OPNsense vs Untangle NG Firewall comparison

OPNsense and Untangle are both solutions in the Firewalls category. OPNsense is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.3, while Untangle is ranked #25 with an average rating of 8.0. OPNsense holds a 14.5% mindshare in Firewalls, compared to Untangle’s 1.3% mindshare. Additionally, 97% of OPNsense users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 94% of Untangle users who would recommend it.

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 16, 2024

Untangle NG Firewall and OPNsense both provide robust firewall solutions, but they cater to different user needs. OPNsense often stands out for its features and support.

Features: Untangle NG Firewall's notable features include web filtering, bandwidth control, and VPN capabilities. OPNsense offers a wide range of features such as intrusion detection and prevention, a robust plugin system, and advanced networking capabilities. Users appreciate OPNsense's comprehensive feature set more than Untangle's.

Room for Improvement: Users suggest Untangle NG Firewall could improve its reporting features, add more advanced security options, and enhance its current toolset. For OPNsense, users see room for improvement in performance optimization, the quality of its documentation, and additional user support resources.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Users find Untangle NG Firewall straightforward to set up and value its responsive customer service. OPNsense, though feature-rich, requires more technical expertise for deployment but is backed by a supportive community.

Pricing and ROI: Untangle NG Firewall offers competitive pricing and is perceived to deliver good ROI due to its ease of management and effective performance. OPNsense, being open source, provides a cost-effective solution; however, users acknowledge the trade-off in requiring more in-house expertise.

To learn more, read our detailed OPNsense vs. Untangle NG Firewall Report (Updated: January 2025).

Buyer's Guide

OPNsense vs. Untangle NG Firewall

January 2025

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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

Fortinet FortiGate

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 20.3%, up from 17.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OPNsense is 14.5%, down from 18.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Untangle NG Firewall is 1.3%, down from 1.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Firewalls

Featured Reviews

EhabAli

Sr. Cybersecurity Solutions Architect at BMB

Efficient, user-friendly, and affordable

In the past, NSS Labs was utilized to test files and verify the numbers and datasheets. It would be beneficial to have an organization or testing lab that can verify the numbers in our datasheets since changes are frequently made, which can be inconvenient for review. For instance, when comparing different competitors such as Forcepoint, Palo Alto, and Check Point, the throughput or numbers in the datasheet may be lower than the actual numbers. Conversely, Fortinet typically reports very high numbers, but they cannot be replicated in the real world. Therefore, it would be advantageous for them to partner with a neutral testing organization such as NSS Labs to validate these numbers, thus providing more credibility and comfort to everyone regarding the accuracy of the datasheets. For the migration, everyone has a firewall in use and I am selling Fortinet. Typically, I am replacing another firewall. Previously, there was a tool available to convert configurations from one firewall, such as Palo Alto, to Fortinet, but this tool is no longer free. If it could be made free again, it would be very beneficial. This tool shows a lot of promise and is very good. Making it free would help many companies deliver their products in a more efficient and integrated way. It would also be more valuable to include the tool with the firewall package or license instead of having to pay extra for it. Paying extra puts more pressure on small companies to deliver the firewall and complete the configuration, especially if they have hundreds or thousands of policies. It's very painful to move through these policies line by line. The stability has room for improvement. When it comes to Secure SD-WAN, everything is fine. They are going the right way. SD-WAN is very promising. They can provide the SD-WAN solution separately, but they will not take this approach because even the smallest firewall can support the features, so there is no need to have a separate service or appliance. They are following the right steps, and there is nothing to be improved. Feature-wise, I'm really satisfied with the new release, and the features they have added. For now, it's fine.

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Eddy Ramirez

IT Security Director at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

Good interface and firewall capabilities and overall easy to use

The security has improved as we can isolate the network. We can do attrition prevention via a tool that comes with the solution. We can have a VPN solution in place for those that work from home, outside the network, in a secure manner. We also like that it offers good authentication. It offers radius-based authentication, which has been useful for the company. The main platform is under the Open VPN firewall. The solution has high availability. When we have different ISPs, we can actually load balance those links or actually put some priority or even classify the traffic that might go into one ISP or another.

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Josh Evans

CEO at DragonTech IT Services, Inc

Its simplicity, variety of features, and low pricing have enabled us to improve the security for our small business clients at a price that they are happy to pay for

I've heard other people saying that other firewalls have better detection rates, so better security. If they can improve the security of the device, I'm always for that, but at the moment, we've been happy with the service that we're getting out of them. It does have multi-factor authentication in some areas, but I would love to see a more widely implemented version of that on the devices themselves. It could use some improvement for Azure Active Directory Connections. It does exist, and it is available, but it needs work to be able to fully authenticate. I know there are some advanced features that other firewalls have that aren't present in Untangle, but we've never noticed any feature that we need but isn't there. I also know a lot of people have complained about the cost per device because they license by device counts. So, once you get over a certain number of devices, it is not really a cost-effective solution.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The initial installation is very straightforward."

"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are the ability to work in proxy mode, which other solutions, such as Palo Alto cannot. There are some features that are better that come at no extra license or subscriptions cost, such as basic SD-WAN. The DLT is useful, other solutions have the same feature too, such as Palo Alto."

"Layer-3 firewall and routing are the most valuable features."

"It is quite easy to handle."

"The solution is highly scalable because they have devices that can handle a large amount of traffic."

"The usage in general is pretty good."

"The features that prevent internet connections, the filtering are the most valuable because we did not have any internet protection before."

"The solution is stable."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"URL blocking, Wireguard, Tail Scale, Engine Blocker, and VPN are the most valuable features for me."

"The most valuable feature is the Dual WAN in OPNSense, which offers advanced capabilities."

"The initial implementation process is simple."

"The IDS and IPS features are valuable. From the usability perspective, there is a lot of good documentation. As IT professionals, we found it very easy to configure the firewall. It was easy to configure and use."

"We have found pretty much all the features of the solution to be valuable."

"One of the most valuable features is the network checking. Additionally, the firewall and web filtering functionalities are highly useful."

"The solution is good for a basic firewall for a small business or for home use."

"The interface and the dashboard are the most valuable features of this solution."

More OPNsense pros

"The product’s most valuable features are endpoint protection management, load balancing, and connectivity with Active Directory."

"The product is easy to implement."

"Its detection, antivirus, and filtering features are the most valuable. The facility to connect by using the VPN connection is also a very valuable feature. It is very strong, secure, and reliable. We have implemented the Untangle solution in all hardware. It is also a user-friendly solution. It is easy to learn and easy to configure."

"It is very easy to deploy and monitor. "

"Easy to set up and easy to integrate."

"The solution's most valuable feature is the content filtering."

"It is not attached to an appliance, meaning if you get a good PC/server, then you can already run a firewall."

"Application Control and filtering features are valuable."

More Untangle NG Firewall pros

Cons

"Fortinet FortiGate is a stable solution. However, my issue is the performance only. When I use all the profiles, this affects the performance. From the beginning, I should have had a better sizing of the box."

"They sometimes hide some features and if you want to enable them, you have to go in the CLI, enable the feature and configure it through the CLI. Customers, typically, like everything to be done by the GUI."

"With FortiGate, the main complaint that I have heard is about the technical support."

"I would like to see better pricing in the next release, as well as a simplification of the installation."

"The pricing could always be better."

"We had some issues in the beginning while setting it up, but after doing the firmware update, it is working fine."

"The solution could be more secure and stable."

"Reporting is limited to providing an external appliance for improving the reporting capabilities of the FortiAnalyzer. It does not offer a central management and is also sold separably as an appliance."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"An area for improvement in OPNsense is the hardware, which needs to be updated more frequently. DNS blocking is another good feature I want to be added to the solution. pfSense has a peer-blocking feature that I also want to see in OPNsense."

"I would like better documentation concerning the provided packages and their integration."

"OPNsense showed me some problems when using it in different environments. The problem is integration with a virtual server."

"The ability to set the VPN IP address would be a welcome addition."

"We did not like the fact that you have to configure everything with the graphic user interface. We have used other firewalls, such as FortiGate, that you can configure via code. OPNsense is not easy to integrate. When you are deploying via GitHub or another source repository, this is not possible. That's one thing we didn't like much."

"There should be more technical documentation."

"The logging could improve in OPNsense."

"When using the solution at the beginning was difficult. There was a steep learning curve."

More OPNsense cons

"They don't have any feature that allows you to drop the session."

"The product must improve its reporting features."

"It does have multi-factor authentication in some areas, but I would love to see a more widely implemented version of that on the devices themselves."

"The biggest challenge that we have with this solution is local support. The local support is a problem in our area."

"The web content filtering needs improvement."

"The management console for partners is a bit tricky (buggy)."

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

"We seek the availability of the hardware in our region. The hardware-based firewall from Untangle is currently not available in our region. It should have threat protection on a real-time basis. This feature, available in Check Point and Sandstorm kind of scenario, is currently missing in Untangle NG Firewall."

More Untangle NG Firewall cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Fortinet is reasonable in pricing and licensing. Overall, FortiGate is affordable. The licensing fee can be a little high, depending on the budget for your project."

"It's expensive, but compared to the competition it's okay."

"Its price could be better."

"Fortinet FortiGate has different licensing models, depending on what you're going to do. Services included would depend on the license model. Licenses can be renewed annually."

"It was worth the money overall. It's good value."

"It is affordable. Palo Alto is much more expensive than Fortinet."

"Compared to other firewall products, it's a little cheaper in terms of pricing."

"We find the most valuable aspect of this solution is the price. It is affordable, and cheaper than other firewalls."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

"I'm using the free version of OPNsense. I didn't check the pricing for the solution because I still need to test it before getting the approval to purchase OPNsense, and it isn't easy to get approval from the higher-ups."

"OPNsense is a well known open-source tool."

"I've used the free version. My computer with two network cards at home allows me to try as many different software options as I want. I did pay for the license, but it was for the Zenarmor license, which is the packet inspection tool. They use AI for packet inspection, which integrates with OPNsense and pfSense."

"We are using the paid version."

"As an appliance, it's in the medium price range."

"I would rate the pricing three out of ten."

"It is free."

"It's a free solution."

More OPNsense pricing and cost advice

"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."

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

"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."

"It is not expensive. It is cheaper than Fortinet."

"We pay $350 USD per year for the solution. There are no additional costs. As long as you're not using a physical appliance, that's all you need."

"The pricing model is better than with SonicWall."

"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."

More Untangle NG Firewall pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

22%

Computer Software Company

14%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

16%

Comms Service Provider

11%

Government

Educational Organization

Computer Software Company

14%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

Which is the better NGFW: Fortinet Fortigate or Cisco Firepower?

When you compare these firewalls you can identify them with different features, advantages, practices and usage a...

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What is the biggest difference between Sophos XG and FortiGate?

From my experience regarding both the Sophos and FortiGate firewalls, I personally would rather use FortiGate. I know...

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What are the biggest technical differences between Sophos UTM and Fortinet FortiGate?

As a solution, Sophos UTM offers a lot of functionality, it scales well, and the stability and performance are quite ...

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What is the difference between PfSense and OPNsense?

Two of the most common and well recognized firewalls, PfSense and OPNsense both support site-to-site IPsec VPN and cl...

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What do you like most about OPNsense?

What I like the most about OPNsense is that it offers an easy-to-use dashboard for device management and control.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for OPNsense?

I consider the pricing of OPNsense to be high when compared with other market products. However, as a free firewall p...

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What do you like most about Untangle NG Firewall?

The product helps small and medium enterprises secure their networks from intrusions. It also has features like DNS b...

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

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.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Untangle NG Firewall?

I would recommend getting 2FA with an SSL VPN type of setup without having to go through a lot of hoops. The solution...

See all answers

Comparisons

Sophos XG vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 23% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 13% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 11% of the time

WatchGuard Firebox vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 5% of the time

Fortinet FortiOS vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 2% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate Competitors

Netgate pfSense vs OPNsense

Compared 54% of the time

IPFire vs OPNsense

Compared 8% of the time

Sophos XG vs OPNsense

Compared 7% of the time

Sophos XGS vs OPNsense

Compared 3% of the time

Sophos UTM vs OPNsense

Compared 2% of the time

More OPNsense Competitors

Netgate pfSense vs Untangle NG Firewall

Compared 15% of the time

Sophos XG vs Untangle NG Firewall

Compared 10% of the time

Sophos UTM vs Untangle NG Firewall

Compared 8% of the time

IPFire vs Untangle NG Firewall

Compared 4% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Untangle NG Firewall

Compared 3% of the time

More Untangle NG Firewall Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

January 2025

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Buyer's Guide

OPNsense

December 2024

Download OPNsense product report

Buyer's Guide

Untangle NG Firewall

December 2024

Download Untangle NG Firewall product report

Also Known As

FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate, Fortinet Firewall

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Fortinet

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OPNsense

Untangle

Overview

Fortinet FortiGate offers comprehensive network security and firewall protection across multiple locations. It effectively manages data traffic and secures environments with features like VPN, intrusion prevention, and UTM controls.

Organizations rely on Fortinet FortiGate for its robust integration with advanced security policies, ensuring significant protection for enterprises, cloud environments, and educational sectors. It facilitates network segmentation, application-level security, and authentication management, securing communication within and between locations such as branches and data centers. Its efficient SD-WAN and UTM features enable streamlined data management and enhanced threat protection capabilities. Users appreciate its centralized management, facilitating seamless operations across diverse environments.

What are the key features of Fortinet FortiGate?

VPN Capabilities: Ensure secure remote access for users and seamless site-to-site connections.
Intrusion Prevention System (IPS): Detect and prevent security threats and vulnerabilities.
Advanced Firewall: Offers robust firewalling with application control and web filtering.
SD-WAN: Optimizes application performance and enhances bandwidth management.
SSL VPN: Provides reliable and secure access for remote workers.

What benefits should users expect from Fortinet FortiGate?

High-performance Security: Delivers effective threat mitigation with high availability.
Centralized Management: Simplifies network operations with cloud-based management tools.
Detailed Analytics: Provides comprehensive insights into network activity and security threats.
Load Balancing: Ensures optimal resource distribution and traffic management.

Fortinet FortiGate is crucial in sectors like education, offering robust networks for secure data flow between campuses and facilitating remote learning. In enterprise environments, it allows efficient management of application traffic and security across multiple branches, while in the cloud, it seamlessly integrates with diverse platforms to enhance security infrastructure.

OPNsense is widely used for firewall functionalities, intrusion detection, VPN and IPSec, content filtering, securing network traffic, and remote access. It protects internal networks and manages servers securely, suitable for small to medium-sized businesses.

OPNsense is a comprehensive firewall solution leveraging open-source technology. It integrates with third-party modules like WireGuard and CrowdSec, enhancing its security capabilities. Offering on-premises and cloud deployment, it features an intuitive graphical interface, advanced reporting, VPN functionality, IDS/IPS features, and high scalability. Users find it ideal for small businesses and home networks due to its stability and ease of use. Frequent updates and an active community support its continuous improvement. However, it needs advancements in VPN selection, scalability, and technical documentation. Enhanced high availability, threat intelligence, and integration with virtualization platforms are required. User feedback suggests improvements in connectivity, alerting, traffic monitoring, and antivirus protection.

What are the key features of OPNsense?

Strong Firewall: Robust firewall capabilities for securing network traffic.
Intrusion Detection and Prevention: Effective IDS/IPS for threat mitigation.
VPN Functionality: Comprehensive VPN support including WireGuard.
Content Filtering: DNS-level filtering for enhanced security.
Advanced Reporting: In-depth traffic analysis and reporting features.
High Scalability: Supports growing network demands.
Integration Capabilities: Works with third-party modules like CrowdSec.
Intuitive GUI: User-friendly graphical interface enhances usability.

What benefits should users look for in OPNsense reviews?

Security: High level of protection for internal networks.
Manageability: Easy management of servers and network traffic.
Cost-Effective: Open-source nature reduces costs.
Reliability: Stable performance suitable for small and medium-sized businesses.
Community Support: Active community and frequent updates.

OPNsense is implemented across various industries to secure network infrastructure and ensure reliable connectivity. In fintech, it safeguards sensitive financial data while maintaining compliance. Educational institutions deploy it to protect student information and enable secure remote learning environments. Healthcare organizations use it to secure patient data and comply with HIPAA regulations. By integrating with tools like WireGuard and CrowdSec, businesses enhance their cybersecurity posture and streamline network management, making OPNsense a versatile choice for diverse operational needs.

Untangle NG Firewall is an open-source firewall and gateway security platform that helps keep networks safe while accessing the internet. It offers a free core firewall platform with paid add-ons, and a cloud-based management platform with a variety of deployment options for smaller teams. The solution also has a cloud-based management console for remote management that can either be deployed on premises or as SaaS, and virtualized or cloud-based. It also has flexible deployment options, including third-party hardware, as a virtual machine, or as a turnkey appliance. Untangle NG Firewall is ideal for small IT teams with limited budgets.

Untangle NG Firewall Features

Untangle NG Firewall has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

Intrusion protection
Threat prevention
Virus blocker
Virus scanner
App control
SSL inspection
Bandwidth control
Reporting
Logs
VPN
Web filter
IDS/IPS
Access controls
Location control
Proxy
Active Directory/LDAP connections

Untangle NG Firewall Benefits

There are many benefits to implementing Untangle NG Firewall. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:

Simplified network security: Untangle NG Firewall has a single, modular, software platform which simplifies security for all networks and ensures every device is adequately protected.

Visibility: The solution provides a browser-based, responsive, and intuitive interface enabling users to gain visibility quickly into the traffic on the network.

Deep analysis and insights: With the solution, users can see a network’s status at a glance on the dashboard, ensure compliance with full event logs, and get notifications of network anomalies or unusual user behavior with alert rules. In addition, users can gain insights in real time from database-driven reports.

Next-generation filtering: Untangle NG Firewall makes it easy to manage every rogue application, encrypted web request, malware distribution point, and drive-by malvertising attempt.

Connectivity and performance: The solution helps your organization maintain visibility and control over remote workers, branch offices, and guest Wi-Fi to keep users connected and data safe regardless of location or level of access.

Policy creation: Users can create policies by user, group, device, and time in order to control access.

Additional apps: Untangle NG Firewall offers additional apps, allowing organizations to create complete configuration backups to protect against network disruptions.

Reviews from Real Users

Untangle NG Firewall is a solution that stands out when compared to many of its competitors. Some of its major advantages are that it is easy to use, has good features, including VPN, reporting, alerting, and filtering, and can be installed on existing hardware.

“It is very easy to use. The user interface is very straightforward. It may not be as fancy as some of the ones I've seen, but it's very straightforward. It's very easy to find what you need, and it's very easy to get things done,” says Josh E., CEO at DragonTech IT Services, Inc.

Barry A., Owner at ThinkEzIT, says, “It has good VPN features, helpful reporting and alerting, built-in content filtering, and excellent support.”

PeerSpot user Victor O., Director at Kisii County Government, explains, “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.”

Sample Customers

Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, Dell, HP, Oracle, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, Vodafone, Orange, BT Group, Telstra, Deutsche Telekom, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, CenturyLink, NTT Communications, Tata Communications, SoftBank, China Mobile, Singtel, Telus, Rogers Communications, Bell Canada, Telkom Indonesia, Telkom South Africa, Telmex, Telia Company, Telkom Kenya

1. Deciso B.V. 2. iXsystems, Inc. 3. EuroBSDCon 4. Netgate 5. Claranet 6. Voleatech 7. Open Systems AG 8. Securebit AG 9. Proxmox Server Solutions GmbH 10. AVM Computersysteme Vertriebs GmbH Additional customers include: T-Systems International GmbH, Deutsche Telekom AG, Vodafone GmbH, 1&1 IONOS SE, OVHcloud, Hetzner Online GmbH, Strato AG, PlusServer GmbH, Host Europe GmbH, United Internet AG, 1&1 Versatel Deutschland GmbH, QSC AG, Bechtle AG, Cancom SE, Computacenter AG & Co. oHG, T-Systems Multimedia Solutions GmbH, Atos SE, Capgemini SE, Accenture plc, IBM Corporation, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company, Cisco Systems, Inc.

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

OPNsense vs. Untangle NG Firewall

January 2025

Free Report: OPNsense vs. Untangle NG Firewall

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