Item: pfSense
Rating: 10
Author: Daniel Fisher

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I use it as my primary firewall and router to manage my WAN and multiple LAN/VLANS for my home office. I have been able to use it at low cost, since I am running pfSense on a custom PC build with an extra 4 port NIC installed. It has allowed me to easily segment my home network for better security, as well as host need services (e.g. remote access over VPN).

Pros and Cons

Firewall rule management
Remote access over VPN
NAT for needed services
HAproxy for reverse proxy hosting

Communication regarding product roadmap
Affordable support for smaller companies/users

Return on Investment

Aside from upgrades, I have had 100% uptime over 3 years

Key Insights

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

Other Software Used

TrueNAS, Ubuntu Linux, Nextcloud

Likelihood to Recommend

pfSense is great for homelab, home office, and small business deployments. Once you are able to justify their support package, support is very good. For my own use case, the software has been very reliable and updates were smooth.

For very large deployments, you will likely need to go with a larger and more expensive vendor requiring licensing.

pfSense great for home offices

Software Version

Modules Used

Overall Satisfaction with pfSense