No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall vs Netgate pfSense comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 16, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
5.2
Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall reduces costs and improves efficiency with centralized management, automation, and reduced workforce needs.
Sentiment score
5.9
Netgate pfSense provides significant ROI with cost-effectiveness, eliminating license fees, ideal for small to mid-sized companies replacing costly systems.
Cybersecurity ROI could be $1 or $100 million, depending on the risk of data behind it.
Sales Manager at Mega tech S.A
It is easy and offers different solutions for each solution type with small, mid, and large scale options available.
Senior Network Engineer at Anthology
I did see a return on investment with Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall, as mentioned by the efficiency improvements and the metrics related to how much I cut investigation time, the number of incidents, and the ease of making changes or pushing new configurations.
Cybersecurity Engineer at a tech consulting company with 51-200 employees
It's very favorable to have the inclusion of firewall, VPN, and router functionalities.
Owner at SimpleIT
Compared to what we were doing with Sophos, it provides a great value financially and in terms of time savings.
Director of IT at a religious institution with 51-200 employees
I have seen a return on investment with cost savings after implementing Netgate pfSense, as other firewalls would cost me lakhs of rupees while pfSense is free.
Information Technology Infrastructure Manager at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.8
Most customers find Forcepoint Firewall support helpful and reliable, despite occasional delays and logistical challenges.
Sentiment score
7.8
Netgate pfSense receives praise for effective support, though some users experience slow responses; forums often suffice for troubleshooting.
Unlike Fortinet where you can escalate an issue and quickly get responses from the development team, Forcepoint's process seems slow and challenging.
Sales Manager at Mega tech S.A
TAC engineers are very experienced and troubleshoot issues within the expected timeframe with no problems.
Senior Network Engineer at Anthology
We have a point of contact from the account manager to the presales representative, and they connect with the technical support team, providing support in Indian time, so we do not have to worry about US or European time zones.
Manager Solution Consulting at Accops Systems Pvt Ltd
When we're down, that's $8000 an hour on a $1500 firewall.
Chief information security officer at Center for Information Management, Inc.
The support is prompt and effective, making it well worth the investment.
Owner at GroupGates, LLC
Even when they're in the middle of deploying a new version, I've reached out and received a download link within five minutes.
Senior Network Engineer at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.2
Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall offers scalable integration, supporting diverse environments with ease in both on-premises and cloud deployments.
Sentiment score
6.6
Netgate pfSense is highly scalable for SMBs, supporting high user counts and complex configurations depending on hardware choices.
I can have one management node similar to Palo Alto Panorama, with multiple nodes covering different sites, data centers, or zones.
Cybersecurity Engineer at a tech consulting company with 51-200 employees
Even if you have some firewalls in the cluster, it is not necessary to have them on the same version.
IT Consultant at M-COM s.r.o
In a country such as India with a large population, we often need to scale up or down depending on projects and requirements, and it is very much easy to do both ways.
Manager Solution Consulting at Accops Systems Pvt Ltd
The next step up now is to the 4100, which gives you an additional preconfigured WAN port that allows you to easily separate networks.
CIO and President at Aim High! Inc.
Netgate doesn't come anywhere close to the scalability that its competitors do.
Chief information security officer at Center for Information Management, Inc.
Due to the absence of a single pane of glass management feature, scaling out pfSense becomes quite challenging.
Technical Project Manager at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.7
Forcepoint Firewall is reliable with minor issues; high-availability setups reduce downtime, though complex deployments may face challenges.
Sentiment score
7.1
Netgate pfSense is highly stable, with users attributing minimal issues to hardware rather than the firewall, ensuring reliable performance.
It has many freezes for no reason.
Cyber Security Specialist at a comms service provider with 501-1,000 employees
Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall should make some improvements because there is some instability with their software.
System Engineer at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Netgate pfSense rates a 10 for stability, and I have experienced no issues there.
Workday Reporting & Analytics Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Otherwise, I've never seen one have a problem. It's just rock solid.
Chief information security officer at Center for Information Management, Inc.
It has been running for four years now without any issues.
Director Solutions Architecture and Business Development at Puma Cybersystems, Inc.
 

Room For Improvement

Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall needs a user-friendly interface, better integration, improved support, and competitive pricing.
Netgate pfSense requires better centralized management, an updated user interface, improved security integrations, and enhanced documentation for ease of use.
Fast response and efficient handling of issues, similar to how Fortinet responds, would be great.
Sales Manager at Mega tech S.A
AI improvements could be beneficial, as having AI capabilities has become an important checkmark feature.
CEO at a comms service provider with 11-50 employees
I recommend that additional features be included in a single license to avoid the need for extra licensing costs.
Head of IT Department at Mana
I need to speak to someone immediately.
Owner at GroupGates, LLC
You could add AI for troubleshooting with Netgate pfSense because it will be easier for new engineers.
Network & Security Engineer at Arrow PC Network Pvt Ltd
I would like to have the ability to control all my devices from one place.
CIO and President at Aim High! Inc.
 

Setup Cost

Forcepoint's pricing is competitive, especially in Asia, with variable licensing terms and additional costs for extra features.
Netgate pfSense is affordable, offering open-source and paid versions with robust features and competitive hardware pricing.
The costs can be high since additional features require separate licenses.
Head of IT Department at Mana
In terms of price, I would say Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall is not expensive.
Manager Solution Consulting at Accops Systems Pvt Ltd
In terms of pricing, I would place Forcepoint in the middle when compared to other firewalls like Fortinet and Palo Alto.
Sales Manager at Mega tech S.A
The cost of the 3500 was closer to $4,000.
CIO and President at Aim High! Inc.
I don't always seek the cheapest or most expensive option but rather the best value for my investment.
IT Supervisor at a consumer goods company with 11-50 employees
The total cost of ownership is very low.
Technical Project Manager at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
 

Valuable Features

Forcepoint NGFW offers robust security, easy integration, advanced protection, and versatile deployment with centralized management for seamless connectivity.
Netgate pfSense offers reliable VPN and firewall features, user-friendly management, flexibility, cost-effectiveness, scalability, and strong community support.
Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall has impacted my organization positively by making it very easy to work and offering a more competitive price compared to other vendors.
Cyber Security Specialist at a comms service provider with 501-1,000 employees
Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall has positively impacted my organization by providing always-on perimeter security.
Responsabile System and Security at a energy/utilities company with 501-1,000 employees
Strong network segmentation is my favorite feature that Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall offers.
Cybersecurity Engineer at a tech consulting company with 51-200 employees
pfSense's flexibility is great. If you don't have the money to buy the NetGate hardware, anything works with it. You can toss it on any low-end piece of hardware or virtualize it if you choose to virtualize it.
Senior Network Administrator at Elite Computers
We have multiple VLANs, and with assistance, it was easy to get everything set up and running in our organization the way we needed it to.
Director of IT at a religious institution with 51-200 employees
We had downtime before pfSense. We've never gone down using the solution.
Head of IT at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Forcepoint Next Generation ...
Ranking in Firewalls
25th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
52
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (10th), WAN Edge (11th)
Netgate pfSense
Ranking in Firewalls
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
221
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall is 1.0%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Netgate pfSense is 7.4%, down from 11.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Netgate pfSense7.4%
Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall1.0%
Other91.6%
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

Ajit Pratap Kundan - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager Solution Consulting at Accops Systems Pvt Ltd
Unified security management has improved traffic control and simplified remote workforce access
Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall does help in vulnerability identification and response by providing a single unified console through which I am able to monitor and manage infrastructure. The URL filtering capability of Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall helps in blocking malicious sites. We have to take care of both known threats and unknown threats. The firewall takes care of known threats, and we protect ourselves from unknown threats such as malicious code and malware that we cannot create firewall rules for. With these routing capabilities and policies, only whitelisted things get processed or passed. The biggest advantages of Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall, especially as a partner, service provider, and integrator, are that it is very easy to integrate these APIs with our solution, and most of the features I am getting in the clientless mode. Even with the client mode, it is easy to integrate with our client, allowing the customer to get a single client to address all the features of the firewall as well as the GTNA perspective. The flexibility of deployment, especially for the government and defense sectors, is that they want an on-premises solution, while the rest of the PSUs or enterprise segment are comfortable with the cloud offering, which is the SaaS offering and the way to go in the future.
JA
Principal Cloud Architect - Software Engineer at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
Rapid VPN setup has connected offices in minutes and brings live insights for proactive issue control
What I appreciate the most about Netgate pfSense is the ease and straightforward nature of the platform. I can set up a new office in less than 10 minutes. The benefits of using Netgate pfSense are that I can set up VPNs in less than two to three minutes, and then just deploy the file across my networks, where everybody would be connected in less than an hour. The dashboards of Netgate pfSense bring all the necessary information that I need at a glance, and it is actually a live update every three to five seconds. It is spotless, and I have been able to catch issues before they hit operations.
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Firewalls solutions are best for your needs.
908,800 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business29
Midsize Enterprise11
Large Enterprise14
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business171
Midsize Enterprise33
Large Enterprise29
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall?
In terms of price, I would say Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall is not expensive. It is very much comparable to other vendors, and pricing is not a problem, especially for the Asian market, with...
What needs improvement with Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall?
The negative side of Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall is that the ZTNA part is missing. For that, we have to integrate a third-party component with Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall to complet...
What is your primary use case for Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall?
The major use cases for Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall are in government turnkey projects where we require a lot of traffic coming from the public domain. That is why we are putting these fire...
Help me find the best open source router
You don't really specify what type of router you are looking for but if you are talking about a gateway router I recommend PFSense. This software solutions can be installed on youf own hardware or ...
How do I choose between Fortinet FortiGate and pfSense?
Fortinet’s Fortigate is a firewall solution we use and are very much satisfied with its performance. We find Fortigate both cost-effective and efficient. One of the features we like most is that Fo...
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 client, Open VPN and client, and PPTP client. Both also have intrusion detection a...
 

Also Known As

Forcepoint NGFW, Stonesoft Next Generation Firewall, McAfee Network Security Platform, Intel Security Network Security Platform
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR)
Nerds On Site Inc., RKC Development Inc., Expertech, Fisher's Technology, Ncisive, Consulting, CPURX, Vaughn's Computer House Calls, Imeretech LLC, Digital Crisis, Carolina Digital Phone, Technigogo Technology Services, The Simple Solution, SwiftecITInc, Rocky Mountain Tech Team, Free Range Geeks, Alaska Computer Geeks, Lark Information Technology, Renaissance Systems Inc., Cutting Edge Computers, Caretech LLC, GoVanguard, Network Touch Ltd, P.C. Solutions.Net, Vision Voice and Data Systems LLC, Montgomery Technologies, Techforce, Concero Networks, ASONInc, CPS Electronics and Consulting, Darkwire.net LLC, IT Specialists, MBS-Net Inc., VOICE1 LLC, Advantage Networking Inc., Powerhouse Systems, Doxa Multimedia Inc., Pro Computer Service, Virtual IT Services, A&J Computers Inc., Envision IT LLC, CommunicaONE Inc., Bone Computer Inc., Amax Engineering Corporation, QPG Ltd. Co., IT 101 Inc., Perfect Cloud Solutions, Applied Technology Group Inc., The Digital Sun Group LLC, Firespring
Find out what your peers are saying about Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall vs. Netgate pfSense and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
908,800 professionals have used our research since 2012.