Netgate pfSense vs Smoothwall Firewall comparison

Netgate and Smoothwall are both solutions in the Firewalls category. Netgate is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.8, while Smoothwall is ranked #41. Netgate holds a 9.9% mindshare in Firewalls, compared to Smoothwall’s 0.3% mindshare. Additionally, 93% of Netgate users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Smoothwall users who would recommend it.

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Netgate pfSense and Smoothwall Firewall based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

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Firewalls

January 2026

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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

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 18.8%, down from 20.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Netgate pfSense is 9.9%, down from 16.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Smoothwall Firewall is 0.3%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Firewalls Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Fortinet FortiGate	18.8%
Netgate pfSense	9.9%
Smoothwall Firewall	0.3%
Other	71.0%

Firewalls

Featured Reviews

Vasu Gala

Manager, Information Technology Operation/Presales at TechMonarch

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.

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Michael-Collins

Chief information security officer at Center for Information Management, Inc.

Provides visibility that enables users to make data-driven decisions

pfSense flexibility overall is pretty good. They are making some really big improvements. That said, they're a long way from enterprise. They advertise things that they don't have. I've worked for probably 30% of the Corporate 100, and they won't tolerate the high availability and it being as buggy as it is. The fact that if you configure it incorrectly without any visual indications that it's not done in the way Netscape does, then it will not only break the firewall, it will break both firewalls. The only way you can even try to recover is by getting new images from Netgate. You have to open up a tech support case, download the image for, then reimage the firewalls, and reapply your configuration. The fact that you can completely brick your firewalls just by having a configuration that they allow, and they don't even don't tell you there's a problem until they both go down. That's totally unacceptable in an enterprise. As a standalone firewall, they're excellent. As an enterprise, we're not touching it with a ten-foot pole. It’s difficult to configure and use add-on features. It's really easy to add them. On the website, they say “Oh, we do this, this, and this.” However, they do a lot through third-party add-ons. The problem is, if there's any problems at all, the very first thing they want you to do is disable those add-ons. So that's not really supporting anything. There are two ways that firewalls are viewed: talking to the firewall and talking through the firewall. If you're talking about “to the firewall,” then it's a very robust, very secure firewall. However, it doesn't have things that they claim helps with protecting data, most of it's third party. If you want to do all these things that are typically associated with enterprise-level firewalls, most of them are done by a third party. It's not actually cooked into their product. I like their OSPF. I wish it was more current. The only bugs that are in the OSPF are ones that have been known about for almost two years. Maybe they're they're victims of their own success. Their growth curve has outstripped their technical support and has outstripped their ability to develop. They're just growing so fast. They're trying to do everything. Updates from third parties can take too long. For example, if there's a problem with a package and no available update is available, you have to wait. Since it's via a third party, there's no definable schedule, as the update needs to come from a third-party open organization with no financial interest to make the process faster. Sometimes, there's more finger-pointing than resolution. In, OSPF, they give you lots of information. However, when it comes to hardcore troubleshooting of different routing zones or things like that, then you had to keep dropping down to the CLI in order to get it. And that's where your experience can change quite a bit. If you're running OSPF on Cumulus or some of the other big routing or switching solutions, then they're running much newer versions of it, which are all bug-patched and fixed. However, pfSense is running on an operating system that is not theirs. They don't necessarily have full control over it. When you get a real enterprise firewall, and when you hook up the redundancy, you expect redundancy to work and be predictable. And never ever will the redundancy crash your system. If you don't create the interfaces in the exact same order on both firewalls every single time, if so much as one interface is out of order, if the command line is different because of the way the operating system works, you will slowly corrupt your configuration to the point where it'll break.

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Himanshu-Sharma

Senior Engineer at Qualic

Offers good scalability and monitoring features

There is room for improvement in the UI. They can improve it by making it so that everything is in one place, so we don't have to jump around to different pages. For example, if we're creating a rule, we should be able to do everything on the same page. Just a drop-down thing or something. This would improve productivity.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Fortinet FortiGate is easy to use."

"The most valuable feature is the web filter."

"The web controls are what I appreciate about Fortinet FortiGate. We have extensive controls over areas where we could block external-facing IPs, external URLs. We can do geo-fencing with the firewalls, which is a good feature."

"FortiGate is on the cheaper end, and it offers good value."

"FortiGate's SD-WAN capability is the most useful feature for us."

"The main value comes from the simplicity of the product in terms of configuring and managing."

"Fortinet FortiGate is used to prevent security failures. Since implementing the solution, we have seen improvements in security and in the distribution of our network."

"It has very easy management and an amazing ETM configuration."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"The initial setup was straightforward, therefore I wanted to continue using the product."

"Stability has been excellent. We have experienced no issues; it never fails."

"Overall the product rating is nine out of ten."

"pfSense's greatest strength lies in its customizable package installation, detailed logging capabilities, and ability to manage log history, including sending it to Vault Logs via Syslog."

"I like the dynamic DNS update and firewall feature"

"We've found the stability to be very good overall."

"The initial setup is not complex."

"The flexibility of adding new kinds of services without spending any money can't be beaten."

More Netgate pfSense pros

"It was easy to initially deploy it."

Cons

"Difficult to add or define, and not that easy to configure and manage."

"The solution's stability should be improved because it is extremely unstable."

"Improvement is needed in the Web Filter quotas to restrict users with allocated quotas."

"We would like to see an upgrade to the VPN feature, we are using the VPN from outside of our office and there is a limitation to 10 connections, more connections would be suitable."

"I would like to have logs, monitoring, and reporting for a month without extra fees."

"The support from Fortinet FortiGate could improve. They are not easily accessible when we need them. They could improve their response time."

"The user interface could be improved."

"One area for improvement for Fortinet FortiGate could be the price, as my clients here are small companies, and they might not have the resources or money to always buy a Fortinet FortiGate solution or FortiGate products."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"It would be great to add more to security."

"Perhaps the documentation is not clear and because it is supported in the community there is no basic documentation."

"I should have phone support for a certain period, even at the lower price point."

"The user interface can be improved to make it easier to add more features. And pfSense could be better integrated with other solutions, like antivirus."

"If you want to take advantage of all of the solution's options, you need to have a bit of a technical background. It's not for a layperson."

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

"We do not have a single pane of glass management."

"Some of the features I am looking for are still not there in pfSense, like, for example, content control. Because I have kids, I want to control the content or what they watch. There is a feature in pfSense called pfBlocker, but it is limited."

More Netgate pfSense cons

"There is room for improvement in the UI. They can improve it by making it so that everything is in one place, so we don't have to jump around to different pages."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is affordable. Palo Alto is much more expensive than Fortinet."

"Fortinet FortiGate's price can be reduced."

"The Fortinet FortiGate security features cost approximately $1,500 a year. The firewall itself doesn't have a recurring cost. It's the security features on top of that that you pay for."

"On a scale of one being cheap and ten being expensive, I rate the tool's price as an eight."

"There is a need to pay for a license for the product."

"Fortinet is the least expensive solution."

"It is an inexpensive solution."

"The pricing is based on a licensing model for each IPS in your environment."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

"There is no license. You don't have to pay anything. It's completely free."

"Compared to other business routers, pfSense's pricing is reasonable."

"I buy the appliance and accept whatever comes with it, but I am not bought into paid support. When it comes to the pricing of the appliances, they are pretty competitive. The price is pretty competitive."

"Its price is fair. I buy the Netgate hardware so that I can support pfSense and Netgate and I have somebody designing the next layer of software for me in the future. I like their model. It is a high-value piece of equipment with a great team behind it."

"PfSense's pricing is reasonable. However, support is relatively expensive for smaller customers, and you need to pay per device to get it. So if Customer A is having an issue, I have to get support, and then I have to get support for Customer B, and so on. It would be nice as a managed services provider to get support for my company rather than individual devices."

"For what they charge for it, which is maybe $100 a year, it's still good. If you wanted to build your own router, pfSense is more than worth $100 a year to have all that flexibility and maybe your own piece of custom hardware that you want to run it on."

"It is very suitable in terms of the price. If a client cannot acquire a Netgate appliance, I provide a custom-made appliance, and I install the Community edition of pfSense. It is a very good and affordable solution for enterprises. Some of the clients pay monthly but usually, it is annually."

"I will not call it a cheap tool, but it is very cost-efficient."

More Netgate pfSense pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

12%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

14%

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

Educational Organization

Comms Service Provider

15%

Computer Software Company

11%

University

11%

Educational Organization

10%

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	357
Midsize Enterprise	133
Large Enterprise	188

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	168
Midsize Enterprise	33
Large Enterprise	29

No data available

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Comparisons

Sophos Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 20% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 13% of the time

OPNsense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 4% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 3% of the time

SonicWall TZ vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 3% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate Competitors

OPNsense vs Netgate pfSense

Compared 52% of the time

Sophos Firewall vs Netgate pfSense

Compared 7% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Netgate pfSense

Compared 2% of the time

KerioControl vs Netgate pfSense

Compared 2% of the time

Sophos UTM vs Netgate pfSense

Compared 2% of the time

More Netgate pfSense Competitors

OPNsense vs Smoothwall Firewall

Compared 38% of the time

IPFire vs Smoothwall Firewall

Compared 25% of the time

Sophos Firewall vs Smoothwall Firewall

Compared 6% of the time

More Smoothwall Firewall Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

January 2026

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Buyer's Guide

Netgate pfSense

January 2026

Download Netgate pfSense product report

Buyer's Guide

Firewalls

January 2026

Download Smoothwall Firewall product report

Also Known As

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall

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Overview

Fortinet FortiGate is a versatile network security tool offering features like VPN, firewall, web filtering, intrusion prevention, and scalability. It is known for its performance and integration with other Fortinet products, making it a preferred choice for robust cybersecurity.

Fortinet FortiGate stands out as a comprehensive cybersecurity solution with strong performance and ease of configuration. It delivers unified threat management, integrating features such as dynamic routing, SD-WAN support, and centralized management. Despite its strengths, improvements in the web interface's stability, pricing structures, and reporting capabilities are needed. Users seek better integration with third-party tools and automation advancements to enhance the experience further. These enhancements, alongside improvements in bandwidth management and the reduction of licensing costs, are points of interest for users looking to capitalize on FortiGate's extensive capabilities.

What are Fortinet FortiGate's key features?

VPN: Ensures secure remote connections.
Firewall: Protects against unauthorized access.
Web Filtering: Blocks malicious sites and content.
Application Control: Manages and controls applications.
Intrusion Prevention: Detects and prevents vulnerabilities.
SSL Inspection: Enhances security by inspecting encrypted traffic.

What benefits should be considered when evaluating Fortinet FortiGate?

Affordability: Offers cost-effective security solutions.
Reliability: Known for consistent and stable performance.
Integration: Seamlessly integrates with other Fortinet products.
Comprehensive Protection: Provides broad threat protection capabilities.

Fortinet FortiGate is widely implemented across industries as a primary firewall system for securing internet gateways and safeguarding data centers. It supports businesses in achieving SD-WAN integration and enhances cybersecurity by providing essential features like antivirus, web filtering, and application control. Enterprises utilize FortiGate for securing remote connections and ensuring compliance with security standards, making it adaptable for different network sizes and industries.

Fortinet

Netgate pfSense is an open-source firewall and router software known for scalability, cost-effectiveness, and community support. It includes customizable packages for varied network management needs, offering solid performance and straightforward management for diverse setups.

Netgate pfSense provides an impressive range of functionalities including firewall capabilities, VPN options, and extensive customization through packages. Its low resource usage and high availability make it viable for businesses of all sizes, especially when dealing with tailored network demands. Despite its strengths, users suggest improvements in ease of use, mobile compatibility, and support for plug-ins. Enhanced centralized management, better documentation, and additional security features are frequent requests.

What are the key features of Netgate pfSense?

Scalability: Suits any network size from small home setups to large enterprises.
Open-source: Offers transparency and flexibility, allowing for community-driven development.
Firewall Capabilities: Provides robust protection against unauthorized access.
VPN Options: Supports secure remote connectivity with various VPN protocols.
Customizable Packages: Allows users to personalize functionalities to fit network needs.
High Availability: Ensures continuous network operations with redundancy features.
Load Balancing: Distributes traffic efficiently across multiple paths or connections.
Traffic Shaping: Manages bandwidth allocation to optimize network performance.

What benefits should users consider in reviews?

Cost-effectiveness: Significant savings due to low operational costs and open-source nature.
Performance: Reliable service delivery with minimal hardware demands.
User-friendly Interface: Intuitive design that simplifies complex network management.
Community Support: Access to extensive community resources for troubleshooting and advice.
Comprehensive Documentation: Detailed guides and tutorials to facilitate installation and configuration.

In education and healthcare, Netgate pfSense is employed for secure connectivity and efficient traffic management, accommodating distinct demands of remote access and content filtering. Organizations in these sectors often utilize features such as load balancing and VPNs to maintain secure and reliable network operations while integrating with services like Active Directory for streamlined identity management. Small to medium-sized enterprises benefit from its affordability and robust functionality, making it a go-to choice for managed service environments requiring effective network security and control.

Netgate

Smoothwall Firewall ensures network safety and compliance through robust content filtering, safeguarding educational institutions by providing appropriate online access and effective threat protection.

Smoothwall Firewall focuses on content filtering and network security for educational institutions, ensuring students access appropriate online resources while protecting against cyber threats. It offers detailed internet usage reports and helps maintain seamless network performance. Users find its ease of management and advanced threat protection beneficial, although some note complexities in setup and reporting features.

What are the key features of Smoothwall Firewall?

Content Filtering: Exceptional capabilities to ensure safe and appropriate online access.
Real-Time Monitoring: Keeps constant vigilance over network usage and threats.
Robust Security: Offers advanced threat protection to safeguard network environments.
Ease of Use: Simplifies management with an intuitive interface and responsive customer support.
Comprehensive Reporting: Provides detailed reports on internet usage and security threats.
Customizable Filtering: Tailors security measures to meet specific requirements.

What benefits and ROI can users expect from Smoothwall Firewall?

Enhanced Safety: Protects against cyber threats and ensures safe online access.
Compliance: Helps institutions adhere to internet usage policies efficiently.
Ease of Management: Simplifies the administration of network security.
Detailed Insights: Provides comprehensive reports on network and internet usage.
Customizability: Offers tailored security settings to meet specific needs.

Smoothwall Firewall is widely used in educational sectors to enhance network security and manage internet usage. Its content filtering and monitoring capabilities ensure a protected and compliant online environment. Though implementation can be complex, its robust security and comprehensive support make it a valuable choice for institutions focusing on safeguarding their networks.

Smoothwall

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

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

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Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet, Netgate, Sophos and others in Firewalls. Updated: January 2026.

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