I am using it for personal use.
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Netgate user review
What do you like best about the product?
Someone that can help support the product when time is of the essence. Once we received our product, it was of high quality with high quality support.
What do you dislike about the product?
Their support is a bit clunky, and the ordering process was opaque.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
A reliable firewall gateway that I can learn once and keep as the main , industry standard firewall so I don't keep having to switch vendors.
Good performance, reliable, and open source
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
It is quite easy to manage firewall rules and policies in pfSense. It is not the most user-friendly, but it gets us there. We have to be sure of all the things that we are activating, but it is easy. It is alright.
What is most valuable?
Open source and support are valuable. I have community support.
Its performance is good. It is reliable. I would rate it a solid nine out of ten for performance.
What needs improvement?
There are several levels of firewall configuration such as beginner, advanced, and expert configurations. At each level, it becomes more complex and more tricky to set up the firewall. For example, if you want to install the firewall on your computer system, it would be a lot easier if it just tells you that this is the internet NIC and this is the Wi-Fi NIC.
It would also be interesting if we could add an interface for DNS versions. It will be a multisystem to make all the blocks of the DNS. I know that firewalls are different from DNS, but if we could take advantage of everything in a single system, that would be lovely.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using pfSense for half a year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is stable. I would rate it a nine out of ten in terms of stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I believe it is scalable. If I need more computers with more NICs, it is scalable, but it is not something related to pfSense.
How are customer service and support?
The support that I have is community support.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I also use WatchGuard Firebox. It is different from pfSense. I have Firebox on a rack mount server on a cabinet, whereas pfSense is on my computer, so it is quite different because I can use any kind of hardware to implement the firewall.
Firebox can make an open-source version, but that is not the target of the company. pfSense is doing a great job because they have covered both situations. They have an open-source version with community support, and if we purchase the license for hardware, we can also get support from their side. In the long run, pfSense has more advantages.
If I go to a company and they ask me to implement something, I would most definitely go with pfSense. Its price is lower. I have a great knowledge of pfSense. I can very easily find support in the community, and if the company buys a license, I can get support directly from pfSense. I believe it is a win-win for pfSense and for the customers.
How was the initial setup?
I am implementing it in two phases. In the first phase, it was implemented directly on hardware on an old computer with five NICs, and everything went smoothly. The second stage is virtualizing this machine into a Proxmox server, which is a bit more tricky. It is quite difficult to make it work on the NIC hardware system.
The first phase is very easy. It is almost plug-and-play. We just have to install it and activate the NICs. Everything will go smoothly. The second phase is not easy because I have to make double configurations on Proxmox and on pfSense. I would rate it an eight out of ten in terms of the ease of setup.
In terms of our environment, I have one computer connected directly to the Internet's router, and then all the information is passed through and managed, so I can filter everything by MAC address in my network. I have it on one computer, but my whole network is using it.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I use the free version.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend it. For personal use, it is a great way to start. For companies, it is a great add-on. Companies can get support by buying the license.
I would rate pfSense a ten out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Great pleasure to work with Netgate
What do you like best about the product?
We start with community products (pfSense virtual machine) and now with hardware products.
With two products, even with free version, we have lot a features, easy support and great fiablilty.
We has some issues but support come back quickly to us.
With two products, even with free version, we have lot a features, easy support and great fiablilty.
We has some issues but support come back quickly to us.
What do you dislike about the product?
Some issues with update (hardware don't restart after update) or update was not detected by products...
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Great firewall with a lot of features (NAT, GeoIP, IP Reputation, ...)
VPN support compatible with Fortinet VPN
VPN support compatible with Fortinet VPN
Great open source firewall, good hardware
What do you like best about the product?
I have been using pfSense for many years. First on my own hardware and later on netgates hardware. The System is easy enough to use but also gives you the ability to have fine tuned rules.
I think because the pfSense Firewall software is open source and has a very large community you have a higher chance to find solutions to edge cases than with other non-open source firewalls. Some solutions might feel a bit hacky but there's always a way to get the software to behave like you want
I think because the pfSense Firewall software is open source and has a very large community you have a higher chance to find solutions to edge cases than with other non-open source firewalls. Some solutions might feel a bit hacky but there's always a way to get the software to behave like you want
What do you dislike about the product?
I have had a few clients which have the 1000+$ Netgate 7100 hardware firewall which have had heat related problems (total freeze if the temperature exeeds a value that it was easily reaching in normal use).
After opening the case I realized the heat sinks were mounted in the wrong orientation (not with, but against airflow) which seemed to be a production error because later versions of this firewall had the fans on the side and the rotated orientation would make sense there but not with the version my customers had.
After fixing the orientation of the heat sinks I had no more overheating problems though. Thanks to the standard hardware it was easy enough to fix.
After opening the case I realized the heat sinks were mounted in the wrong orientation (not with, but against airflow) which seemed to be a production error because later versions of this firewall had the fans on the side and the rotated orientation would make sense there but not with the version my customers had.
After fixing the orientation of the heat sinks I had no more overheating problems though. Thanks to the standard hardware it was easy enough to fix.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
pfSense is a good blend of a for-profit company and open source software. They benefit from the large community which is there because it is open source, and companies benefit from having Netgate as a primary contact for support.
The market for open source firewall software is not very large and pfSense is the main choice for people who want to use open source and selfhostable software.
The market for open source firewall software is not very large and pfSense is the main choice for people who want to use open source and selfhostable software.
Best firewall
What do you like best about the product?
All in one package. it has firewall and router and other plugins for proxy etc..
What do you dislike about the product?
Pfsense doe3s not have the any network monitoring packages etc..
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
firewall and proxy and it works well
Using pfsense for more then 10 years
What do you like best about the product?
Open source, stable, has everything you need or may need
What do you dislike about the product?
Not being used lot by business also no image for raspberry pi
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Firewall, vpn for users,site to site vpn, and many more.
pfSense is a no-nonsense part of our network security
What do you like best about the product?
I can configure just about anything in pfSense. It is a much better value offering than other vendors, and due to its open source nature, I was even able to fix a bug in the ACME package that handles Let's Encrypt certificate renewing.
The interface is not extremely modern but it is very functional.
I also buy Netgate hardware for my devices, but this is not a requirement, which I love.
The interface is not extremely modern but it is very functional.
I also buy Netgate hardware for my devices, but this is not a requirement, which I love.
What do you dislike about the product?
There is controversy in the community about some of Netgate's historical practices around a competing project called OPNsense, so any time a question or problem is posted, a pack of seagulls descend on the post to say they use OPNsense instead. Great, thanks?
I do hope that Netgate continues to ignore the drama and make a great open source product I can depend on.
I do hope that Netgate continues to ignore the drama and make a great open source product I can depend on.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Provides a configurable, extensible firewall that serves as the backbone of our small business network.
Non-nonsense firewall with powerful protection
What do you like best about the product?
pfSense is very light weight and simple to deploy. It meets the needs for nearly all firewall needs. Community support is very deep and if there has been a question previously asked the Community usually has already answered it. If you are concerned about its open source roots in a production environment you can rest assured that you always have TAC support. TAC support is very knowledgeable and they have the answers. They don't guess or use trial and error methods to solve your problems. The integrations with pfBlocker, OpenVPN and HAProxy make the firewall much more useful without additional costs. Our company install pfSense nearly everywhere because it’s easy to use and it works.
What do you dislike about the product?
I haven't found a significant dislike to pfSense. I suppose the biggest hurdle when deploying pfSense firewalls is dispelling the myth that all open source software is somehow inferior to commercial alternatives.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
pfSense provides a cost effective alternative to commercial firewalls that are poorly documented and supported.
Great open source product
What do you like best about the product?
Used pfSense software on a FreeBSD machine. When I saw Netgate was offering pre-configured hardware that was running it buying it was a no brainer.
What do you dislike about the product?
Did have to contact support when I could not upgrade the Netgate 1100 to the latest build.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Not putting a network onto the Internet without a hardware firewall.
Far superior to the unifi firewall
What do you like best about the product?
I can easily implement fine grain control and access for multiple vlans. Many plugins avaible to easily expand capabilites.
What do you dislike about the product?
Not very accessible via mobile browsers.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Provides reliable border security.
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