While it is difficult for me to point to any one specific advantage of the solution in respect of the firewall, I do know that it has many benefits. For one, it is open source.
Full Stack Developer at Infrassist Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
A scalable solution with an easy setup
Pros and Cons
- "A valuable feature is that the solution is open source."
- "The stability could be improved."
What is most valuable?
What needs improvement?
The stability could be improved. Whenever there is an update, in spite of developments I may have made, I am required to make certain changes to the coding.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using pfSense for perhaps two or three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability could be better.
Buyer's Guide
Netgate pfSense
August 2024
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800,688 professionals have used our research since 2012.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution seems to be scalable.
How was the initial setup?
The solution is easy to set up.
What other advice do I have?
I develop the solution on behalf of my company.
With my scant knowledge of networking and the firewall I would rate pfSense as an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Network Engineer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
It supports multiple ISP's, making it good for implementation, but it doesn't allow FTP.
Valuable Features
This product supports multiple ISP's, so it's good for implementation.
Improvements to My Organization
It's made us more productive.
Room for Improvement
FTP was not allowed, and it didn't indicate during set up whether FTP was to be allowed or disabled.
Use of Solution
I've used it for about one year.
Stability Issues
The stability is good.
Scalability Issues
The stability is good.
Customer Service and Technical Support
The technical support is good.
Pricing, Setup Cost and Licensing
It's free.
Other Advice
All the other features are good, and with it being free, it is very attractive to the users.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Buyer's Guide
Netgate pfSense
August 2024
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Learn what your peers think about Netgate pfSense. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: August 2024.
800,688 professionals have used our research since 2012.
CEO & Founder at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
It was very straightforward to implement but the RadiusServer needs to be improved.
What is most valuable?
- Captive Portal
- DHCP
How has it helped my organization?
pfSense made my life easier for controlling users and their bandwidth. My internet is not misused anymore.
What needs improvement?
RadiusServer needs some work done.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using it for five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I've never had any problems.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Yes I did.
How are customer service and technical support?
Since it's open source, the only support is available in public forums.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I used different routers, but because I wasn’t happy, I was trying different solutions and I found this one which was the most effective of all those I tried.
How was the initial setup?
It was very straightforward.
What about the implementation team?
I did it on my own.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It was free.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I looked at many hardware solutions.
What other advice do I have?
Go ahead and just implement it.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Manager IT at a energy/utilities company with 501-1,000 employees
The proxy filtering is valuable except for blocking HTTPS which it can't do.
What is most valuable?
- MAC Filtered DHCP and DNS
- Captive Portal
- VPN
- Proxy Server
- Proxy Filter
How has it helped my organization?
It has provided us with secure internet browsing and a strong monitoring ability.
What needs improvement?
Proxy filters are not supported for the blocking of HTTPS sites.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used it for two to three years.
What was my experience with deployment of the solution?
No issues encountered yet.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
No issues encountered yet.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
No issues encountered yet.
How are customer service and technical support?
Customer Service:
I have not gotten any support from the customer service center because I can get all the solutions on their web blogs.
Technical Support:I think it is perfect.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I was using another product, but it didn't have a bandwidth controller and monitoring tool like this product does. I switched because I can find everything in one window.
How was the initial setup?
Its installation setup & procedure is so simple that a layman could install it.
What about the implementation team?
I installed it by myself and used Google for assistance.
What was our ROI?
It's positive.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I just downloaded the program from the website free of chard. The best thing is, this product can be installed on any machine.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
No other options were evaluated.
What other advice do I have?
It is recommended, as it is a stable product.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Network Admin at a tech consulting company with 51-200 employees
The product is missing a graphic report implementation tool but performance, scalability and customization are valuable
What is most valuable?
Performance, cost effective, scalable, customizable
How has it helped my organization?
After switching from Cisco, Juniper, Astaro and Microsoft network response improved and more control of packet (for me, pfpacket technology is better than packet filter.)
What needs improvement?
Graphic report implementation tool (now possible with extra software)
For how long have I used the solution?
5+ years.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
No, perfect scalability from 20 to 500 users
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Cisco, Microsoft and when TMG progressively died it was necessary to switch to unix technology, many corporations require low budget and high performance.
How was the initial setup?
The initial approach is very complex because of the multiple functions, but after a short learning curve it is able to handle the standard functions.
What about the implementation team?
In my case, I buy network appliance from Lanner Inc. ltd (watchguard supplier) and deploy the image depending on the desired size and functionality required by the customer.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Identify the most suitable hardware for the required size.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Yes, Astaro and PaloAlto plus Juniper, but the renewal planes (AV, UTM, etc.) are very expensive.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
NOC Manager at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Robust, secure, and fairly priced but the monitoring needs improvement
Pros and Cons
- "The concurrent users are perfect for us."
- "The router monitoring needs improvement when compared with Sonicwall."
What is our primary use case?
We use pfSense to protect our customers using IPS and IDS.
We are a government agency and we manage the government network.
We complete the setup and we are protecting our customers.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature is that it's robust.
In terms of resources, utilization assets, CPU utilization, and a lot of memory, it's very good.
The concurrent users are perfect for us.
What needs improvement?
The router monitoring needs improvement when compared with Sonicwall.
I would like an API that can sync to SolarWinds because we use SolarWinds for our monitoring platform. It would be great to be able to do all of the monitoring from SolarWinds instead of logging into the application to monitor it. It would be a nice feature to have.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using pfSense for less than two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
In the last two weeks, we moved a few resources to the pfSense and it's been stable.
When compared to SonicWall there were some issues but it could be that SonicWall was doing too much. It was doing almost everything. It was doing IDS, IPS, and contextual training. It may be that it was overwhelmed.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We were using the software base, and then we bought the hardware device. We moved 12 users onto it and we are monitoring it.
Based on the documentation it would not require much to scale up or upgrade. There is no doubt that it is scalable.
How are customer service and technical support?
Most of the support is online.
We do a lot of reading, and if there is any support or suggestions we quickly do it.
We have not contacted them directly.
They have a lot of resources available on the internet that will guide you in finding your way around.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We use a few different firewalls. We use SonicWall and Huawei firewall along with pfSense.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward. It was easy.
What about the implementation team?
We did not use an integrator. I completed it with one of my colleagues.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Looking at what it does, I think that it is fairly priced.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
When we compare to SonicWall, we feel that we are getting the best with pfSense.
What other advice do I have?
Depending on what they want their firewall to do for them. If it is for intrusion detection, and intrusion prevention I would recommend this solution.
In summary, this product is good but I would like to see resources utilization (cpu, hard disk) directly on SolarWinds. A one stop shop for monitoring on SolarWinds. It would be great!
I would rate pfSense a six out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Network and Transmission Engineer at a tech services company
We've found multiple features, such as multi-WAN capability and dynamic DNS, valuable, but the load balancing of multiple networks could be improved.
What is most valuable?
- Firewall
- State Table
- Network Address Translation (NAT)
- High Availability
- Multi-WAN
- Server Load Balancing
- Virtual Private Network (VPN)
- PPPoE Server
- Reporting and Monitoring Applications
- Dynamic DNS
- Captive Portal
- DHCP Server and Relay
How has it helped my organization?
The reporting and monitoring applications improve our organization.
What needs improvement?
Load balancing of multiple networks
For how long have I used the solution?
3 Year
What was my experience with deployment of the solution?
Compatibility Issues
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
None
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
None
How are customer service and technical support?
Customer Service:
None
Technical Support:Excellent
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Yes
How was the initial setup?
Simplest
What about the implementation team?
Extraordinary
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
pfSense software has the flexibility to integrate into wide area on a worldwide range of hardware. Among all monitoring and firewalls application. I haven't see powerful tools like PfSense.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
IT Executive cum ICT Consultant at a healthcare company with 51-200 employees
Remote users may access it on a local network via VPN but an improvement can be made to the user friendliness of the interface.
Valuable Features
- Firewall
- DHCP
- VPN
Improvements to My Organization
The organization relies on pfSense for DHCP, and remote users may access it on a local network via VPN.
Room for Improvement
I was satisfied with the overall features of the product, considering the limited capacity of our hardware at the time. It's probable that an improvement can be made to the user friendliness of the interface.
Use of Solution
I've used it for over three years.
Stability Issues
I believe that the issue of stability that we encountered was linked to our hardware limitation. For example, we would need to soft reboot the system manually after a power failure to get the DHCP functioning again.
Scalability Issues
This is linked to our hardware limitation as well, however it has been working fine for company with 30-40 users.
Customer Service and Technical Support
Customer Service:
8/10.
Technical Support:9/10,
Initial Setup
It was done by external technical support.
Implementation Team
It was implemented by a vendor who were 10/10.
Pricing, Setup Cost and Licensing
I don't know the setup costs but the day-to-day maintenance is done by myself, and I occasionally need to engage the vendor for technical issues.
Other Advice
pfSense is good for a company that is looking for a solution with a reasonable cost for implementation.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
![PeerSpot user](https://www.peerspot.com/assets/media/images/anonymous_avatar_x50-87dfede4.png)
Buyer's Guide
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Updated: August 2024
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Can any one have experienced to deploy Pfsense on Hyper-V ... I am planning to deploy this scenario.