Netgate pfSense Reviews & Product Details

pfsense covers all of the core use-cases for my new and existing networks alike. Firewall, router, traffic classifier, DHCP server IPv4/6, OpenVPN server and client, Wireguard server and client, Certificate Management and Authority, User Manager, DMZ and multi-WAN (incl PPPoE), all with excellent logging incl Syslog to aid traffic analysis and debug. It's very easy to use (which is not true of all firewall software), and it's stunningly robust. Run it on a PC/SBC with multiple NICs or on a dedicated appliance for optimized footprint and power consumption. Support for HA, external packages (OpenVPN Client Export one of the most labour saving of them all), a thriving community and both free and paid support all make for a very predictable experience. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

There is no one security platform that's perfect, they've all got nuances and application sweet-spots. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

My general confidence in its high security level (on the condition that its configuration is error-free) Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

1. Sometimes I experience uncertainty in how to interpret and/or configure and understanding consequences of firewall configuration commands.

a. One example of my experience: I did create firewall commands for an OPT interface (on SG-1100, as well as on SG-2100), in order to set up Netgear WiFi Routers R6020 to the OPT Interface as their WAN. However, when I looked at Netgear router logs, there used to be an abundance of log entries indicating DOS Attack. Therefore, I assume that I didn't manage to secure the OPT interface against incoming traffic from the Internet.

b. Another example that I do not understand: Log entries in pfSense (System, General) containing text "now monitoring attacks", quite a lot of entries.

2. Use of PHP in pfSense which, to my knowledge, is not a completely reliable web language, and often is subject to security vulnerabilities. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

It is simple, stable and versatile! Also their support is fast and reliable! Security is top-notch and it offers anything I would like to have in a router! Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The price if I may say so, I am a home user for my personal usage and the price is outta my league but I love the software and I will re-adjust my personal needs just to keep my subscription active <3 Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

As MSP, we rely on pfSense and Netgate in many scenarios. Of all the pfSense deployments we have, we are maybe 50-50 on the Netgate Hardware vs. our own physical/virtual appliances. It is just so versatile and we can deploy it easily in any occasion, on demand. Software and its capabilities is no doubt one of the biggest reasons we stick with it but Netgate's amazing support is definitely the reason we keep coming back. I don't think I had a ticket wait more than one hour for a response even for devices without valid support contracts. I also rarely need to exchange messages with the support more than twice per incident. I am truly amazed by their knowledge of the product(s) they are supporting. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Centralized management and high availability could get tricky at times. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The best thing about pfSense is the support team. I am a small business and manage my own tech, and the willingness of the support team to communicate with and educate someone in my position is noteworthy. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I have not experienced any downside. It may seem overwhelming to a non-tech end user but that is my fault not the product. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Ease of Use and implementation on any virtualized platform Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Need to reset whole routing daemon when ospf or bgp has peer issue. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

pfSense is a free solution by the packet masters at Netgate. It has more features than any single system is likely to use and has professional Netgate support available. It is regularly updated and (after RTFM :) easy to use, assuming you have some understanding of network layers. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Documentation does not always keep up with upgrades. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I like its flexibility and, for me at least, logical layout. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

It can be a little complex, but that's the nature of networking. I moved away from using a Unifi USG because of its lack of flexibility, so a little complexity is the price one must pay. I prefer that over the more cookbook approach that Unifi takes. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Fast, reliable hardware with always up-to-date feature rich software. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

not widely promoted or available in my region (to be specific in Malaysia/South East Asia). Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

We start with community products (pfSense virtual machine) and now with hardware products. With two products, even with free version, we have lot a features, easy support and great fiablilty. We has some issues but support come back quickly to us. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Some issues with update (hardware don't restart after update) or update was not detected by products... Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.