IPFire vs Untangle NG Firewall comparison

Why PeerSpot?

IPFire Project and Arista are both solutions in the Firewalls category. IPFire Project is ranked #28 with an average rating of 8.0, while Arista is ranked #30 with an average rating of 8.0. IPFire Project holds a 0.9% mindshare in Firewalls, compared to Arista’s 1.1% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of IPFire Project users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 94% of Arista users who would recommend it.

IPFire

Read 4 IPFire reviews

4,084 Views
4,002 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Untangle NG Firewall

Read 26 Untangle NG Firewall reviews

5,261 Views
4,419 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

IPFire

Untangle NG Firewall

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between IPFire and Untangle NG Firewall based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Firewalls solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed IPFire vs. Untangle NG Firewall Report (Updated: September 2026).

Buyer's Guide

IPFire vs. Untangle NG Firewall

September 2026

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

IPFire

Ranking in Firewalls

28th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Untangle NG Firewall

Ranking in Firewalls

30th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Unified Threat Management (UTM) (10th)

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of IPFire is 0.9%, down from 2.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Untangle NG Firewall is 1.1%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Firewalls Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
IPFire	0.9%
Untangle NG Firewall	1.1%
Other	98.0%

Firewalls

Featured Reviews

Agharinma Ehiedu

Chief Technology Officer at Agileware Limited

Firewall deployment has secured mission-critical public apps and simplifies Linux-based management

The best features IPFire offers include its very intuitive nature because, even though it has a Linux back-end, in terms of configuration, it has a very rich GUI interface. The GUI and configuration features of IPFire have made my work easier and more efficient because their positioning and the sequence with which I follow is easy. In terms of all the processes, what you need to do at first and the next thing that you need to do is clear. The GUI is well arranged in sequential order, so you can follow that from whatever you want to do until you get the target objective. IPFire includes features with a very robust and rich community that is very much valid in terms of content. IPFire has positively impacted my organization by giving us some mileage. At least, a lot of organizations now know that we have a solution that can deliver the same value.

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Panagiotis Kontaxis

Information Technology System Administrator at Ίδρυμα Ευγενίδου / Eugenides Foundation

Firewall and VPN have strengthened security and now provide reliable bandwidth control

The impact of high-performance packet inspection on network performance metrics is very good. My network has good performance with very low CPU and memory usage. Real-time alerts from Untangle NG Firewall are important for me because every alert I have is sent to my email. The impact of these real-time alerts on my productivity is significant, as I may not be present, but I receive notifications about any problems in my WANs or network and sent to my emails, or something the firewall blocks. I would rate Untangle NG Firewall as an eight overall, considering all the features and capabilities.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"I would rate the stability as ten out of ten for IPFire."

"What I appreciate the most about IPFire is that it is simple, and I learned it when I was in school, so that is really something simple and I know it, so I continue to use it."

"Regarding IPFire's AI capabilities, I think they are quite focused; in all the deployments I have done, I have not had any incidents or breaches."

"IPFire has prevented any kind of hacking and enables us to comply with customer requirements."

"The most valuable features are IPS, MAPI, NAT, and VPN."

"Its ease of use, variety of available features, and low pricing have enabled us to improve the security for a lot of our very small business clients at a price that they are happy to pay for."

"The interface is very good."

"From a small business perspective, it's a very good product because you don't really have to be that technical in order to use it."

"The product is easy to implement."

"Untangle is a much better buy for the money than SonicWall."

"It is very easy to deploy and monitor. "

"What I like about this product, which is the reason that we continue to use it, is that you can install the software version on your own hardware. In case there is a problem with the hardware, we can just install the firewall in another machine and restore the configuration."

More Untangle NG Firewall pros

Cons

"I would rate IPFire 8 out of 10 because I do not think there is any solution anywhere in the world that is 100 percent efficient."

"Accessing the internet was a bit complicated."

"The graphical interface could be much better."

"If anything, a graphical interface would be what I want."

"I do not know if I have seen any return on investment. It might be a little expensive if I need to make an external firewall or at my sites like DNS and web zones."

"Whenever there are a large number of endpoint VPN clients, connectivity becomes slow."

"The web content filtering feature of Untangle was not giving us what we wanted."

"It would be much easier if there was a mobile app."

"We have a minor issue when assigning IP addresses in the ARP tables. You should be able to go into the ARP tables, look at the IP address and say, "Nope, they need to be on this side on this IP address." The ability to set a DHP reservation from the ARP tables would be great. It's no big deal, but it would be nice to have."

"The ability to setup a DDNS for each WAN independently would be a very handy feature."

"If you have a site that has more than 50 devices on it, then Untangle quickly becomes cost prohibitive in comparison to several other competitors."

"The local technical support does not understand the product very well."

More Untangle NG Firewall cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"It is the most cost-effective to use."

"The solution is fairly priced."

"The pricing model is better than with SonicWall."

"It is not expensive. The best part is that it is based on the pay-per-use kind of scenario. An increase or decrease in the number of people doesn't make any difference. We are really happy about using this particular scenario."

"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten."

"Untangle is open-source software. So, you can get it for free. That has been a benefit, especially for the residential users because it is free. The license costs start at $25 a month for some additional features, including higher tiers of security intrusion prevention. The free version comes with intrusion detection, and then the license version has intrusion prevention. It also has some additional things for active directory connectors, etc. It starts at $25 a month to cover 12 devices. Then it goes up from $25 to $50 a month for 12 to 25 devices. That's where it really doesn't scale out per site. If you have a site that has more than 50 devices on it, then Untangle quickly becomes cost prohibitive in comparison to several other competitors."

"This is not an expensive product. It is affordable and there are different packages available depending on the features that you need, or the sector that you are in."

"Usually, it's about $350 a year for 12 users, and it's about $600 for 50 users. It's very reasonable as compared to the others. One of the reasons is that they're all open-source. You just buy their appliance and put it in until it dies. Because it's run under open platforms, mine seems to always work on older equipment. I've taken old equipment and put a new hard disk in it. I have taken about nine-year-old computers and put their operating system on them, and ran them like a champ. The only thing that changed was the hard drive because I don't trust a hard drive that's more than three to four years old."

More Untangle NG Firewall pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Comms Service Provider

19%

University

Computer Software Company

Outsourcing Company

Comms Service Provider

15%

University

10%

Construction Company

Outsourcing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	26
Midsize Enterprise	1

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with IPFire?

To be honest, I have not made the updates of IPFire since a long time, so I continue to use the 2017 asset. I do not know if today there is something I can add on it. I am just comfortable with it ...

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What is your primary use case for IPFire?

I am still using IPFire, but at home, not at work. I have my own servers at home, and I have my test infrastructure here. I have my VPN, my DMZ, and my LAN actually on IPFire. I connect to my home ...

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What advice do you have for others considering IPFire?

I would give IPFire a good eight on a scale from one to ten. This review reflects my overall rating of eight.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Untangle NG Firewall?

It is not very expensive, so it is affordable for my budget.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Untangle NG Firewall?

I would appreciate improvements to the ad blocker and SSL Inspector of Untangle NG Firewall.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Untangle NG Firewall?

My usual use cases for Untangle NG Firewall are just like a firewall and router. The main purpose is for firewall functionality. It has a captive portal, web filter, virus blocker, spam blocker, ba...

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Comparisons

OPNsense vs IPFire

Compared 51% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs IPFire

Compared 10% of the time

Sophos Firewall vs IPFire

Compared 6% of the time

Fortinet FortiGate vs IPFire

Compared 5% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs IPFire

Compared 4% of the time

More IPFire Competitors

OPNsense vs Untangle NG Firewall

Compared 13% of the time

Fortinet FortiGate vs Untangle NG Firewall

Compared 9% of the time

Sophos UTM vs Untangle NG Firewall

Compared 8% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Untangle NG Firewall

Compared 7% of the time

Hillstone E-Series vs Untangle NG Firewall

Compared 2% of the time

More Untangle NG Firewall Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Firewalls

October 2026

Download IPFire product report

Buyer's Guide

Untangle NG Firewall

October 2026

Download Untangle NG Firewall product report

Overview

IPFire enhances network security and protects against cyber threats. It provides a secure firewall, secure remote access, and customizable options. Users praise its ease of use, flexibility, and reliability for network monitoring and traffic shaping. Its valuable features include efficient firewall capabilities, a user-friendly interface, and reliable network performance.

IPFire Project

Untangle NG Firewall provides a user-centric security firewall solution. It combines ease of integration with features such as comprehensive web filtering, VPN capabilities, and content control, tailored for small businesses and scalable for enterprise deployments.

Untangle NG Firewall is designed to enhance network security for small businesses, law offices, and unions. It offers centralized management and strong performance with features like SSL inspection, application control, and threat detection. Users appreciate customization options, bandwidth management, and tools like OpenVPN. However, there is room for improvement in reporting, hardware specs, and configuration options to match evolving security requirements. The call for a mobile app, better content filtering, and robust VPN capabilities is growing alongside a desire for improved licensing and support structures.

What are the important features?

Web Filtering: Provides comprehensive controls for managing internet access.
VPN Capabilities: Ensures secure remote access via stable VPN connections.
SSL Inspection: Inspects encrypted traffic for threats.
Application Control: Allows management of applications in the network.
Threat Detection: Identifies and mitigates potential security risks.

What benefits and ROI can be found in reviews?

User-Friendliness: Simplifies network management with easy setup and integration.
Cost-Effectiveness: Affordable pricing with potential savings through hardware-as-a-service model.
Security: Offers robust security features and tools to ensure network safety.
Scalability: Accommodates growth from small to enterprise-level networks.

In industries like law offices and unions, Untangle NG Firewall is implemented primarily on-premises and managed via the cloud. Its integration with existing hardware allows for seamless deployment, delivering features such as web filtering, intrusion prevention, and virus blocking. The easy setup and diverse capabilities make it a suitable option for enhancing security in various professional environments.

Arista

Sample Customers

1. Siemens 2. IBM 3. Cisco 4. Dell 5. HP 6. Intel 7. Oracle 8. Google 9. Microsoft 10. Amazon 11. Apple 12. Facebook 13. Twitter 14. Netflix 15. Adobe 16. SAP 17. VMware 18. Juniper Networks 19. Ericsson 20. Nokia 21. AT&T 22. Verizon 23. T-Mobile 24. Vodafone 25. Orange 26. Deutsche Telekom 27. British Telecom 28. Comcast 29. Time Warner 30. Sony 31. Samsung 32. LG

North American Stamping Group, Cerebral Palsy of North Jersey (CPNJ), Brown County Schools, IN, City of Bridgeton, MO, Lancaster County, SC, Vision Charter School, Clay County Sheriff’s Department, NC, Breakwater School, Boys & Girls Club of Manchester, NH, Admiral Farragut Academy, Flow Companies, No Ordinary Hotel, KECdesign,

Buyer's Guide

IPFire vs. Untangle NG Firewall

September 2026

Free Report: IPFire vs. Untangle NG Firewall

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