Netgate pfSense Reviews & Product Details

Is easy to manage using the web interface. Comes with good logic and helps to solve the basic needs for standard connections Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Doesn't have options to interact comfortably using CLI or scripting Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

pfSense is easy and fast to deploy on a variety of platforms, depending on the use case. As an enterprise service provider, we assist our customers with the deployment and hosting of systems in our cloud environment as well as on-prem datacenters. These are typically customers who for reasons of their own are not willing to trust a public cloud with their data. Having the ability to choose a hardware solution or virtualized installation of the pfSense software grants lots of freedom in design and deployment.

The web-based interface is intuitive and responsive. It's certainly competitive with other offerings.

We have engaged with support on a one-off as well as TAC subscription basis and find Netgate / pfSense support to be first rate. We appreciate having a trusted partner. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

pfSense update management can sometimes be a bit ungainly. We'd really appreciate the ability to enable automated updates, especially to patch security threats. Or perhaps even a notification that would be sent to the pfSense admin when a new update is available.

Oftentimes the only time a user realizes there is an update is when they log into the web interface, and many of our users can go weeks or months between log-ins. A push or email notification would be helpful in this regard.

Lower-end pfSense appliances from Netgate have shown themselves to be a bit flaky. They will lock up on updates, or sometimes lock up for no reason at all. When this happens, we've noted that even a reboot of the system doesn't bring it back online and it must be accessed via emulated serial console (over USB) in order to manually walk it through a startup sequence. This is extremely problematic at remote / unstaffed locations. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I have been using pfSense for many years. First on my own hardware and later on netgates hardware. The System is easy enough to use but also gives you the ability to have fine tuned rules.

I think because the pfSense Firewall software is open source and has a very large community you have a higher chance to find solutions to edge cases than with other non-open source firewalls. Some solutions might feel a bit hacky but there's always a way to get the software to behave like you want Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I have had a few clients which have the 1000+$ Netgate 7100 hardware firewall which have had heat related problems (total freeze if the temperature exceeds a value that it was easily reaching in normal use).

After opening the case I realized the heat sinks were mounted in the wrong orientation (not with, but against airflow) which seemed to be a production error because later versions of this firewall had the fans on the side and the rotated orientation would make sense there but not with the version my customers had.

After fixing the orientation of the heat sinks I had no more overheating problems though. Thanks to the standard hardware it was easy enough to fix. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I can configure just about anything in pfSense. It is a much better value offering than other vendors, and due to its open source nature, I was even able to fix a bug in the ACME package that handles Let's Encrypt certificate renewing.

The interface is not extremely modern but it is very functional.

I also buy Netgate hardware for my devices, but this is not a requirement, which I love. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

There is controversy in the community about some of Netgate's historical practices around a competing project called OPNsense, so any time a question or problem is posted, a pack of seagulls descend on the post to say they use OPNsense instead. Great, thanks?

I do hope that Netgate continues to ignore the drama and make a great open source product I can depend on. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Switching from a rather locked down routing software to PFSense has been a great experience. Configuration of PFsense from the Setup Wizard to customizations such as the implementation of site-to-site VPNs, HAProxy, DNS and PFBlockerNG. The ability to also have a Configuration Backup and easily spin-up a virtual Router should the physical hardware fail is also a relief. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I haven't really experienced anything that I dislike all that much. I suppose, it would be nice to have a Dashboard that could auto-populate with features that would be of interest rather than having to determine yourself what you want to visualize. Though, I suppose that's the power of running your own Firewall - You can control what you do and don't want to see. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The first upside of using pfSense is of course the ease of use, and the great interface. It may not be as complete as what Palo Alto offers for example but realistically, the price range is not the same. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I have to say, I don't really like the firewall logs, I think there is room for improvements like for example pagination on live monitoring. It would be awesome to see an application based firewall, even if it comes with a specific version of pfSense. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The pfSense software is widely-known and very flexible. There are considerable resources on the Internet, from books to videos. Good technical support from Netgate. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I'm used to configuring routers and firewalls for my advanced home network. pfSense had a learning curve for me. It would be nice if there were a more intuitive visual interface where it's more obvious that firewall rules and DHCP servers are based on interfaces, and aliases are definitions that go into the rules and such. Also, it should be much easier to analyze and reduce bufferbloat and other common connection nonidealities. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

My Netgate 6100 is fast, simple, and secure. It also has enough oomph to run any reasonable combination of a reverse proxy, an IPS, ad blockers, and has a pleasantly functional web UI. And it never breaks a sweat.

I expect it to be a great router for ten solid years. Probably longer.

It's the best investment you can make for solid home internet. Buy simple WAPs and update them every so often. Keep your router the same. It's perfect. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The pfSense documentation could be a little better. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

- pfBlocker with advanced firewall features

- DNS resolver with Unbound

- advanced network segmentation (sorry, but we need something in addition for that)

- certificate management with LetsEncrypt and acme

- advanced HAproxy capabilities (we need secure access, right?)

- advanced IDP/IDS features, like suricata (although some argue about it usefulness, but better to try it first personally and then judge).

- squid. Everyone loves Squid.

- exceptional technical support Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

traffic balancing and automated failover.

It's not that I don't like it, but I wish the installation was a little easier, let's take UDM pro as an example. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I like pfsense firewall. Because it is opensource and can get HA feature Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I don't know pfsense advance feature. I want to use more Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.