The best small-to-medium business software based firewall
May 10, 2021
The best small-to-medium business software based firewall
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Software Version
pfSense Community Edition (open source)
Overall Satisfaction with pfSense
We use pfSense on our campus as our primary firewall/internet gateway as well as DNS, DHCP, time, and VPN server/gateway. It also handles internal routing across our VLANs. The versatility/feature set is helpful as it avoids the need for running multiple other servers for a small-business environment.
- OpenVPN is very easy to set up and administer.
- The web UI makes it very easy to configure.
- The feature set is broad and powerful.
- No official central management system (cloud or otherwise).
- Support for WireGuard VPN is limited.
- Campus network has been very stable.
- VPN is reliable and fast.
- Saved money vs other expensive enterprise solutions.
pfSense is a lot cheaper and has higher firewall throughput per dollar than "enterprise" network appliances. It's also significantly easier to configure and learn. It may not have some of the "enterprise" features or the support level that someone like Cisco has, but for small to medium businesses or non-critical functions it's the best software based network appliance.
Do you think pfSense delivers good value for the price?
Yes
Are you happy with pfSense's feature set?
Yes
Did pfSense live up to sales and marketing promises?
Yes
Did implementation of pfSense go as expected?
Yes
Would you buy pfSense again?
Yes