What users are saying about
38 Ratings
<a href='https://www.trustradius.com/static/about-trustradius-scoring' target='_blank' rel='nofollow noopener noreferrer'>trScore algorithm: Learn more.</a>Score 9.4 out of 100
Based on 38 reviews and ratings
23 Ratings
<a href='https://www.trustradius.com/static/about-trustradius-scoring' target='_blank' rel='nofollow noopener noreferrer'>trScore algorithm: Learn more.</a>Score 7.8 out of 100
Based on 23 reviews and ratings
Likelihood to Recommend
pfSense
For fast-growing or SME companies, pfSense is quite suitable because pfSense already had many advanced features such as VPN and multiple WAN / LAN. As a result, we just need to pay for expensive router frequently to upgrade our infrastructure.
IT & T Manager
Madison (Hong Kong) LimitedRetail, 51-200 employees
SolarWinds Network Device Monitor
I believe that SolarWinds Network Device Monitor is well suited for any business that needs to monitor critical infrastructure to provide high availability. Small business with non critical equipment that can afford to be down for a few hours I would say that it would be less appropriate.

Verified User
Engineer in Information Technology
Real Estate Company, 51-200 employeesFeature Rating Comparison
Firewall
pfSense
7.2
SolarWinds Network Device Monitor
—
Identification Technologies
pfSense
3.0
SolarWinds Network Device Monitor
—
Visualization Tools
pfSense
6.0
SolarWinds Network Device Monitor
—
Content Inspection
pfSense
8.0
SolarWinds Network Device Monitor
—
Policy-based Controls
pfSense
7.0
SolarWinds Network Device Monitor
—
Active Directory and LDAP
pfSense
4.0
SolarWinds Network Device Monitor
—
Firewall Management Console
pfSense
8.0
SolarWinds Network Device Monitor
—
Reporting and Logging
pfSense
6.0
SolarWinds Network Device Monitor
—
VPN
pfSense
10.0
SolarWinds Network Device Monitor
—
High Availability
pfSense
9.0
SolarWinds Network Device Monitor
—
Stateful Inspection
pfSense
9.0
SolarWinds Network Device Monitor
—
Proxy Server
pfSense
9.0
SolarWinds Network Device Monitor
—
Pros
pfSense
- pfSense is an excellent firewall - It logs all of your traffic. It has packages you can install to snort bad traffic.
- pfSense has a tool called "p0f" which allows you to see what type of OS is trying to connect to you. You can filter these results and you can also block a specific OS from connecting to you.
- pfSense is an excellent load-balancer: (Multi-WAN and Server Load Balancing) The fail-over/aggregation works very well. This is perfect if your business uses multiple ISP's to ensure your customers are always able to access their data. Also helps with bandwidth distribution as well.
- VPN's - I am not entirely sure if this package was free with pfSense, but it does offer the ability to use OpenVPN which is what I am familiar with.
- They also have IPsec in the settings as well, but I am not familiar with that enough to go into any detail with it.
- As I mentioned I do use OpenVPN the only thing I don't care for with it is I can create OpenVPN configs for each user I want to be able to VPN into the network and I assumed each one would be "unique" but this does not seem to be the case. I could be doing it wrong, but if I create a config for a specific employee I would expect only that employee should be able to use that config, but I have been able to login to everyone that I made using my credentials.
- I mentioned earlier that pfSense had a GUI.
- I personally really think it is cool because it has a bunch of reporting graphs for monitoring your networks. I think when I become the full-time admin at the company I am going to try to talk them into getting me a TV I can mount on the wall and display all the graphs and real-time info pfSense shows so I can monitor what is going on with the network(s) at all times. Plus I think it would look rad.
Technical Support Specialist
TimeTrak Systems, Inc.Computer Software, 11-50 employees
SolarWinds Network Device Monitor
- Hardware health status
- Power supply status of the Network Devices
- Transmit/Discard errors
- High Latency

Verified User
Engineer in Information Technology
Real Estate Company, 51-200 employeesCons
pfSense
- There is no API for making changes. This can be a hindrance in environments where auto-deploying something needs firewall rules or HAProxy configs updated. Since all settings are stored in an XML file and then configs are generated from that, even manually updating config files cannot be done.
- Beware that some network cards can have issues. pfSense is based on FreeBSD, so it's best to look on their compatibility list before deploying.
Information Technology Manager
TimeTrak Systems, Inc.Computer Software, 11-50 employees
SolarWinds Network Device Monitor
- Vulnerability Management
- Vulnerability Patching
- Hardware firmware recommendation

Verified User
Engineer in Information Technology
Real Estate Company, 51-200 employeesAlternatives Considered
pfSense
Before pfSense we were using consumer and small business rated network appliances from Linksys, Cisco, Buffalo and Netgear. We were replacing them on average of every 6-12 months because they'd fail or would offer poor wifi availability.Switching to pfSense allowed us to use professional grade switches and wifi access points, offloading all of the services that the consumer grade products took care of, onto pfSense (DHCP, DNS, routing, firewall, VPN, etc).
Chief Technology Officer
LoudDoor, LLCMarketing and Advertising, 11-50 employees
SolarWinds Network Device Monitor
I selected SolarWinds Network Device Monitor for 2 main reasons, functionality and support

Verified User
Engineer in Information Technology
Real Estate Company, 51-200 employeesReturn on Investment
pfSense
- Moving to a FWaaS solution installed on a decent computer the initial investment was moderate to cover 50 to 250 users, but still being cheaper that a Fortinet, Cisco ASA, or a Sophos UTM.
- Paying only for support can be a double edge knife, cause you need to identify what's the goal of the request, or your drown into a an endless list of requirements.
- To stay in the top with the half of a regular investment pFSense gives a wide variety of plugins that will give you a deep knowledge of your security flaws and strong points.
IT Manager
Stoneleaf Construction LLCConstruction, 51-200 employees
SolarWinds Network Device Monitor
- Return on Investment
- Quick and informative alerts on new issues
- Alerting is the main key for a quick remediation on unexpected issues.

Verified User
Engineer in Information Technology
Real Estate Company, 51-200 employeesPricing Details
pfSense
General
Free Trial
—Free/Freemium Version
—Premium Consulting/Integration Services
—Entry-level set up fee?
No
pfSense Editions & Modules
Edition
SG-1100 | $1791 |
---|---|
SG-2100 | $2291 |
SG-3100 | $3991 |
SG-5100 | $6991 |
XG-7100-DT | $8991 |
XG-7100-1U | $9991 |
XG-1537 | $1,9491 |
XG-1541 | $2,6491 |
- per appliance
Additional Pricing Details
—SolarWinds Network Device Monitor
General
Free Trial
—Free/Freemium Version
—Premium Consulting/Integration Services
—Entry-level set up fee?
No
SolarWinds Network Device Monitor Editions & Modules
—