Item: pfSense
Rating: 8
Author: Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with pfSense

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

pfSense is used in a high availability pair as the primary firewall/router/gateway of our environment. It is also used as the primary VPN remote access solution. pfSense is also providing ids/ips, traffic shaping, and handling all layer 3 needs. pfSense addresses the licensing problem that most other firewalls have today. pfSense, while recently requiring a license, is not a continuous licensing investment like competitors.

Pros and Cons

Pros

routing/firewall
SSL VPN
Flexible

Cons

VPN
Cloud Management
Missing zone based rules and next gen firewall features
Little active directory integration
No Entra ID integration

Return on Investment

High ROI
Missing modern features
Development cycle is slow

Usability

The pfSense UI is easy to navigate and pretty go look at. It is much better than some high dollar firewalls that just throw menus you you. The pfSense UI is quick and responsive and makes sense 99% of the time. Changes are committed quickly and the hardware rarely requires a reboot. It just runs.

Alternatives Considered

Fortinet FortiGate, Cisco Meraki MX and Sophos UTM

pfSense always wins in the licensing realm. It requires little or no licensing to run and run forever. No ids/ips licensing, no advanced feature license, no remote access licensing. Download the community edition or buy the Netgate hardware and you are set going forward. There is a lot of feature parity between pfSense and competitors. While pfSense does fall short on some modern features, it's never debilitating and worth the trade off.

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

Microsoft Exchange, SuperOps.ai, PaperCut

Likelihood to Recommend

pfSense is incredibly budget friendly and capable for organizations of all sizes. My specific scenario, working for a non-profit organization, requires budget consciences decisions without compromising security and function. pfSense has helped tremendously in accomplishing this. It specifically tackles advanced routing, static routing, remote access, intrusion prevention, in a single platform, mostly available for free.

pfSense Feature Ratings

Comments

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pfSense is a great bang for the buck

Software Version

Modules Used