. These enhancements, alongside improvements in bandwidth management and the reduction of licensing costs, are points of interest for users looking to capitalize on FortiGate's extensive capabilities.

What are Fortinet FortiGate's key features?

VPN: Ensures secure remote connections.
Firewall: Protects against unauthorized access.
Web Filtering: Blocks malicious sites and content.
Application Control: Manages and controls applications.
Intrusion Prevention: Detects and prevents vulnerabilities.
SSL Inspection: Enhances security by inspecting encrypted traffic.

What benefits should be considered when evaluating Fortinet FortiGate?

Affordability: Offers cost-effective security solutions.
Reliability: Known for consistent and stable performance.
Integration: Seamlessly integrates with other Fortinet products.
Comprehensive Protection: Provides broad threat protection capabilities.

Fortinet FortiGate is widely implemented across industries as a primary firewall system for securing internet gateways and safeguarding data centers. It supports businesses in achieving SD-WAN integration and enhances cybersecurity by providing essential features like antivirus, web filtering, and application control. Enterprises utilize FortiGate for securing remote connections and ensuring compliance with security standards, making it adaptable for different network sizes and industries.

Fortinet

OPNsense is an adaptable open-source firewall and routing platform appreciated for its flexibility, scalability, and user-friendly interface. It is equipped with robust security features and offers excellent reporting and visibility, essential for small businesses and home setups.

OPNsense stands out for its modular design, allowing cost-effective customization. This system supports VPNs and various firewall capabilities, making it suitable for securing networks from malicious traffic. Its frequent updates and extensive documentation, combined with a supportive online community, enhance user experience. However, there is room for improvement in integration with virtual servers and Azure. Scalability and hardware updates are important for large-scale environments, and users desire more reliable VPN solutions and enhanced threat intelligence tools.

What are OPNsense's most important features?

Flexibility: Easily customizable due to its open-source nature.
Robust Security: Advanced security features for network protection.
User-Friendly Interface: Simplified management and configuration.
Frequent Updates: Regular improvements and new features.
Dense Documentation: Extensive resources and community support.

What benefits should users look for in reviews?

Cost-Effectiveness: Open-source design reduces costs.
Scalability: Ability to grow with business needs.
Customizability: Tailored solutions for different requirements.
Community Support: Access to a strong network of resources and peers.

OPNsense is implemented in industries requiring VPN and firewall functions, supporting site-to-site connections, protecting servers, and managing commercial network traffic. Companies apply it for security, UTM, SD-WAN, content filtering, intrusion detection, and prevention, utilizing its open-source nature and effectiveness as a next-generation firewall.

OPNsense

WatchGuard Firebox is a high-performance firewall known for its ease of setup, offering robust security with layered protection and centralized management capabilities.

WatchGuard Firebox stands out for its intuitive management and high throughput, addressing security needs with features like VPN, web filtering, and threat detection. Its centralized control and reporting abilities, along with Active Directory integration, make it popular among varied organizations. Its user-friendly interface and ongoing updates enhance usability and reliability. However, there's a call for better cloud-based administration, scalability, and improved integration with third-party vendors.

What are the key features of WatchGuard Firebox?

Ease of Setup: Quick and straightforward installation process.
GUI: User-friendly graphical interface for simplified navigation.
VPN Features: Secure and efficient virtual private network management.
Web Filtering: Advanced filtering for safer browsing experiences.
Threat Detection: Proactive monitoring and detection of cyber threats.

What benefits or ROI should be evaluated?

Centralized Control: Streamlined management from a single point.
High Throughput: Efficient data handling and processing capacity.
Stable Performance: Consistent and reliable operational functionality.
Active Directory Integration: Seamless connection with user directories.
Customer Service: Strong support service for customer inquiries.

WatchGuard Firebox is implemented across industries to secure internet gateways and protect data in multi-site businesses. Its applications span from Unified Threat Management (UTM) and intrusion prevention to compliance support in business environments requiring secure connectivity through VPNs.

WatchGuard

Sample Customers

Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, Dell, HP, Oracle, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, Vodafone, Orange, BT Group, Telstra, Deutsche Telekom, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, CenturyLink, NTT Communications, Tata Communications, SoftBank, China Mobile, Singtel, Telus, Rogers Communications, Bell Canada, Telkom Indonesia, Telkom South Africa, Telmex, Telia Company, Telkom Kenya

1. Deciso B.V. 2. iXsystems, Inc. 3. EuroBSDCon 4. Netgate 5. Claranet 6. Voleatech 7. Open Systems AG 8. Securebit AG 9. Proxmox Server Solutions GmbH 10. AVM Computersysteme Vertriebs GmbH Additional customers include: T-Systems International GmbH, Deutsche Telekom AG, Vodafone GmbH, 1&1 IONOS SE, OVHcloud, Hetzner Online GmbH, Strato AG, PlusServer GmbH, Host Europe GmbH, United Internet AG, 1&1 Versatel Deutschland GmbH, QSC AG, Bechtle AG, Cancom SE, Computacenter AG & Co. oHG, T-Systems Multimedia Solutions GmbH, Atos SE, Capgemini SE, Accenture plc, IBM Corporation, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company, Cisco Systems, Inc.

Ellips, Diecutstickers.com, Clarke Energy, NCR, Wrest Park, Homeslice Pizza, Fortessa Tableware Solutions, The Phoenix Residence

Buyer's Guide

OPNsense vs. WatchGuard Firebox

December 2025

Free Report: OPNsense vs. WatchGuard Firebox

Find out what your peers are saying about OPNsense vs. WatchGuard Firebox and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

879,371 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our OPNsense vs. WatchGuard Firebox report.

See our list of best Firewalls vendors and best Firewalls vendors.

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.