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IPFire vs OPNsense comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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
Sponsored
Ranking in Firewalls
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
373
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st)
IPFire
Ranking in Firewalls
33rd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
8.5
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
OPNsense
Ranking in Firewalls
3rd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
40
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 21.2%, up from 17.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IPFire is 2.1%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OPNsense is 11.4%, down from 17.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

Vasu Gala - PeerSpot reviewer
A stable solution with an intuitive interface and quick customer service
I have been working with Fortinet FortiGate, WatchGuard, Sophos, and SonicWall. I'm not as comfortable with SonicWall because of their UI and limitations. I prefer Fortinet above all other options. When it comes to configuration, I am confident in my ability to handle various tasks, including creating policies such as firewall rules, web policies, and application policies. Additionally, I can configure VPNs and implement load balancing, among other tasks. Overall, I feel much more comfortable working with Fortinet. Fortinet has made significant improvements by integrating AI with firewalls for threat analysis and prevention. In the past 2-3 years, they have launched FortiSASE and SIEM, and they also provide SOC services. Both Palo Alto and Fortinet FortiGate are excellent. While Fortinet FortiGate comes at higher prices, the functionality and support justify the cost. They promptly resolve firmware issues and inform all support providers about configuration changes.
Amr Fouad - PeerSpot reviewer
Prevented any kind of hacking and enables us to comply with customer requirements
We use the solution for firewall, intrusion prevention and detection. We installed it in order to comply with customers requirements IPFire has prevented any kind of hacking and enables us to comply with customer requirements. Accessing the internet was a bit complicated. We opted for this…
Akram Zaki Hussein - PeerSpot reviewer
Robust network security and management offering a user-friendly interface, open-source flexibility, and cost-effectiveness, with challenges regarding initial setup and the absence of official support
The interface is user-friendly, but there's room for improvement in terms of intuitiveness. The bundle management aspect requires additional attention to make it more intuitive, especially for inspecting high-level traffic. This is crucial, especially for larger companies where the existing features might not be the most optimal choice, given limitations like printer constraints. For high availability, it's crucial to have a method in place where a designated component oversees the entire process. Given that OPNsense plays a pivotal role as a firewall, safeguarding against various threats, having a reliable backup ensures uninterrupted protection even if unforeseen events impact the primary virtual machine. It would be beneficial if OPNsense supported additional virtualization platforms like Hyper-V from Microsoft and VMware, similar to how Kaspersky has integrated them.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable features are simplicity, management, and that it's constantly evolving."
"It is easy to manage, and it doesn't need much knowledge from the team. It is a stable device, and there are many features that are included out of the box."
"The primary feature I appreciate about Fortinet FortiGate is the ease of setup."
"Fortinet FortiGate is easy to use. Anyone can easily maintain it."
"The solution is highly scalable because they have devices that can handle a large amount of traffic."
"It has very easy management and an amazing ETM configuration."
"The usage in general is pretty good."
"The most valuable features are SD-WAN, application control, IPS control, and FortiSandbox."
"I would rate the stability as ten out of ten for IPFire."
"IPFire has prevented any kind of hacking and enables us to comply with customer requirements."
"I mostly rely on the solution's network intrusion detection and prevention system, along with other systems, CMs, and log management."
"The most valuable features of OPNsense are the GUI and frequent updates."
"The solution has high availability."
"We have found pretty much all the features of the solution to be valuable."
"The initial implementation process is simple."
"I find the solution to be user-friendly. It has a lot of reports and easy settings."
"We can open a new VPN connection easily. It's much easier than with Fortinet in our experience."
"It's more secure and more reliable."
 

Cons

"They could do more work on FortiAnalyzer in terms of the data and the information coming from it."
"Fortinet doesn't provide multiple virtual firewalls which would facilitate end users and customers."
"There are some complex administration tasks in their administration portal. That needs to be improved."
"We are pretty happy with it. If anything, I believe the web interface could be simpler, especially for someone who has limited networking experience."
"To some degree, it's almost a question as to why some of this stuff isn't simpler. For example, for an AP deployment, while it's integrated, the number of steps that you have to go through in order to get the AP up, seems like a lot."
"They could simplify their deployment process, especially when customers have existing devices."
"The big license options have web filtering, IDS, and a lot of other things, but it's not like they are all good."
"We were not able to build a full-mesh VPN; however, I am not sure if this was the fault of Fortinet FortiGate."
"Accessing the internet was a bit complicated."
"The graphical interface could be much better."
"There are issues with stability and reliability."
"SD-WAN (software-defined wide area network) is integrated into some restricted service providers for OPNSense."
"I would like to see better SD-WAN performance."
"The scalability needs improvement."
"In terms of improvement, the performance could be enhanced."
"The solution would not be suitable for anything large-scale."
"There should be more technical documentation."
"OPNsense could improve by making the configuration more web-based rather than shell or command-line-based."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is expensive. You need to pay for the subscription every year, which is very expensive. The subscription includes technical support and hardware exchange in case of failure."
"It is affordable. Palo Alto is much more expensive than Fortinet."
"The price is fair for what we get with FortiGate."
"The price is fine."
"Pricing and licensing is a little bit complicated in FortiGate. They are always on the higher side. This is one issue that we always raise with the company that they should reduce the price according to Indian market requirements. There are no costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."
"I think the price of Fortinet FortiGate is very reasonable."
"Pricing is lower than Cisco."
"The licensing costs are very low."
Information not available
"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."
"OPNsense is open source software so at this time it is free for us to use."
"It's a free solution."
"OPNsense is a well known open-source tool."
"The solution is not expensive."
"There are no licensing costs for OPNsence."
"It is free."
"The price of OPNsense is good."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Educational Organization
12%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
22%
Computer Software Company
14%
Government
8%
Educational Organization
7%
Computer Software Company
16%
Comms Service Provider
14%
Government
6%
Educational Organization
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

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...
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...
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 ...
What needs improvement with IPFire?
The graphical interface could be much better.
What is your primary use case for IPFire?
I use IPFire ( /products/ipfire-reviews ) to protect my home.
What advice do you have for others considering IPFire?
Sometimes configuring IPFire is challenging. Overall, I would rate this solution as eight out of ten.
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...
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.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for OPNsense?
The pricing is competitive when compared to vendors like Palo and FortiNet.
 

Also Known As

FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate, Fortinet Firewall
No data available
No data available
 

Overview

 

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. Siemens 2. IBM 3. Cisco 4. Dell 5. HP 6. Intel 7. Oracle 8. Google 9. Microsoft 10. Amazon 11. Apple 12. Facebook 13. Twitter 14. Netflix 15. Adobe 16. SAP 17. VMware 18. Juniper Networks 19. Ericsson 20. Nokia 21. AT&T 22. Verizon 23. T-Mobile 24. Vodafone 25. Orange 26. Deutsche Telekom 27. British Telecom 28. Comcast 29. Time Warner 30. Sony 31. Samsung 32. LG
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.
Find out what your peers are saying about IPFire vs. OPNsense and other solutions. Updated: May 2025.
860,168 professionals have used our research since 2012.