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Full Stack Developer at Infrassist Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
MSP
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?

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. 

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
January 2025
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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.
PeerSpot user
reviewer868524 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT consultant at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Consultant
Reliable, scalable, simple installation
Pros and Cons
  • "I have found pfSense to be stable."
  • "The solution could improve by having centralized management and API support online."

What is most valuable?

pfSense is very good because it allows us to do what we want.

What needs improvement?

The solution could improve by having centralized management and API support online.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using pfSense for a long time.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I have found pfSense to be stable.

How are customer service and support?

We are providing support for our customers here in Sweden.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of pfSense is simple.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The price of pfSense is reasonable. However, there is a free version available.

What other advice do I have?

My advice to those wanting to implement pfSense is to start out with the free version before going with the appliance.

I rate pfSense a ten out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Netgate pfSense
January 2025
Learn what your peers think about Netgate pfSense. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2025.
831,158 professionals have used our research since 2012.
it_user223023 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Administrator at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Consultant
The product is stable although there were some small problems with setting up the modules.

What is most valuable?

  • Firewall rules 
  • Modules, e.g. Squid

How has it helped my organization?

It was very useful for our DHCP network (guests) and web browsing filtering.

What needs improvement?

I think the product has improved greatly, so I actually don't know.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used it for one year.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

No, it's very easy to deploy.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Absolutely not, as the product is stable like a rock.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

No need to scale in.

How are customer service and technical support?

We've used the community version.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We have WatchGuard Firewall and pfSense firewall.  They are used together and not as a substitution.

How was the initial setup?

We just had some small problems with setting up the modules.  However, there was lots of documentation available online so there were no problems at all.

What about the implementation team?

We implemented it in-house.

What was our ROI?

Well it was great as I didn't need to buy a new firewal..

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Close to zero, because we've used an internal server for it.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

No other options were evaluated.

What other advice do I have?

It's a good product, and it really could be a valid firewall solution.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user800241 - PeerSpot reviewer
CEO with 11-50 employees
Real User
Improved service performance and availability through redundancy
Pros and Cons
  • "Improved service performance and availability through redundancy."
  • "​Improve analysis of logs and dashboards (control panel) with improved alert functionality."

What is our primary use case?

Firewall and VPN, Internet link balancing, as the proxy was installed on another machine. Used redundant firewall as a cluster.

How has it helped my organization?

Improved service performance and availability through redundancy. The company already had specialists in Linux, which facilitated the project.

What is most valuable?

Ease of monitoring and placement of other packages and functionalities next to the equipment.

What needs improvement?

Improve analysis of logs and dashboards (control panel) with improved alert functionality.

For how long have I used the solution?

Three to five years.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user499617 - PeerSpot reviewer
Managing Director at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees
Real User
Setup was straightforward; the interface is self-explanatory. ​We did not like its QoS interface.​

What needs improvement?

We just did not like its QoS interface.

For how long have I used the solution?

We tested the solution for a very short period (one week), to compare it to Zeroshell. The idea was to decide which one to use. Our main focus was QoS.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

No issues to deploy PFSense; it was straight forward.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

PFSense sounded like the de-facto standard for simple SOHO solutions. We just did not like its QoS interface. For us, it seemed very "rigid" compared to Zeroshell. So we went back to Zeroshell because we considered that its QoS interface had much more flexibility and its latest version now even included nDPI too.

How was the initial setup?

Initial setup was very straightforward; the interface is very self-explanatory.

What about the implementation team?

Implementation was done in-house.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We also evaluated Zeroshell.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
System Administrator at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Real User
The load-balancer function support multiple servers, load balancing two gateways on the same tier. However, the firewall could be improved.

Valuable Features:

The features I've found most valuable are--

  • Proxy server (to filter traffic, act as intermediary between our server and our client, and analyze and load-balance traffic)
  • Load balancer (support multiple servers, load balances two gateways on the same tier)
  • Hot spot (with captive portal, forces authentication or click-through for network access)

Improvements to My Organization:

It's provided us with a fair internet speed for all users. We're also able to control web contents of our users.

Room for Improvement:

The firewall feature could be improved.

Deployment Issues:

We had no issues with deployment.

Stability Issues:

We had no issues with instability.

Scalability Issues:

We were able to scale just fine.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Netgate pfSense Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: January 2025
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Buyer's Guide
Download our free Netgate pfSense Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.