--- title: Netgate pfSense Reviews meta_title: 'Netgate pfSense Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2' meta_description: Filter 326 reviews by the users' company size, role or industry to find out how Netgate pfSense works for a business like yours. aggregate_rating: rating_value: 4.7 review_count: 326 scale: '5' date_modified: '2026-07-13' parent_category: name: Network Security url: https://www.g2.com/categories/network-security --- # Netgate pfSense Reviews **Vendor:** Netgate **Category:** [Firewall Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/firewall-software) **Average Rating:** 4.7/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 326 ## About Netgate pfSense pfSense® Plus software is the world’s most trusted firewall. The software has garnered the respect and adoration of users worldwide - installed well over three million times. Made possible by open source technology. Made into a robust, reliable, dependable product by Netgate. ## Netgate pfSense Pros & Cons **What users like:** - Users appreciate the **ease of use** of Netgate pfSense, benefiting from its organized interface and comprehensive support. (3 reviews) - Users appreciate the **extensive customizability** of Netgate pfSense, enabling tailored configurations for diverse networking needs. (2 reviews) - Users find the **easy setup** of Netgate pfSense ideal for managing their networking solutions effectively. (2 reviews) - Users appreciate the **user-friendly interface** and extensive control offered by Netgate pfSense for various networking needs. (2 reviews) - Users appreciate the **robust security** of Netgate pfSense, valuing its reliability and flexibility for various networking needs. (2 reviews) - Control (1 reviews) - Users highlight the **excellent customer support** of Netgate pfSense, enhancing their experience with prompt assistance when needed. (1 reviews) - Users love the **customization options** of Netgate pfSense, enabling tailored configurations for unique network needs. (1 reviews) - Documentation (1 reviews) - Users highlight the **ease of implementation** of Netgate pfSense, allowing quick setup and configuration within minutes. (1 reviews) **What users dislike:** - Users find the **complex configuration** challenging initially, requiring time and technical knowledge to navigate effectively. (2 reviews) - Users find the **difficult learning curve** of Netgate pfSense challenging, particularly for those unfamiliar with networking concepts. (2 reviews) - Users find the **expertise required** for Netgate pfSense challenging, especially due to its steep learning curve. (1 reviews) - Users find the **high resource usage** of Netgate pfSense can lead to significant hardware memory consumption. (1 reviews) - Users find **integration issues** with Netgate pfSense, noting room for improvement in security and overall support. (1 reviews) - Users find the **lack of guidance** in pfSense challenging, especially without prior network knowledge or experience. (1 reviews) - Users find the **steep learning curve** of Netgate pfSense challenging, especially for those new to networking. (1 reviews) - Limited Options (1 reviews) - Poor Interface Design (1 reviews) - Users find the **poor support services** of Netgate pfSense problematic, making troubleshooting and upgrades frustrating. (1 reviews) ## Netgate pfSense Reviews ### 1. Easy Setup, Reliable High Availability, Needs Better Hardware Performance on Entry Level Hardware **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Shawn L. | Senior Systems Administrator, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 09, 2023 **What do you like best about Netgate pfSense?** I like that Netgate pfSense is easy to configure, making setup straightforward for both my team and clients. The tech support is great, which I find really helpful whenever issues arise. The High Availability (HA) feature works great for us, especially in our government client's networks. It's nice to be able to patch the firewalls during business hours, knowing that if one firewall fails, the second one will pick up without any interruption, and VPN access remains smooth. I also appreciate the better update cycles compared to FortiGate or Sonicwalls, as it seems there are fewer patch releases to deal with. **What do you dislike about Netgate pfSense?** Some of the hardware appliances seem underpowered. The lower end appliances are slow to apply updates, don't have enough memory for some of the packages, and are just overall sluggish when navigating the GUI. **What problems is Netgate pfSense solving and how is that benefiting you?** Netgate pfSense offers better update cycles with fewer patch releases, is easy to configure, and provides great tech support. The High Availability works well, allowing updates during business hours without downtime and ensuring VPN accessibility. ### 2. Reliable, Flexible, and Built for Real Control **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** MD D. | QA, Computer Software, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 19, 2026 **What do you like best about Netgate pfSense?** What I like most about Netgate pfSense is how much control it gives you without being overly complicated. It’s reliable, secure, and flexible enough to handle everything from basic setups to more advanced networking needs. I also appreciate that it’s not a closed system **What do you dislike about Netgate pfSense?** If I had to point out a downside, it would be that the interface can feel a bit overwhelming at first, especially if you’re new to networking. Some advanced features take time to understand, and the learning curve can be steep. It’s powerful, but you do need some technical knowledge to get the most out of it. **What problems is Netgate pfSense solving and how is that benefiting you?** Netgate pfSense solves the problem of having limited control and weak security with typical off-the-shelf routers. It gives you advanced firewall protection, better traffic management, and reliable VPN options in one place. For me, that means more control over my network, better security, and the ability to customize everything based on my needs instead of being stuck with basic features. ### 3. Easy to use, good performance, and great value for money **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** JONATHAN GABRIEL C. | network systems technician, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 08, 2026 **What do you like best about Netgate pfSense?** It is easy to use and, for the price, it works well. It integrates well into our service as we reach a server. The performance is good. **What do you dislike about Netgate pfSense?** it is a bit outdated compared to the new generation ones **What problems is Netgate pfSense solving and how is that benefiting you?** We have a server where it was not possible to establish a VPN connection with another firewall, and that's where pfSense helped us. ### 4. robust networking solution **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Tony C. | Platform Software Engineer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 30, 2026 **What do you like best about Netgate pfSense?** the ability to configure your own router HOWEVER you want! **What do you dislike about Netgate pfSense?** a little bit unintuitive to manage system resources, sometimes eats up a lot of hardware memory. **What problems is Netgate pfSense solving and how is that benefiting you?** - ability to adapt to different custom hardware - ability to provide configurations for firewalls and traffic monitoring - native integration with WireGuard and Tailscale - native pfblockerng capability ### 5. Great Features for Self-Starters, but Support Can Feel Dismissive **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Scott B. | Unix Linux System Administrator III, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 15, 2026 **What do you like best about Netgate pfSense?** It has great features if you will research them **What do you dislike about Netgate pfSense?** Support is the RTFM type. Only interesting issues tend to get help the the rest you are made to feel bad for asking. **What problems is Netgate pfSense solving and how is that benefiting you?** It was a great firewall that only costs you time. ### 6. Best Firewall Routing ever **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Ruben T. | CEO - Founder - Owner, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 02, 2025 **What do you like best about Netgate pfSense?** Time to learn how to communicate the requirements to the product (having experience in firewall from other platforms) **What do you dislike about Netgate pfSense?** There is no NGF and SDWAN does not have Spanish support from Netgate. **What problems is Netgate pfSense solving and how is that benefiting you?** Practicality to develop, almost all solutions in one box. ### 7. PfSense+ || Netgate ||Supermicro || Product review **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Shaik B. | Security Architect, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 13, 2024 **What do you like best about Netgate pfSense?** Awesome product I have ever seen in free of cost. Very powerfull opensource Firewall with full bundeled packed. Its very easy to use software and hardware, I can customize many things as like I can add additional ports and SSD ect.. I took only 30 minutes to make this product live very smooth and easy to implimentation. Yes, I have TAC Enterprice support so I get very good quick and premium support as I usually get from many other premium Firewall provider. **What do you dislike about Netgate pfSense?** Since this is opensource, If you know the concept then only this product is helpfull or else you will feel very dificylty to impliment itself. **What problems is Netgate pfSense solving and how is that benefiting you?** PfSense+ solved my many problems from the traditional Firewall. 1, Cost. 2, URL filtering. 3, End users tracking. 4, multi WAN as I want. 5, Load balancing as per my priority. 6, Captive portal and IPS/IDS. 7, User identity and self hosted RADIUS. etc.., ### 8. pfSense - reliable and user friendly. **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Information Technology and Services | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 05, 2025 **What do you like best about Netgate pfSense?** The interface is easy to use, well organized, and easy for admins to setup. Their support documentation/forums are well documented and up to date. I think it's secure when integrated with the right platforms and packs cool useful features. **What do you dislike about Netgate pfSense?** The CE edition could have better support, although kept up to date, they can improve on security and some integrations. **What problems is Netgate pfSense solving and how is that benefiting you?** VPN integration and configuration/management, radius and simplifies traffic management. ### 9. Network admin **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** deepak s. | IT Admin, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 12, 2024 **What do you like best about Netgate pfSense?** Easy to install, Easy to understand, Easy to implement, rules creation and log check process use full and easy tounderstand and reporting pasrt also very stroing and use full bandwidth management and capping very easy.Very fast customer/tesc support. User it on daily basis. easy to integrated packages. **What do you dislike about Netgate pfSense?** Backup process may have auto process for tackn and installation. CLI past have some comlications. path and storage auto cleaning process issue and version dependancey. **What problems is Netgate pfSense solving and how is that benefiting you?** VPN services at the time of covid very use full for us and we sun the app poeration smoothe for WFH user and we adopted this process and function till now. ### 10. pfsense is one of the appliance that is recommended for stock router replacement **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Mohd, R. | Software System Staff Engineer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 17, 2024 **What do you like best about Netgate pfSense?** pfsense allow you to build your own router using your CPU that is no longer in use. **What do you dislike about Netgate pfSense?** It is a bit hard to configure for the first time. But netgate did provide the user guide for installation/configuration that you can use as reference. **What problems is Netgate pfSense solving and how is that benefiting you?** pfsense is a replacement for my stock router that is provide by ISP. I want to explore the available options. ## Netgate pfSense Discussions - [OpenVpn best report's?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/openvpn-best-report-s) - 1 comment, 1 upvote - [What is pfSense used for?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-pfsense-used-for) - 7 comments - [Can pfSense be used as a router?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/can-pfsense-be-used-as-a-router) - 11 comments - [Is pfSense any good?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/is-pfsense-any-good) - 3 comments - [Is pfSense still free?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/is-pfsense-still-free) - 5 comments - [View Netgate pfSense pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/netgate-pfsense/reviews/netgate-pfsense-review-4982957?section=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-07-14+07%3A31%3A27+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=ac18ddd8-d899-4e36-9bc3-235b3ad8b803&secure%5Btoken%5D=8343d88a1d7149b7320138fda70fd133f91de8b89b8d05b541cae086217c55f5&format=llm_user) ## Netgate pfSense Integrations - [AWS Lambda](https://www.g2.com/products/aws-lambda/reviews) - [FortiGate SD-WAN](https://www.g2.com/products/fortigate-sd-wan/reviews) - [Sophos Firewall](https://www.g2.com/products/sophos-firewall/reviews) - [Tailscale](https://www.g2.com/products/tailscale/reviews) ## Netgate pfSense Features **Administration** - Policy Management - Logging and Reporting - Application Gateway - Concurrent Sessions **Agentic AI - Firewall Software** - Autonomous Task Execution - Adaptive Learning **Usage** - Multi-Device Usage - Multiple Concurrent Connections - Protocol Choices - Unlimited Bandwidth - No Log Storage - Varied Server Locations - Unlimited Server Switches **Functionality** - Virtual Private Network (VPN) - Antivirus - URL Filtering - Availability **Miscellaneous** - Live Customer Support - Open Source Code - Multiple Payment Methods **Monitoring** - Load Balancing - Continuous Analysis - Intrusion Prevention - Intrusion Detection **Generative AI** - AI Text Summarization **Artificial Intelligence - Firewall** - AI Firewall ## Top Netgate pfSense Alternatives - [Sophos Firewall](https://www.g2.com/products/sophos-firewall/reviews) - 4.7/5.0 (800 reviews) - [Check Point Next Generation Firewalls (NGFWs)](https://www.g2.com/products/check-point-next-generation-firewalls-ngfws/reviews) - 4.5/5.0 (510 reviews) - [WatchGuard Network Security](https://www.g2.com/products/watchguard-network-security/reviews) - 4.7/5.0 (248 reviews)