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Netgate pfSense Plus Firewall/VPN/Router vs VyOS Platform comparison

 

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

Netgate pfSense Plus Firewa...
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
4.3
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (24th)
VyOS Platform
Average Rating
6.0
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
Routers (16th)
 

Mindshare comparison

Netgate pfSense Plus Firewall/VPN/Router and VyOS Platform aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Netgate pfSense Plus Firewall/VPN/Router is designed for Firewalls and holds a mindshare of 0.2%.
VyOS Platform, on the other hand, focuses on Routers, holds 2.1% mindshare, up 0.2% since last year.
Firewalls Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Netgate pfSense Plus Firewall/VPN/Router0.2%
Fortinet FortiGate14.0%
OPNsense7.9%
Other77.9%
Firewalls
Routers Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
VyOS Platform2.1%
MikroTik Routers and Switches17.9%
Cisco Enterprise Routers15.6%
Other64.4%
Routers
 

Featured Reviews

Jim Voige - PeerSpot reviewer
Site Manager at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
High availability routing has secured our network and delivers reliable support every day
One downside of Netgate pfSense Plus Firewall_VPN_Router is the need for a better understanding of what hardware it would run on. Right now, we're using Netgate's hardware, but I'm interested in knowing if there are other hardware options available, particularly heavier duty hardware, because the Supermicro 1537 version we have only has a single power supply, which is a shortcoming in an IT environment where dual power supplies are ideal. The pricing for the hardware of Netgate pfSense Plus Firewall_VPN_Router is steep, which is one reason I'd explore other options. I'm familiar with the costs of Supermicro servers, and I believe Netgate charges a premium for their server hardware without enough upside to justify it. The pricing is not justified.
Borislav Andric - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Consultant at Navigator CORPORATION LLC
The product is free, and the initial setup is easy, but it is missing some features, and it is not stable
The product is missing some features. Some features are not implemented the way we expect them to be. The tool doesn’t have the same quality as other commercial vendors like Cisco. There were some problems with IPsec. For a long time, the tool did not support VTI tunnels. I also faced some problems with some specific networking solutions. I couldn’t set the source IP. I would like to have a hardware solution in the future.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I do not have complaints about Netgate pfSense Plus Firewall_VPN_Router with Firewall, VPN, and Router; it is really comfortable for use, and it does a pretty good job."
"They are more satisfied with Netgate pfSense Plus Firewall_VPN_Router in terms of its flexibility and customer support."
"We use pfSense and Netgate pfSense Plus Firewall/VPN/Router to establish a VPN tunnel between our client and our headquarters to transfer data between client and our equipment; it's very simple to use, efficient, up to date, and the hardware is very available; it's very safe."
"It's very simple to use, efficient, up to date, and the hardware is very available; it's very safe."
"My experience with the product is that it is a stable and good product that is easy to use."
"Overall, the entire Netgate pfSense Plus Firewall_VPN_Router product has been reliable, though some of their smaller gear aimed at remote offices hasn't been cost-effective."
"It is an open-source product."
 

Cons

"The pricing for the hardware of Netgate pfSense Plus Firewall_VPN_Router is steep, which is one reason I'd explore other options."
"The most significant drawback in recent years has been the cessation of firmware release downloads."
"The effectiveness of Netgate pfSense Plus Firewall_VPN_Router traffic shaping is quite good, but I am not very satisfied with the interface for control."
"I would assess the effectiveness of Netgate pfSense Plus Firewall_VPN_Router's traffic shaping as good, but I would give a six marks only for that compared to others because in the past few years, there has been a stop of improvement or lack of improvement showing in Netgate pfSense Plus Firewall_VPN_Router."
"They have to learn something more from FortiGate."
"The product is missing some features."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
36%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Healthcare Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Construction Company
27%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Healthcare Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Netgate pfSense Plus Firewall/VPN/Router?
Netgate pfSense Plus Firewall/VPN/Router regularly provides updates. One aspect they can improve is that most people ask whether an antivirus scanning system is available in pfSense. Other companie...
What is your primary use case for Netgate pfSense Plus Firewall/VPN/Router?
We work with Netgate products. We are a reseller and consultant. We have been working with Netgate and Fortinet for around two years.
What advice do you have for others considering Netgate pfSense Plus Firewall/VPN/Router?
For metrics to measure its impact, we do not measure in a formal way. We use bandwidth monitoring to check how effective the solution is. I have not encountered customers asking for additional feat...
Ask a question
Earn 20 points
 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet, Netgate, Cisco and others in Firewalls. Updated: July 2026.
908,800 professionals have used our research since 2012.