2018-02-10T01:54:00Z

What do you like most about pfSense?

Hi Everyone,

What do you like most about pfSense?

Thanks for sharing your thoughts with the community!

Julia Miller - PeerSpot reviewer
Community Director at PeerSpot
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PeerSpot user
75 Answers
Victor Hugo Morales Vivas - PeerSpot reviewer
Jefe de Infraestructura y Servicios de TI at Grupo ASD
MSP
Top 5
2023-05-17T14:36:40Z
May 17, 2023

The most valuable features of pfSense are security, user-friendliness, and helpful online management.

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JL
Head of IT Department at OLIVESTRONIX NIGERIA LTD
Real User
Top 20
2022-10-12T14:29:46Z
Oct 12, 2022

The firewall sensor is highly effective, and it's easy to deploy. You can deploy pfSense with limited hardware resources. It's not necessary to have an appliance with much RAM to make it work. It's cost-effective and performs well.

Buford Laruan - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Administrator at Benguet State University
Real User
Top 10
2022-03-30T10:46:20Z
Mar 30, 2022

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

JB
Owner at artesistemas.net
Real User
Top 20
2022-03-18T15:12:26Z
Mar 18, 2022

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

RS
IT Manager at a consultancy with 1-10 employees
Real User
Top 5
2022-02-28T18:36:51Z
Feb 28, 2022

It is much simpler than other solutions such as Fortinet.

EM
Sans emploi at a pharma/biotech company with 51-200 employees
Real User
Top 20
2021-12-22T19:07:00Z
Dec 22, 2021

pfSense allows us to spread the hours of connection and do the filtering on the pfSense site.

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KK
Information Technology at a transportation company with 51-200 employees
Real User
Top 20
2021-12-21T12:52:00Z
Dec 21, 2021

Some of the terminologies were more familiar to me than it was when I first encountered Cisco.

AZ
Director De Tecnologias da Information at EPAL-EP
Real User
2021-12-08T00:37:55Z
Dec 8, 2021

The initial setup is not complex.

GC
Chef at a media company with 11-50 employees
Real User
Top 20
2021-12-07T22:32:00Z
Dec 7, 2021

The plugins or add-ons are most valuable. Sometimes, they are free of charge, and sometimes, you have to pay for them, but you can purchase or download very valuable plugins or add-ons to perform internal testing of your network and simulate a denial-of-service attack or whichever attack you want to simulate. You can also remote and monitor your network and see where the gap is. Did you forget a printer port? Most attacks at the moment are happening through printers, and they can tell you immediately that you forgot to close the port of the printer. There are more than one million printers that are in danger, and everybody knows that hackers are using them to enter the network. So, you can download plugins to protect your network.

DA
Acting Manager IT at National Insurance Company Limited
Real User
Top 20
2021-12-07T09:31:38Z
Dec 7, 2021

The GUI is easy to understand.

FA
System Administrator at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Real User
Top 20
2021-12-02T09:18:00Z
Dec 2, 2021

Sophos Intercept X is scalable. Currently, we have almost 30 people using it in our company.

LB
Owner at The Computer Guy
Real User
2021-11-18T01:31:56Z
Nov 18, 2021

pfSense is a nice product, and I find that there's a lot of information out there. There are some good tutorials on YouTube and other websites with helpful information.

TO
VP of Business Development at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Real User
Top 20
2021-11-16T04:08:00Z
Nov 16, 2021

What I found most valuable is the cost of the platform, the flexibility of the platform, and the fact that the ongoing fees are not there as they are with the competitor. Some people may think you're taking a risk with using Opensource. I think it just provides the end user, specifically for us small, medium business providers of services, the flexibility we need at the right cost to provide them a higher end, almost enterprise type service.

RH
IT consultant at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Consultant
Top 20
2021-11-07T09:39:33Z
Nov 7, 2021

I have found pfSense to be stable.

SF
CEO at netison
Real User
Top 5
2021-11-02T05:56:16Z
Nov 2, 2021

My technicians find the pfSense's web interface very useful. It is very easy to use.

pfSense is very reliable and stable. We like the OpenVPN clients that can be deployed using pfSense very much.

CV
National IT Coordenator at a government with 51-200 employees
Real User
Top 20
2021-11-01T19:41:01Z
Nov 1, 2021

I like pfSense's reports and how I can control access to the policies on the firewall.

TO
Managing Director at a comms service provider with 1-10 employees
Real User
Top 5
2021-10-29T16:30:04Z
Oct 29, 2021

Technical support is perfect, excellent.

DV
IT Infrastructure Analyst at TranspoTech Equipamentos
Real User
2021-10-01T08:05:00Z
Oct 1, 2021

I like pfSense's security features.

TS
Principal at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Real User
Top 20
2021-09-29T20:48:00Z
Sep 29, 2021

What I like about pfSense is that it works well and runs on an inexpensive appliance.

MI
Sr. Network Administrator at ACMC
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
2021-09-24T08:39:23Z
Sep 24, 2021

The most valuable features of pfSense are the reports, monitoring, filtration, and blocking incoming and outgoing traffic.

SB
IT Manager at a marketing services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
2021-08-16T16:30:35Z
Aug 16, 2021

The solution is very easy to use and configure.

MN
Owner at it logic
Real User
2021-08-12T08:37:17Z
Aug 12, 2021

It is a better firewall than others and it has better features.

ZG
Senior System Administrator at Debre Markos University
Real User
2021-07-11T09:50:19Z
Jul 11, 2021

pfSense is easy to use, has user-friendly dashboards, and useful blocking features.

AS
Director at Pixels IoT Ltd
Real User
2021-07-08T08:08:11Z
Jul 8, 2021

Is good at blocking IP addresses.

AL
NOC Manager at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Real User
2021-06-01T13:31:58Z
Jun 1, 2021

The concurrent users are perfect for us.

VO
Head Of Infrastructure at a transportation company with 201-500 employees
Real User
2021-05-29T10:50:00Z
May 29, 2021

The features I have found best are ease of use, GUI, and performance.

FB
Infrastructure Administrator at CFA-INSTA
Real User
Top 20
2021-05-25T16:20:07Z
May 25, 2021

The main features of this solution are customization and ease to use.

ZG
Senior System Administrator at Debre Markos University
Real User
Top 20
2021-04-22T06:19:43Z
Apr 22, 2021

We like the fact that the product is open-source. It's free to use. There are no costs associated with it.

MA
CEO at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Real User
2021-03-12T23:44:33Z
Mar 12, 2021

The VPN is my favorite feature.

JG
Vice President - Engineering & Delivery at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Real User
2021-08-30T15:53:57Z
Aug 30, 2021

The solution has good customization abilities and plenty of features.

MA
Technical Presales Consultant/ Engineer at Ingram Micro
MSP
Top 5
2021-08-03T13:24:11Z
Aug 3, 2021

A free firewall that is a good network security appliance.

DJ
Full Stack Developer at Infrassist Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
MSP
2021-07-27T12:15:18Z
Jul 27, 2021

A valuable feature is that the solution is open source.

MH
Owner with 11-50 employees
Real User
2021-06-29T11:48:57Z
Jun 29, 2021

I mostly like all of it. Whatever we use is valuable.

ET
Senior System Administrator at KnowledgeNet
Real User
2021-06-25T13:11:21Z
Jun 25, 2021

It is a stable solution. It is also easy to install and can be deployed and maintained by one team member.

CA
Owner and business consultant at networks srl
Real User
2021-05-18T20:57:12Z
May 18, 2021

I especially like the VPN part. It works like a charm.

SB
IT Manager at a marketing services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
2021-05-15T12:27:42Z
May 15, 2021

It has a very nice web interface, and it is very simple to use. The way policies are working is also good.

TW
Managing Director at Midgard IT
Real User
2021-04-28T12:45:44Z
Apr 28, 2021

I'm the expert when it comes to Linux systems, however, with the pfSense, due to the web interface, the rest of the staff can actually make changes to it as required without me worrying about whether they've opened up ports incorrectly or not. The ease of use for non-expert staff is very good.

PJ
Information Technology System Administrator / Director at Legault Joly Thiffault
Real User
2021-04-27T22:09:05Z
Apr 27, 2021

I have found the firewall portion for the blocking most valuable.

PG
Software Applications Manager at a engineering company with 201-500 employees
Real User
2021-04-05T14:23:30Z
Apr 5, 2021

The solution is very easy to use and has a very nice GUI.

DS
CTO, Software Architect, founder at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Real User
2021-03-10T22:15:36Z
Mar 10, 2021

The initial setup is straightforward.

MY
Solution Architect, Managed Services & System Integration at Transmeet Technologies
Real User
2021-03-10T21:41:25Z
Mar 10, 2021

The flexibility of adding new kinds of services without spending any money can't be beaten.

LP
Consultant and Head of Services at ILANZ LLC
Consultant
2021-03-05T12:12:17Z
Mar 5, 2021

I am happy with the EPLS, the radius, and I am happy with the captive portal.

JB
Owner at artesistemas.net
Real User
Top 20
2021-02-19T15:56:00Z
Feb 19, 2021

I like the connectivity to the open VPN. It's very smooth.

SP
Head of information Techenology at a real estate/law firm with 201-500 employees
Real User
2021-02-09T17:28:54Z
Feb 9, 2021

I have found the most valuable features to be antivirus and malware protection.

ES
IT analyst with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
2021-02-04T09:20:33Z
Feb 4, 2021

We've found the stability to be very good overall.

HH
IT Infrastructure Analyst at ADRA Peru
Real User
2021-01-25T10:53:13Z
Jan 25, 2021

pfSense helped us during COVID-19 because we used OpenVPN to connect from home.

BO
CEO at In.sist d.o.o.
Real User
Top 20
2021-01-23T18:29:40Z
Jan 23, 2021

Content protection, content inspection, and the application level firewall.

BO
CEO at In.sist d.o.o.
Real User
Top 20
2021-01-21T19:18:20Z
Jan 21, 2021

The classic features such as content inspection, content protection, and the application-level firewall, are the most important.

RG
CEO at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Real User
2021-01-21T19:18:20Z
Jan 21, 2021

The solution is fairly scalable when it comes to integrating with other applications and data sets.

CT
IT Consultant at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Consultant
2021-01-05T14:13:00Z
Jan 5, 2021

The interface is straightforward and easy to use.

BH
Systems Administrator at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Real User
2020-12-19T10:27:54Z
Dec 19, 2020

The intrusion detection feature is the most valuable. It is an open-source firewall, so there is a lot of material on it. I also find the open VPN capability very nice.

It is pretty customizable. The clustering and the high availability are the two biggest things to be able to get out of a firewall.

MB
IT Support Specialist with 51-200 employees
Real User
2020-11-27T16:09:37Z
Nov 27, 2020

The built-in open VPN and the VPN Client Export are the solution's most valuable aspects.

JR
General Manager at Galgus
Real User
2020-11-24T15:00:57Z
Nov 24, 2020

One of the advantages of pfSense is that it is very easy to work with. It is a very good open-source solution, and it works really well.

pfSense provides a complete package. For some features, it could be the first solution in the world. It is a very good alternative in the market for a firewall solution. You don't need to go to Cisco or other brands with expensive firewalls. pfSense also allows us to offer some support services.

HP
Engineering Manager at UTI Tech SA de CV
Real User
2020-11-21T15:10:00Z
Nov 21, 2020

It has a good web cache. I used to use a DHCP server and DNS server. For my company, I use pfSense as a load balancing application.

TS
Principal at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Real User
Top 20
2020-11-19T07:30:11Z
Nov 19, 2020

It works. I put pfSense in, and it works. I can't think of any trouble I ever had with it. It runs on heat-sensitive appliances. They don't need a fan, so they don't overheat.

It is affordable, fast, and very high-speed. It is built on BSD Unix, and it pretty much runs on any Intel processor.

EG
Defensive Security & BlueTeam at Global Research CO
Real User
2020-11-14T08:39:32Z
Nov 14, 2020

It's a good solution for end-users. It's pretty easy to work with.

OA
Systems Manager at CORNARE
Real User
2020-11-06T16:59:32Z
Nov 6, 2020

The documentation is very good.

OM
Senior System Engineer at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
2020-11-05T18:00:00Z
Nov 5, 2020

At our peak time, we have reached more than 5,000 concurrent connections.

SM
System Analyst at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Real User
2020-07-22T08:17:22Z
Jul 22, 2020

The initial setup is easy.

KN
Owner at IKON Business Group, Inc
Real User
2020-07-13T06:55:46Z
Jul 13, 2020

Good basic firewall features.

VG
CEO and Founder at Indicrypt Systems
Real User
2020-07-13T06:55:00Z
Jul 13, 2020

Great extensibility of the platform.

EK
Manager, Operations at SUS-TECH Limited
Real User
2020-07-12T11:48:46Z
Jul 12, 2020

The solution is very robust.

RN
Solutions Architect at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Real User
2020-06-17T10:56:05Z
Jun 17, 2020

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

DM
Head of Department of operational and compliance at ACE GABON
Real User
2020-06-15T07:34:01Z
Jun 15, 2020

The most valuable features are the VPN and the capture photo.

AO
System Implementer at a tech vendor with 201-500 employees
Real User
Top 10Leaderboard
2019-09-10T01:44:00Z
Sep 10, 2019

The initial setup was simple and fast.

it_user1136043 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Manager at alfascan
Real User
2019-07-02T13:09:00Z
Jul 2, 2019

This solution has increased the level of security, given us more control, provided a deep insight into network traffic, and is a great VPN solution.

JL
Managing Director at VPN Technologies
Real User
2019-05-09T06:34:00Z
May 9, 2019

This solution has helped our organization by protecting our network from attacks.

AC
Chief Technology Officer at Xpro Networks
Reseller
2019-03-31T09:41:00Z
Mar 31, 2019

We generally use it because it's cheap. When we need something more robust we use Barracuda and Sony Wireless Routers. For certain clients, we use pfSense because it's compatible with the VoIP platform.

RO
CEO at Private
Vendor
2019-02-11T08:11:00Z
Feb 11, 2019

I had some outages in the network and we provide services for our company. We sell mobile credits. The terminal gets access to our own server inside the network and if one internet fails, then the other one is still up and we have a back-up link on the devices.

HT
Founder and MD at Smart Solution
Real User
2019-02-03T08:25:00Z
Feb 3, 2019

My company mainly works in the health and educational domain, schools and universities. I prevent the improper use of content from schools and universities. I defend the medical records for the patients in our hospitals. That is the main use case for me for the firewall.

RB
Senior Systems Engineer at KeyTrust
User
2018-10-10T04:23:00Z
Oct 10, 2018

The ability to perform packet captures on the command line and via the GUI is useful for diagnosing problems.

AO
Systems Administrator at AB Edsbyverken
Real User
2018-08-30T09:29:00Z
Aug 30, 2018

Super easy to manage. Anyone who has been working with firewalls can handle it.

RJ
Senior Systems Administrator at a non-tech company with 51-200 employees
Real User
2018-06-14T07:58:00Z
Jun 14, 2018

Stability has been excellent. We have experienced no issues; it never fails.

KV
Network and Office Manager at Belgo Metal CW n.v.
Real User
2018-06-10T07:19:00Z
Jun 10, 2018

The initial setup was straightforward, therefore I wanted to continue using the product.

JS
Owner / Principle Engineer at Cogito Innovations
Real User
2018-02-10T01:54:00Z
Feb 10, 2018

Its features rival many of the high cost solutions out there.

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ML
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They are pretty much the same... OPNsense has a better GUI... The community in pfSense is much bigger... OPNSense has more frequent updates... but other than that... you can not make mistakes...
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