Netgate pfSense Reviews

We use the solution as the main firewall and a proxy for load balancing our web servers.

The best feature of the tool is its all-in-one capabilities. It is a firewall with built-in IDS and IPS, load balancing, and VPN connections. The VPN integration, particularly with internal AD environments, provides stable connections. Centralized authentication is a notable benefit as well. We primarily use it for these features on our server level and are planning to expand their use in our complex environment to connect employees and services. 

Netgate pfSense is cost-effective because you can start using it for free. You can research how to install and configure everything, then install it virtually on any device or partition some hardware. This allows you to start using a firewall without any initial cost.

For larger companies, if you have one or two people skilled with the tool, they can design the complete network using it. That's all you need. You don't have to invest in expensive subscriptions or big hardware setups.

My only suggestion is that Netgate pfSense implement more graphical monitoring. While there are accounts with add-ons for graphical monitoring of data networking, IPS, IDS, and firewall-level events, having more graphical representations like blocks would make the tool more capable. Although it has commercial support and a good GUI, it can still be challenging for someone without firewalls, command lines, and networking knowledge.

Adding features to the solution through packages is somewhat limited. The marketplace doesn't have as many options as you might expect.

One example is the IPS/IDS system. Netgate pfSense still uses Snort 2.9, even though version 3.0 has been out for about a year. Version 3.0 offers important improvements like multi-core support, significantly speeding up processing. The solution seems slow to update to newer versions of these third-party packages.

The tool should provide beta versions with the latest package updates sooner so users can benefit from new features and improvements.

Another issue is the lack of a package marketplace. Despite being open source and customized by many developers globally, there isn't a wide selection of community-created packages. The reasons for this aren't clear to me - it could be security concerns or other factors.

Based on my experience using Netgate pfSense for about four years, I can't say the improvements in our environment are solely due to the product. It's a combination of Netgate pfSense and another monitoring tool we use.

Monitoring is crucial. The easier the monitoring and user interface, the simpler our team can work on and investigate issues. Accessing data becomes more difficult when you use commands or other complex methods.

With our third-party tools, log viewing is very straightforward. The tool logs everything important. This was helpful when our site was slow, and we needed to determine why. The logs from Negate pfSense and our IT systems help us identify issues.

However, the solution's combination with a third-party monitoring tool provides a graphical interface. This makes it much easier to review logs and pinpoint problems.

If Netgate pfSense had a better graphical interface, it would be one of the best products available. I think the graphical interface should be much better and easier to monitor. For example, I encountered errors when I installed HAProxy, a load balancer available in the solution. It was difficult to determine the errors because the backend wasn't working properly. It took us a long time to identify the exact issue because more detailed error information isn't directly available in the current interface. You must go through different steps to trace and see what errors are coming up.

If the tool could improve in this area and provide more error details directly in the interface, that would be beneficial. As for packages, if they could update to newer versions of third-party packages more quickly, that would be helpful. I understand they might not be able to use the very latest versions immediately, but if they could provide updates within three to six months of a new package release, users could try new features sooner.

One additional feature that would be helpful is SAML authentication. Many companies now use Azure or AWS; in our case, we use Office 365 for email and authentication. If SAML authentication was available in pfSense, we could have integrated it with Office 365, allowing users to log in directly using their existing credentials.

The tool can integrate with Azure AD internally, but SAML or two-factor authentication, such as SMS, would provide better security. Firewalls are usually kept behind the scenes and not exposed, but this feature would be useful in some cases.

We've offered Netgate pfSense to many clients, managing it for them and migrating them from existing firewalls. They're generally happy with the change. However, some clients were looking for these additional authentication features. While we can integrate with Office 365, a direct connection option would be beneficial.

I have been working with the product for four years. 

I use Netgate pfSense Plus. We mainly chose it for early updates and commercial support, as advertised on their site. I've only used the support once, though. We started with the free version, which worked fine without issues. After three to four months, we upgraded to the Netgate pfSense Plus environment. Since then, it's been very stable. We've never had problems that required rolling back changes after updates. The updates are very stable - we don't have issues when we update the firewall. So overall, it's been quite stable for us.

I rate the solution's stability a ten out of ten. 

My company has five users using the solution in two locations. The solution's documentation shows that it is scalable. 

There is a lot of support material available on the Internet. You need to do some research. In my experience, I've only had to contact Netgate pfSense support once in the last four years, and that was because I messed up the operating system in our virtualized environment. 

We were previously using Cisco ASA 5500. After three years, we needed to upgrade the hardware and the subscription. At that time, we were moving from an on-premise solution to the cloud, so we decided to try Netgate pfSense. Our vendor recommended it. We wanted to get at least six months of experience with it to ensure its features were stable and it could handle higher loads without breaking. That was one of the main reasons we chose the solution.

The solution's deployment is straightforward. The basic setup took us just about two to three hours. However, designing our custom network configuration took a bit longer. Overall, we got the tool up and running in about three to four days in my environment. There were three people involved in the deployment process: myself and two other team members.

Netgate pfSense doesn't require much maintenance on our end. It's pretty smooth. We monitor alerts. When there's a new update, we test it in our staging environment to see if it affects anything. If it's smooth, we upgrade.

The tool has helped us save money. 

The tool is flexible; even the free, open-source version offers many features. From a cost perspective, even the subscription model for commercial support isn't too costly. However, it's important to have someone knowledgeable about Netgate pfSense to take advantage of it. While there are online resources, a professional or someone experienced can get much more out of the solution. I've heard that the IPS/IDS licenses and other features can be costly.

The solution is very cheap. It's so affordable that even students can use it on their laptops. It's a good, cost-effective product.

The solution has a single web interface, which you could consider a container. Within this container, there are multiple interfaces or sections. You must navigate to different settings to manage different aspects of the system.

So, while it's all contained within one web interface, you can't see or manage everything from a single screen.

I recommend the tool to our clients. We help them implement and support it. I rate it an eight out of ten. 

We have been building local firewall systems since 2008. 

The main use cases for Netgate pfSense are its exceptional stability and reputation as a premier network operating system worldwide. Millions of people are using it, and we have rolled out a new hotspot system that works from the cloud. The service is running under the pfSense portal.

Netgate pfSense impacts our organization positively because it's open source and has a free edition, which helps us significantly in building our own systems for our customers. It helps in building a new firewall system for the Turkish market. It helps us substantially.

Netgate pfSense's best features are that it's open source and flexible. We have implemented IPsec VPNs, site-to-site VPNs, and client-to-site VPNs. 

We appreciate the flexibility of the Netgate pfSense solution, but we have waited approximately two years for new updates to the Community Edition. We are now moving to OPNsense.

I appreciate Netgate pfSense because we have been using it for approximately 18 years, which is a considerable amount of time. We are waiting for pfSense to integrate AdGuard, Pi-hole, or Zenarmor directly into the pfSense kernel. When I install packages, such as Snort or OpenVPN client export tool, I need to install AdGuard or Zenarmor because it's very challenging to ban TikTok, YouTube, or social media for our customers. In the early days, we managed this using SquidGuard, but since the blacklist has changed, we are struggling. There are many other blacklists I have tried, but I couldn't make them work. It has to be much easier for engineers to implement this. It's easy to integrate AdGuard into OPNsense; it becomes a function under the firewall. You can easily switch blacklists on and off, and create custom blacklists to block all social media with a toggle. We would appreciate such facilities in pfSense as otherwise, we have to manually enter all the websites, DNS resolver, and DNS overrides. Writing numerous rules on the LAN side during installation takes considerable time.

We have been using Netgate pfSense since 2008.

Netgate pfSense is a stable solution for me.

It's a scalable solution. Two months ago, I purchased a brand new server edition, a Lenovo ThinkSystem server with 128 GB RAM. I installed this pfSense server in a data center, and it's working fine. Many people connect via VPN; three or four sites are connecting site-to-site, and we also established another IPsec connection to one of the biggest ISPs in Turkey. It's working great now.

We have never asked for technical support from Netgate. We rely on the resources on the web for information.

Neutral

Two months ago, we switched to OPNsense, and we are now studying OPNsense. We made a strong decision to switch to OPNsense because of the large solutions. There are many facilities, such as AdGuard and Zenarmor, which can be easily installed under OPNsense. We are studying OPNsense, and we will likely switch to OPNsense in 2025 because we are still waiting for a stable version of pfSense. 2.7.2 is very old, and we have switched to the 2.8 beta version, but we are still making our tests now.

Since we have been using pfSense for almost 18 years, we have learned extensively about Netgate pfSense. We have worked extensively and watched many educational videos from the United States, and we have made ourselves ready for pfSense. If one understands the system, it's easy to handle, but without knowledge, it's very challenging for everybody. Many people try to work with pfSense in Turkey with the free edition, the Community Edition, but they couldn't succeed because it's a complex system. It's a vast ocean, and understanding every protocol is necessary. Basically, all firewall systems are the same. Brands such as Cisco, FortiGate, and Sophos sell well in Turkey, and we are competing with these companies. Our target market is the small market, not the big companies or holdings, especially in the hospitality sector, where we deal with hotels and motels.

We would appreciate seeing facilities similar to OPNsense for Community Edition. In Turkey, people generally don't want to pay for yearly subscriptions to firewall systems. We barely recouped our investment for our Safe Hotspot system in Turkey. Competing with other brands such as Sophos, FortiGate, and Cisco is challenging. These brands also require annual payments, and due to Turkey's economic conditions, everyone is eliminating such costs. We have produced our hardware for pfSense, but it was not Netgate; it was only pfSense in the early days. We made our own rack mount 5 or 8 port firewall systems in Turkey and sold many.

The initial setup of Netgate pfSense is not complex; it's very easy. I can even have one of our resellers burn a pfSense USB stick and install pfSense without knowing anything about it. 

Because the Community edition is free, we only charge for our services to the customers. In Turkey, we cannot demand normal pricing; if we were in Europe or the United States, we might collect more money from customers. The conditions in Turkey are very challenging, and collecting payment is difficult. We often charge half or one-third of the price compared to Europe.

We would like to buy Netgate hardware, but when I checked its price in Europe, it seemed expensive.

I would rate Netgate pfSense a 10 out of 10.

I typically use it as an edge firewall.

pfSense is easy to configure. The features I have configured are firewall rules and dynamic routing through FRR. These advanced features are straightforward to configure, and the documentation, if needed, makes things even easier. 

We are using pfSense Plus. It helps us minimize downtime. There is high availability built into the software. I can deploy two pfSense firewalls, configure them correctly, and they can back up each other in case one of them fails. It is a fantastic free feature integrated into the product, and I utilize it constantly.

pfSense has been somewhat beneficial in helping to prevent data loss. We were able to see its benefits immediately after the deployment.

I find the overall amount of configuration flexibility to be valuable. 

It is fairly maintenance-free. That is one of the strengths of the product. It has no frills and is extremely easy and painless to use. It does not cause any trouble.

Another strength of pfSense is that the documentation is very digestible and easy to understand.

One of the features I know they are working on and would like to see improved is the single pane of glass. They have a beta feature available right now that is good, but I would like to see that more developed and made available to customers sooner rather than later. It is currently very basic. When dealing with a fleet of pfSense firewalls, considering them individually is not the most efficient use of time. 

It does not provide visibility to make data-driven decisions. I cannot derive any analytics or information from the pfSense GUI or software to make data-driven decisions. The visibility that pfSense Plus provides does not help us optimize performance. I want more information and context around the data passing through my firewall to make data-driven decisions. I have used other vendor firewalls that provide some capability to show the traffic or bandwidth passed within the last hour, directly within the firewall software. I need a way to generate a report that I can deliver to my C-suite, allowing us to discuss and determine the best path forward. Currently, you deploy it, and it performs as expected, but there are no analytics or reporting capabilities to extract information from the firewall, generate a report, and engage stakeholders in discussions about network connectivity issues, concerns, or upgrades.

I have used Netgate pfSense for more than five years.

I would rate the stability of the product a nine out of ten.

When assessing scalability, I would probably give it a seven out of ten.

I have interacted with their customer service, and they have been, without a shadow of a doubt, beyond helpful. They are fantastic and truly among the best I have worked with. I would rate them a ten out of ten.

Positive

I have used Palo Alto Firewalls and Cisco ASAs as my primary solutions. If money was no object, Palo Alto Firewalls get the edge only due to the fact that they provide more visibility and analytics in regard to the data that goes through the firewall.

Setting it up is extremely easy. Installing the hardware, configuring the software, and getting it ready to forward and pass traffic takes as little as 45 minutes. It is extremely robust and easy to manage and use.

In my case, it definitely involves a team. When we visit on-site, one person can deploy it, but at least in my business, it is accomplished as a team.

pfSense is excellent for a low total cost of ownership. pfSense pricing is extremely competitive, and it delivers exactly what is advertised. If you are looking for a firewall with advanced feature sets at a very low cost, you cannot get anything better than pfSense. It does exactly as advertised, and that is one of its biggest strengths.

It is extremely affordable in relation to TCO. You get everything that other commercial products give but at an extremely affordable rate, so you can deploy en masse to numerous customers and clients.

My overall advice would be to read the fantastic documentation. Everything you will ever need to do with the product is explained very easily in the documentation. If you have any troubles, just read it, and you will always find an answer. It is one of the best documentation of a product I have used in a very long time. Nothing is hidden.

Overall, I would rate pfSense a nine out of ten.

I have at least two pfSense routers at home in my home lab, serving my house. Additionally, we use it in my company. We have our satellite office in LA, and we use it as the main router. The use cases involve a router, firewall, and DHCP server.

I was able to see pfSense's benefits immediately because I used it as a learning tool too. From the very beginning, I was able to inspect traffic and see what was happening on my network. That was pretty useful.

pfSense is flexible. I like it. I can install it on different hardware. I can virtualize it if I want.

It is pretty easy to add features to pfSense and configure them. If something is supported by Netgate and it is in their package manager, it is pretty easy, and if it is not, I would not want to add it. I would not be confident enough to put it on my firewall.

pfSense has not directly helped to prevent data loss, but it helps indirectly by protecting the network and not letting in malicious things.

pfSense Plus provides features that help us minimize downtime. Preventive notifications and ZFS snapshots are helpful features. 

pfSense Plus helps to make data-driven decisions to some extent such as which device is using the most bandwidth. The visibility that pfSense Plus provides helps us optimize performance.

The Tailscale integration is very helpful. The DHCP and DNS server functionalities, as well as the package manager, are also good. 

I am using its paid version. I am paying at home for the Plus version, but I wish they would pay attention to the community version. I know there is less incentive for Netgate to develop the community version, but it would be cool to have that.

pfSense does not give us a single pane of glass management. I know that they are coming out with that as a beta or alpha feature, but it is not there yet.

I have experienced only hardware-related issues with Netgate. They are not related to pfSense as a software. I purchased a Netgate firewall, an SG-4100, which is a $600 device, intending to make it a solid piece of my home lab and support the project. It died in one and a half years. I do not see the value in buying their hardware, as their customer support was not friendly or helpful. Eventually, I bought pfSense Plus, which allows using a roughly $200 device that offers part-swapping to keep the device alive or even buying two of them. The pfSense Plus subscription is roughly the same value.

Support for third-party hardware is less documented, not being their preferred option. For most things, it is pretty solid. Other firewalls such as SonicWall offer more protection features such as deep packet inspection. I know that is possible with Snort or Suricata. That is one thing that could differentiate open-source firewalls from the main players. 

Another suggestion is automatic updates to reduce maintenance for smaller setups.

I have used Netgate pfSense for roughly four to five years.

Since they fixed the DHCP issues, it has been pretty stable.

Scalability has never been an issue. I have not dealt with more than 10 gigabit traffic, so I have not experienced any problems.

They answer promptly. However, I do not feel valued when I pay about $150 a year, and they only include certain things for people without the Netgate hardware. They had some general first-time setup features but nothing that actually caused problems. For instance, when I imported my previous configuration to my new hardware, it was not covered. So, even if advertised similarly, it is not the same if I do not own the Netgate hardware.

At work, in our main office, we use SonicWall. I also use UniFi Firewalls, ranging from smaller to larger ones, and actively manage two or three of them.

As compared to SonicWall, the user interface of pfSense is much easier to handle. It is also faster even though our SonicWall is a much beefier device. pfSense is more well-organized compared to SonicWall.

With their own devices, it was pretty easy. With third-party hardware, it was a little more difficult because certain devices are not as compatible. It is easier if people double-check compatibility, but in general, it is pretty easy.

It requires maintenance from me. I have to update packages and make sure that everything is running properly and the hardware is fine.

It is a one-person task. If you have the specifications and knowledge of what network segments and VLANs need to be set up, it can be managed by one person.

It is on the higher side. If you want to purchase pfSense Plus alone, the cost is roughly $150 a year, but the value provided justifies the expense. However, a lower-end tier option, around $100, would be beneficial.

With the inclusion of firewall, VPN, and router functionalities, for a business, pfSense makes much more sense. I was comparing different solutions and our SonicWall costs way more when we include VPN and other small features.

If installing on your own hardware, you should definitely research compatibility with FreeBSD, and use ZFS, which I believe is the default now. This allows rollback capabilities. It is important to read what is included in the pfSense support package before contacting support, as you might not get answers, and it might be easier to go directly to the forums.

I would rate pfSense a nine out of ten.

We use pfSense in our clients' offices to provide secure network access. For remote workers requiring private network connectivity, we deploy a Netgate pfSense router in both the office and the user's home office, establishing a robust IPsec connection between the two. This configuration offers superior security compared to alternatives like OpenVPN, as remote users simply need to connect their LAN cable to the home pfSense for immediate and secure office network access. We primarily serve small organizations with 10 to 200 employees, deploying a pfSense router in each main office and providing OpenVPN or IPsec connectivity. Additionally, we offer optional pfBlocker-NG integration for advanced threat protection, enabling the blocking of traffic from specific geographic regions or known malware sources.

We have several sites with multiple or backup-wide area networks. We use pfSense to manage these networks, configuring them for load balancing or backup as needed. To authenticate OpenVPN logins, we leverage Active Directory on our Windows Server, simplifying user management. Office managers can easily disable both Windows and OpenVPN access for users without needing to access pfSense directly. This centralized approach requires only a single robust passphrase for users to access both the VPN and the Windows domain.

I am accustomed to the interface and find it quick to use. However, I think a new user might need some time to adjust. That said, I've been using it for over 15 years.

As a network administrator, I fully understand the benefits of pfSense before deployment. While end users may not immediately recognize its advantages, I appreciate its value in eliminating the need for costly licenses associated with other firewalls like Barracuda and Checkpoint. PfSense offers a comprehensive suite of features, including VPN, user management, and advanced DNS, without requiring additional fees. This cost-saving aspect is a significant selling point for me when replacing older firewalls with Netgate pfSense. Not only do we improve network security, but we also reduce ongoing expenses, a benefit that becomes apparent to clients over time.

Adding features in the packages section of the interface is quite rapid, especially when limiting options to available packages. However, configuring unfamiliar or infrequently used packages requires research and time, ideally by someone with networking and firewall experience. While pfSense is not entirely plug-and-play, the basic setup is straightforward; adding features demands more technical knowledge. So, feature addition is easy, but configuration can be moderately complex.

pfSense can help prevent data loss by making it difficult for hackers to breach networks. However, most data loss incidents we see result from end-users clicking on malicious links or email attachments. When data loss or ransomware occurs, the issue typically lies with user error rather than pfSense. I believe that the networks I configure using pfBlocker, which restrict communication primarily to the continental US and other approved countries, may help block ransomware. Still, I cannot quantify the frequency of such occurrences.

Approximately ten percent of pfSense routers experience critical issues requiring a factory reset. Previously, this process involved contacting tech support and providing detailed information. However, pfSense has simplified this by offering self-service image downloads. This improvement significantly speeds up customer recovery time. Additionally, Netgate's pfSense Plus hardware comes with a Zero-to-Ping warranty, enabling easy setup and troubleshooting for end users. While not entirely plug-and-play, most users can easily install these routers, and Netgate's warranty provides additional support if needed. I've successfully utilized the Zero-to-Ping warranty several times and believe it is a valuable resource for both technicians and end users.

pfSense has helped enable data-driven decisions. It allows me to communicate the need for faster WAN lines to client management by providing concrete evidence of network performance. Additionally, pfSense offers detailed insights into OpenVPN user activity and IPsec traffic, facilitating targeted problem-solving. For instance, I can readily identify slow IPsec connections for remote users, such as user X, and advocate for necessary improvements based on these data-driven findings.

OpenVPN, IPsec, DHCP, and DNS are the most valuable features. I will also include pfBlocker-NG later in the list, but only a couple of sites use this feature. 

pfSense does offer a convenient single-pane dashboard, but I believe it could be improved with additional features. For instance, an administrator log for team members to record notes, such as adding a nameserver, removing user accounts, or other relevant information, would be beneficial. This simple log within the main status page could enhance communication and collaboration among the admin team. While the current status screen provides most of the necessary information, this extra feature would be a valuable addition.

It would be beneficial if Netgate provided a table outlining the recommended maximum WAN port speeds for their various models.

The documentation doesn't align with what I'm seeing on the console. This is frustrating because the online documentation doesn't match the dashboard, leaving me unsure of the correct steps to take.

I have been using Netgate pfSense for 16 years.

I would rate pfSense's stability a perfect ten. When I replace consumer routers with pfSense for small businesses with two or three employees, they are often amazed to discover the router can run for a year without a reboot. This starkly contrasts their previous experience with consumer routers that required weekly or bi-weekly unplugging.

I have been pleased with pfSense's scalability. While I haven't explored all its features, I have successfully backed up an old system and restored it to a new pfSense device, which I consider an upgrade. I know additional capabilities like load balancing and backup device management but haven't implemented them due to a lack of current need. PfSense offers much more potential than I've utilized.

The quality of the support is high. While the speed used to be somewhat slow, I've noticed a significant improvement in recent calls, connecting with a representative quickly within the past year.

Positive

We've used multiple firewall solutions over the years. Twenty years ago, we implemented Monowall. Subsequently, we switched to Barracuda, which proved highly problematic and required frequent technical support intervention. Our next choice, SonicWall, was an improvement over Barracuda but still presented challenges. Specifically, SonicWall's licensing model is burdensome, as it necessitates constant management on my part, a task end-users are unwilling or unable to perform. Though less frequent than with Barracuda, technical support interactions are still necessary.

Initial deployment is straightforward, taking approximately half an hour for each unit. While pfSense is not the issue, challenges often arise due to clients' limited understanding of their network configurations. A single person can effectively handle the deployment process.

I appreciate that pfSense eliminates the need for extra payments, license management, or feature limitations. This cost-effectiveness and its reliable Zero-to-Ping guarantee is its most compelling aspect.

The pricing seems fair overall, but I think they need more reasonably priced options for very small offices. They currently offer a few affordable units at the lower end, but then there’s a significant price jump to the next level. I remember they used to have a model around the 2100 range that was a good middle ground. I believe they should offer more choices between the lowest tier and the next one in terms of hardware. Additionally, I'd like to see a per-incident support option, which I don't think they currently provide. I haven’t checked their support options in a while, so I could be mistaken. However, in the past, they only offered annual plans. If I encounter a specific issue, I would prefer the ability to pay a one-time fee for complete support on that particular problem.

The total cost of ownership is great. pfSense is our most recommended appliance for router, firewall, and VPN functionality. 

I would rate Netgate pfSense nine out of ten.

Users don't need to do anything to maintain the system, but I like to check all pfSense instances every few months, install updates, and look for any irregularities. I try to check every single pfSense system if possible. pfSense needs to be manually updated.

My use case involved having a firewall from a different vendor, which was taken over and used as a bot in a network. This incident made me reconsider my firewall provider. 

I integrated pfSense, and I have not encountered any issues since. Initially, I used it as freeware as a virtual box, and it performed well. 

About two and a half years ago, I transitioned to physical boxes. We have more than one. My use case was to connect two offices and create an extended LAN using pfSense for point-to-point connections between the data centers.

I have never had an issue with pfSense, except when attempting to configure it. When left as is, it functions well.

Support is very good.

It is rather flexible.  

Having enterprise support was immensely helpful since I have run into problems using a plugin. Without it, I might have needed to purchase a new box.

I do use pfSense Plus. We had downtime before pfSense. We've never gone down using the solution. We haven't had any performance issues.

I like the plugin systems, even though I feel like I'm playing roulette. I'm not sure if it does what I want it to do or if it will break the original capability of pfSense. Plus, having all of these dependencies may be a liability. While I appreciate their availability and wish to develop my own plugins, time constraints hinder that. 

Since the language used in the documentation is difficult for a non-English speaker, I find it hard to understand. It assumes they understand the words that are used and sometimes I feel I need to get out a dictionary to get handle on what they are talking about. They need to simplify the language a little bit. 

Using a plugin for reverse proxy allows multiple URLs to listen on port 80, rather than a single IP address for multiple servers, however, this requires changing the default port of pfSense. When I changed the default port, I experienced difficulty accessing the device. I thought my password was incorrect, when in fact, the port change was the issue. I had to connect to the physical device using a special cable. While I found this surprising, I am too paranoid to use SSH due to its perceived vulnerability.

We're a security company. We provide solutions to prevent hacking. pfSense is really good at preventing outside access; however, as an attacker, there are endless opportunities to attack. There's no way for me to know who or what pfSense is blocking or preventing. pfSense doesn't tell you any information.

I've been using the solution for two to three years. 

I receive popup notifications indicating that we have run out of memory due to some unknown reason, despite using only 20% of the device's memory. I am unsure of the cause. There is nobody that can give me a good answer to this issue. Occasionally, I receive emails from sales about updates, however, sometimes, the device does not detect these updates.

We have not reached the point where it becomes stressed. Our device isn't that big in terms of size since we don't have a lot of big users. No one has complained of buffering or response times. Our internet is likely slower than our pfSense. 

I was really happy having enterprise support when issues arose. Without this support, I probably would have bought a new box.

We have premium support. It helps me as I didn't feel comfortable with all of the responsibility. It's helped us with tech IDs and getting into the system when there have been issues. 

Positive

Management provides a budget for purchases. Initially, I bought a product based on appealing flyers and sales promises. However, after purchase, I realized it was not as secure as anticipated. I liked that pfSense started off as partially open-source. We trusted the technology.

We don't do cloud services. We have an on-premies setup and wanted to use pfSense in our on-premises cloud. It works really well and we are very comfortable with it. We do a lot of research with nasty malware and have not seen anything able to hack it yet. We've done so many deployments that we're very comfortable with the setup and capabilities.

You just power it on and follow the Wizard. If somebody has never done any firewalls, they should do what the tech says.

I'm the only person that is allowed to touch it and I'm the only one with access. We have four sites and no issues. We've abused one of the plugins, the pfBlocker, that has a subscription URL that can get malicious actors and help us block their IP. We can update the firewall rules almost in real-time. That's the basic maintenance we do. It's mostly automated.

There are occasional updates, and we get notices. Sometimes, the devices do not see the update, and I get paranoid that it's a phishing attempt. I'm not sure of this is a bug or not. 

If instructed by my boss, I can complete tasks within four hours, adhering to pfSense's SLA. I don't mind being challenged. 

Monetary concerns are not my focus; I cannot justify saving on the firewall for personal expenses. 

I would recommend the solution to other users, including potential government clients. I've invited others to try and hack it, to showcase how robust it is, and no one can. It's impressing people. They're saying, "I need to get one of those."

I would rate the overall product seven out of ten. I'm stressed out by the documentation. I do have an interest in doing a pfSense certification course. The documentation is holding me back from giving me a ten. 

I was looking to improve my security posture. Bottom line, I just wanted really high-quality cybersecurity. When I look at appliances for cybersecurity, they can get up to almost seven figures for some businesses. So, this was a good compromise for me.

It optimizes performance right away. That is apparent to your everyday user. It makes the whole system work better and more efficiently. When there is an intrusion or an attack, it's very easy to eradicate the issue. 

Before having the cybersecurity mechanisms I have now, even with VPNs from the App Store, I faced issues like hijacks that became multi-day issues where I had to perpetually get into some type of power struggle through remote based issues from another cyber threat. For example, in October 2022 or 2023, I sat down at my computer to move files from a cloud-based drive to an external hard drive. I opened the cloud drive, and all the files had been corrupted/damaged intentionally. Someone specifically corrupted the entire iCloud Drive. I called tech support, and the next day, there was an iOS update. Since I implemented the security appliance, I haven’t had this issue. 

It means there's a better level of security in terms of what you can build into your system than is available through downloadable software.

pfSense helps prevent data loss:

I haven't had one issue of data loss since implementing it. Previously, I had to file reports with the FBI and CIA because the intrusions were so serious. These documents had criminal penalties associated with tampering. I haven't had one of those instances since using pfSense. Netgate and pfSense are good go-tos, even for the government. They often use Netgate as their server, and the military uses it too. The fact that the American military and foreign militaries use Netgate was a big selling point for me. It's good quality for what you pay.

It's a really great entry-level way to see how much, and it's scalable, too. When you talk about flexibility, the important thing to know is that the appliance and the software are scalable, too. I can start at the entry-level point, or I can build in and scale it up to enterprise-quality software, too.

pfSense Plus:

I use pfSense Plus. I use VoIP through the router. 

It minimizes downtime in terms of having to debug and things of that nature. When there's an intrusion, it doesn't turn into a multi-day issue. It took me about ten minutes to eradicate one aggressive intrusion. Simple maneuvers resolved it quickly, avoiding days on the phone with tech support. 

There was an instance where my firewall software—I don't know what happened exactly—but I did have to call tech support. Something happened where my firewall needed to be completely reconfigured.

So, are the entry-level ones invincible? No. But do they save you tons of effort in terms of preventing a lot of problems that could get worse? Yes. It's like a preventative measure to cancer before it spreads. It helps you catch things quicker before they spread and become something bigger.

The visibility that pfSense Plus provides helps us optimize performance. I feel more comfortable exchanging information and having personal conversations. It makes me more comfortable, more confident that what I'm doing is not... Some people I even work with are just not comfortable to talk openly. Some people are very email-retentive, like, "Do not click that hyperlink on this computer system. Don't do this or that." So it's understandable with some people.

It absolutely optimizes my entire computer system. In fact, I'm opening a brick-and-mortar storefront, and I'm going to use pfSense. Actually, I'm going to step it up to the TNSR software, but I use the Netgate routers because it optimizes performance. I feel comfortable to have a small to medium-sized office operating off this stackable network I'm creating. It's still a prototype, but I can have six screens, and that's really all I need. I can probably get six screens or five screens and a hardwired payment processing system at most if I need it.

Plus on Amazon EC2 VMs:

I haven't tried it recently. I did in the past, but I didn't have it configured correctly, so I can't truthfully comment on it. It was more complicated than I could set up. Like I have to pay for that. I can download the AWS EC2 application, launch the instance from a cellular device, and intermesh the cellular device into the router. That's also extremely valuable if I want to have a coworking situation where everyone's on my network a certain way, so when I do exchange information, it's highly confidential.

I get a mesh VPN network. I can have an enterprise-grade VPN for the business without spending too much. That's important for some people. 

For me, I liked the pfBlocker, which is pfSense's firewall. I get a couple of different options with the firewall. I can use AWS as your provider to pass data through AWS's workstations to the router. There are a ton of important features. 

I can build an instance, have it move through the router, and then be just cellular. There are so many great features. 

I haven't even completely finished configuring it, and it's an ongoing process. There are always new, innovative, great things I learn. It's like a little gadget with a lot of great features. It's hard for me to decide what I like best and don't like.

It's pretty easy to customize. Once anyone gets past the technical jargon, it's highly flexible.

I would like to see a subscription-based tech support option as opposed to this flat yearly rate. I'd like to see more of a monthly tech support feature. I think that would be helpful for a different type of consumer. So, there could be more room for Netgate to expand. To me, it would have been nice to have a little bit more tech support at first. 

But since I'm becoming so satisfied with this system I'm developing, I'm gonna step up anyway into the TNSR software. And when I do that, I get unlimited tech support.

So, it's kind of like this: if I don't want to pay for tech support, I teach myself and learn how the device works. And that's what I've basically done to this point. It's pretty plug-and-play  but some of it is, like, if you don't configure it correctly, it just doesn't work.

I had a couple of instances where I was setting it up, and I set it up a certain way twice where I just didn't configure it in a way that it worked. I put so many security features in that I had locked myself out from even being able to log in. 

So, it would be better to make tech support more accessible because they're really good at what they do, like behind the scenes. They know how to configure things through the terminal differently than I was.

System Reports:

Reports would be good, like system reports and functionality. Dumbing it down a bit more would help, too. We do have a Setup Wizard , but it is even less complicated in terms of setting it up because the user guide is 2,000 pages long.

So, the manual itself is, like, 2,000 pages for this device. If Netgate could make it a little bit less complicated for users. But, part of this appliance goes to IT departments anyway. So, they're more adept at setting it up than your average consumer. So that's generally who buys these things and sets them up. It's like your IT community usually gets involved with these because they understand that when you buy a computer, and you just start logging into the Internet, you've created a sort of dangerous atmosphere that not everybody understands by not making it safer. Everybody understands that when you log in if you don't even play with the settings on your computer. You're basically just setting yourself up to put your data out there like it's some type of free-for-all.

I bought my first router from pfSense in early 2023. It was pfSense's entry-level appliance, around January last year. I was so impressed with it that I stepped up to the 8200 level, which is one step beneath a TNSR-grade server. pfSense has two models of appliances that are higher than the one I have before I get into more elaborate appliances with different companies. 

I've stayed with this one for a year and a half now. I still have the original, which is nice. I bought it to use for a prototype concept that was built in. It worked, so I stepped it up.

I don't really know how to compare it to anything more elaborate. For my purposes, it's been a ten out of ten in terms of what I was expecting.

Scalability was definitely what I was looking for, so I would give it a ten out of ten for my business needs. It's perfect right now. 

If I can't get that level of security or sense of security, I can always stack the units more cost-effectively than going with something like Fortinet or Cisco. 

I'd almost rather stack the appliances at this price point than get into a $7,000 to $ 10,000 appliance. I get a lot of security just by stacking them, too. So, I'd rate it as highly scalable. I'd give it a ten.

The customer service and support are excellent, especially when they're supposed to charge you and they don't. When my entry-level router was fried and needed to be rebuilt, they did it from scratch, they made it seem easier than I would have ever been able to do. 

I had to download software onto a USB drive, insert the USB drive into the router, and then rebuild it from scratch because, for whatever reason, it was completely trashed.

So, I get tech support, and I pay for it. Unless I get the enterprise software, which includes unlimited tech support. Initially, I called tech support for help, and they were always willing to assist but reminded me of the limitations because I hadn't bought the support packages. Their tech support is excellent, 24-hour, and multinational.

Positive

I used some other DNS-quality firewalls, but they were cloud-based.  Like cloud-based DNS providers, but not an appliance base. That's why I bought Netgate pfSense bottom-line product to test out a prototype concept. I was satisfied with it, so I set it up to be highly competitive against everything virtually, except maybe a really high-end computer lab that could cause some type of intrusion.

Buying it, brainstorming, and waiting for it, as they build each one for you, which takes about two weeks. 

I wanted it partially because it's not one of these fantastically elaborate routers that you would just want to be completely encapsulated and protected a certain way. This is the kind of router that I wanted to be able to bring around with me, too, because I created a mobile stackable cellular network with it.

I have it attached to an entry-level desktop that was not custom-made or custom-built but premanufactured. But it worked well. I wanted more processing speed than I have now. I just didn't have time to step up my processor. But, unfortunately, with the system I'm on now, you can't switch them. So it's fine. It's a grade lower than what I wanted, but it's fine.

Creating a Portable Network:

But what is good about this is that it does work for what I was trying to do, making it mobile, stackable, and cellular. I can put a laptop. I can get a laptop as long as it has, like, a hard drive, and I can download the SI Labs, the Silicon Labs software onto the laptop. Then, I can connect the router to the cellular, like a cellular modem, which is what I have. I have one of these Netgear Nighthawk mobile cellular so it's like a cellular modem. So, I put in a SIM card with unlimited data. I connect the the Netgate router to the cellular modem, and now I connect the computer to the router. And if it's a laptop, I can connect all of this to, like, a portable network, and now you have a portable network. So I have, like, a portable point server if I want for significantly less.

Security Considerations:

You're not gonna get that level of cybersecurity on a mobile device unless you configure it that way. I mean, you could. You'd have to be getting into, like, your your, like those kinds of vans that you see on movies where they have, like, like, those vans where they're doing, like surveillance and intelligence work.  Netgate pfSense is pretty excellent quality if you wanna sit at a cafe and feel comfortable doing business and things, not being on their Wi-Fi.

Future Deployment Plans:

Right now, I'm getting ready to put enterprise-grade software on my devices exclusively; that's what I'm going to do until I get the business off the ground. 

The real deployment will be once I'm transacting service-related business against the appliance. I'm going to open a healthcare practice in Europe. I have a business in the United States that I structured to be a multinational business. I'm going to take this network and put it into a 30 to 60-square-meter office space.

I'll probably have about ten employees, but none of it will be for their personal devices. The purpose of the network will be to offer a secure Wi-Fi network to my patrons and to set up payment processing and other business-related tasks. It's going to be a small scale, with maybe six computer screens tops.

I have seen ROI, it saved me time by preventing frustration and loss of content, data, and time. The confidence it provides also pays for itself. 

I used to deal with intrusions weekly, spending anywhere from an hour to several hours each time. Now, it's less tedious and frustrating to optimize and eradicate threats and intrusions. 

It’s like a high-maintenance car that needs fine-tuning but ultimately runs smoothly.

It's highly cost-effective for both the average consumer and business users. It's highly competitive, which is why so many people use it. It's extremely down-to-earth compared to Fortinet or Cisco, Netgate doesn't reach that financial tier but is extremely competitive and extremely cost-efficient. They offer superb levels of service for what we pay. 

Currently, my setup is for a small to medium office. My first one was more for a home-based office—you could have a printer, computer, some gaming systems, TV. I would do a personal office with my first one, and this next one for a small to medium-sized office business for myself and others. I feel comfortable with that.

And they're also stackable, so I can scale it that way. It's highly scalable. It's really something worth playing with. And they offer a return policy, which is fair too, for the security appliance too.

The total cost of ownership of Netgate pfSense:

It's basically a one-off deal, which is good. You might consider building in installment payment options on the Netgate website, possibly with services like Afterpay or Klarna. This could appeal to noncommittal consumers. Personally, I would just pay cash upfront for my clients.

I'm clearly recommending it to others. It's scalable, cost-effective, practical, and down-to-earth. It's enterprise quality. It has a reputation that even the military endorses openly. When you buy something described as indestructible, and even the military uses it for their security, it says a lot. The government also uses it, testing prototypes and various things of that nature with it. 

If someone looks at the website, they'll see a large naval ship where cadets are operating off that prototype, testing if they could use the step-up with the pfSense software. They were using a higher-grade appliance with pfSense software to see if it was feasible. This shows that it's practical because the price point is unbeatable for that level of quality.

The solution for me is a ten. It's still a prototype, but I'm confident I can meet the needs of a medium-sized office with ten to twenty employees. However, scaling it up for something like an Airbnb with a high level of traffic is uncertain. It's not like a navy ship with a hundred military personnel. For my needs, it's perfect. 

It's a solution for my personal needs, and I feel confident about it. Looking into the future, scalability-wise, I think it meets my needs. But when you get to a different level of e-commerce, I'd be interested to hear their perspectives too.

We deploy Netgate pfSense primarily as enterprise-grade routers and VPN endpoints or VPN servers.

It's a firewall that provides frontline defense for any network. We saw the benefits of pfSense immediately upon the first deployment. It has several features that prevent data loss. For example, it allows automated backups of the configurations. It's nice to know that any changes are captured, and we can easily be pulled back to a new device should the current one fail. It also helps to optimize performance. We get good real-time statistics that Netgate can use to optimize performance. 

The automated backup is great. PfSense is an incredibly flexible platform. You can install whatever plugins you need and get lots of community support. There is tons of built-in logging, and the add-on packages you can use to analyze your traffic have been handy. That can generate a ton of data for us to look at how the network is being utilized and what changes need to be made or where we can improve.

From the hardware perspective, it seems like there has been a lot of turnover at Netgate. It comes with the territory because processors and other boards change so fast. But I'd like to see more continuity in the product line and a longer lifespan for a specific series. The operating system side of it has been rock solid, and the appliances have been great. I just want to not support many different appliances. I want one we can standardize for several years.

I have used pfSense for around 10 years.

The stability of pfSense is rock-solid.

The scalability of pfSense is also excellent, assuming you purchase the right hardware on the front end. In our case, we're doing physical deployments, not cloud-based.

I rate Netgate support 10 out of 10.  Their in-house support team is excellent. Each appliance comes with the minimum support needed to get a network connection. The support is knowledgeable and responds quickly, so the questions are addressed professionally and accurately.

Positive

We've used some Cisco products. I prefer the pfSense licensing model. You can get ongoing support and updates continuously. I don't need to pay again to patch a system. Cisco licenses connections. It's such a licensing problem at Cisco that I prefer dealing with pfSense.

We deployed pfSense on physical appliances. I think it's fairly easy for the average IT technician with no prior experience if they understand that it's primarily configured through a web portal instead of a command line configuration. PfSense can be deployed on one instance in 15 to 30 minutes.  

The documentation and community support are great, so many answers can be found without reaching out to their support. It requires no maintenance aside from regular updates and patches. 

The pricing is fantastic, and the market bears it easily. The total cost of ownership is so low because the license and the hardware are remarkably good. You don't have any recurring fees or licenses to maintain. With pfSense, you pay the upfront cost and that's it. The upfront cost is reasonable.

I rate Netgate pfSense 10 out of 10. I love using pfSense firewalls. 

I use it as a firewall and router. I use it in a few locations. I have three pfSense products.

I like that I can geofence and block different countries from accessing my network.

The flexibility is very good.

I noted the benefits of pfSense within a year. I had it on my VM for a year and then put it into production. 

It's good at blocking malware and DNS attacks. I don't use it for data loss prevention.

The solution gives me a single pane of management. Everything is accessible from the dashboard.

It provides features that help me minimize downtime. I have a WAN, and if any of my WANs go down, it's okay; I have them connected to pfSense. 

It helps me make more data-driven decisions. 

With pfSense, I can optimize performance. 

I don't really need too many features. I just use it as a plain firewall. I like to keep it clean. I don't like to run too many things on it.

The configuration can be a little difficult. You need to know the system a little bit. Even now, I do have one in a VM where I test my stuff, and then implement it into production.

They could make it easier to configure packages. They could have a wizard that helps you out a bit more.

I've used the solution for more than five years. 

I haven't had any issues with stability.

I haven't had issues with scalability. It's easy to back it up and load the backup.

Technical support is fast to respond. However, I did have to eventually pay for them to help me out. I had some problems with the firmware. Someone remote into my appliance and fixed it. They patched it up and now it's working fine. 

Positive

I've used OPNsense and SonicWall previously. 

While pfSense has more features, OPNsense is a lot easier to use. 

I have the solution as an appliance. Deployment for a device is a little bit hard, so it can take a few days. 

Maintenance is required every few days.

I did not have any help from outside consultants. I manage the deployment myself. I was able to eventually figure it out myself via forums. 

I like the fact that there is a free version. I'd like the entire offering to be free. That said, it's 100% worth the cost of ownership.

I use both the paid and community version.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.

I would advise new users to test it before implementing it in their environment. 

We have a tiny business that uses pfSense to create a secure VPN between our two locations. 

It's a reliable platform. We also value pfSense's security features because we have to comply with PCI for credit card payments. We need to be confident that we'll have the security. PfSense offers that.

We realized the benefits of pfSense almost immediately. I read about a company using it and thought it would be the most secure thing. It's a bit daunting at first because you have to configure it. However, they create ISP versions, so you can leave those alone and not configure them. This does the whole thing in one box, whereas, with the ISP thing, you have to think about how many different appliances you'll need to make it work.

I like how easy it is to access VPNs and stuff like that. It's so simple to set up a site-to-site VPN. The solution is flexible enough to do just about anything.  It's super easy to configure the features as long as you have the details you need, or you can build out stuff if it lacks what you're after because it has a plugin architecture.

It depends on how you run it, but pfSense can help you prevent data loss. Still, it's more about preventing people from getting in and having the confidence that you won't be compromised. And if you need those extra features, you can always add them and all those things that can monitor what's happening in your website or organization.

The web interface allows you to see bandwidth, how things connect, and much more. PfSense Plus prevents downtime. It has a feature that records everything you do so that if a unit fails, you can swap it out and enter your details, and then it loads your configuration on a new device. PeerSpot Plus provides visibility that enables data-driven decisions. You can set it up to do that if you want it. 

They could always make pfSense slightly more user-friendly and modernize the interface a little. 

I have used pfSense since 2015, so it's been around nine years.

I've never seen pfSense crash.

It's at the scale that I need it, but you can certainly scale it up to the enterprise level if you want to have a better product. It depends on the hardware. 

I rate Netgate support 10 out of 10. I only contacted them once. It was very quick and efficient. I had a sensible solution within five minutes. I couldn't imagine having better support.

Positive

I used some Netgear hardware, but I don't remember the model because it was eight years ago. When I switched to pfSense, I stuck with it because it works reliably. 

Deploying pfSense was pretty easy. I'm an IT guy, so I did it myself. After deployment, you need to do some routine maintenance, like upgrading occasionally and checking your file logs. Apart from that, it does everything for you.

They have a free community version and a paid version. The free version works if you are a home user who needs a fixed cost, but that's not my use case. 

I rate Netgate pfSense 10 out of 10. I can't think of a way to make it better. Before deploying pfSense, prepare your area and your network. Understand your entire network and what you want to do before you start doing anything then follow the documentation.