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Reviews from AWS customer

6 AWS reviews

External reviews

27 reviews
from and

External reviews are not included in the AWS star rating for the product.


    Peter Muiruri

Open-source firewall has provided affordable real-time protection and secure remote access

  • March 10, 2026
  • Review provided by PeerSpot

What is our primary use case?

I mainly use OPNsense for routing and network security. That is the basic use: routing and firewall, basically for connecting to the internet as well as filtering my outgoing and incoming traffic.

What is most valuable?

In my opinion, the most useful functions or features in OPNsense are those that come packaged inside, such as WireGuard, if you need a VPN. It is not something you have to install afterward. Upon installing OPNsense, you can get WireGuard straight from the interface itself. You can also make it even more advanced by subscribing to certain features to enhance filtering capabilities, especially for filtering websites such as social media and specific traffic types. For pfSense, you cannot get those features straight. You have to keep adding on and installing add-on packages.

Regarding OPNsense's detection capabilities enhancing my network security, it does filter quite a lot. In terms of firewalling, I can really recommend it to someone who does not want to invest much on hardware and software that can really secure their network. As long as you have somebody who understands the product and is also willing to learn, even if they do not know initially, it is something to pursue at a very minimal cost.

When talking about real-time filtering inside the product, I am actually very satisfied with it. It is real-time. I like the way it does it. Upon effecting a rule, it automatically starts working. It is not something that delays or seems to hang the system. It effectively starts working immediately upon deploying the rule.

What needs improvement?

In my opinion, OPNsense could improve by incorporating either an open side of wireless management or a way that you can also manage your interconnected devices. You could easily have SNMP, Simple Network Management Protocol, incorporated in it so that you can easily manage the devices and easily get the information about the devices that you are managing. Additionally, the inclusion of Pi-hole would allow you to create an ad-free network instead of adding it on a separate device. I would prefer that incorporated into OPNsense, or if it is there, I would appreciate guidance on how to use it.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with OPNsense for about a year now.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

For stability, I can give OPNsense a nine. It is very stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

For scalability, I can give it about an eight.

How are customer service and support?

For technical support, since I have not worked with one that requires external support, in my case, I think I can give it a ten, because I am able to manipulate whatever I want, and whatever I want it to do, it does. It does not disappoint. So for me, technically, it is a ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have been working with firewall solutions for about two years. I first worked with pfSense, then I was looking for a difference. That is when I came across OPNsense and wanted to know the difference between the two of them and how OPNsense might be better than pfSense, and also the vice versa.

How was the initial setup?

Regarding the initial setup for OPNsense, I find it fair and not that complex. As long as you have knowledge of Linux, it is simple and very straightforward.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

When it comes to comparing OPNsense with other vendors, I cannot compare because currently OPNsense is fully open source. Compared to other vendors who claim to be open source but somehow they still have some interference with their product, yet they claim to be open source, OPNsense stands apart. I can only compare OPNsense with pfSense, since those are the only two I have worked with. pfSense currently, even the community, is not fully open.

What other advice do I have?

I confirm that I am currently still working with OPNsense and still using their product. However, because of the hardware that I am using, sometimes it ends up freezing quite often, especially the interfaces, most of the busy interfaces. This is because I am not using the recommended network interfaces for that matter, as I have customized a normal desktop computer to work as an OPNsense router. Because of using the TP-Link cards, that is why I am getting frustrated. I was planning to find, either from the community, the best specification of a computer, maybe an old computer that one can use. Or, because I do not want to invest much on the hardware, I will buy network-dedicated cards, like the Intel cards, since it is not the CPU that has a problem.

In terms of OPNsense's VPN functions, I normally use it to access it from outside the workplace or to have some of the roaming users access the premise resources from outside the premise. Though, I was also looking at the SD-WAN capability of OPNsense because I wanted to find out if it is possible to have an SD-WAN solution with OPNsense. We are a business that has eight different branches, so I was looking for a way I can have each branch with an OPNsense, but then interconnect all of them through an SD-WAN solution instead of IPsec. This is so that you can communicate with the data center where we have hosted our servers, through OPNsense. I was looking for that to be one of the options: either use IPsec or use a public LAN such as Tailgate.

In terms of the reporting tools for my network traffic analysis, the reports are good. OPNsense has good reports in terms of the basics: the DHCP, the IPs already given out. In terms of whatever is blocked, whatever has been detected to be a potential threat, and the source of these threats, from which particular region, you can easily get the report from there. Also the bandwidth utilization, you can get it from there. I also deployed it some time back and I saw it had the capability, which of late I cannot see, to incorporate it with a wireless management system such as the Unifi.

Regarding the load balancing features in OPNsense, I have also used it in terms of load balancing and failover. It is also very effective and straightforward. You just need to have the knowledge on how to go about it. Since it is a community-based open source, you can easily get the information online in case of anything. I have tried both load balancing and failover and it has worked very effectively. In terms of quality of service also, it is very effective. I cannot complain.

Based on my experience, the main benefits OPNsense provides for me are due to the limitation in getting financials to implement the most marketable solutions available in the market. That pushed me to find other open-source-related solutions or cheaper solutions. That is how I came upon OPNsense and pfSense, but OPNsense was the choice in this decision. That is what brought me to finding a simple but also effective solution, but at a low budget.

I did not purchase OPNsense directly from the vendor or through marketplaces. I just downloaded the ISO file from OPNsense. In terms of price, I think OPNsense has a reasonable price compared to others, so I can give it about an eight or nine. I would rate this review as a nine overall.


    Dhirender Kumar

Reporting has given me clear insight into network usage and simplifies multi‑WAN management

  • February 12, 2026
  • Review provided by PeerSpot

What is our primary use case?

I use OPNsense for my small network and operate a practical lab with seven to eight computers. For the organizations where I provide tech support, they fully depend on OPNsense.

What is most valuable?

I find everything valuable in OPNsense. The configuration and reporting aspects are what we require. Reporting on user access and data consumed is fascinating in OPNsense, and the configuration offers a clear idea of everything that I have configured in DHCP.

The key metrics I track to measure the effectiveness of reporting tools include the graphic interface and real-time statistics, which are much better in OPNsense compared to SonicWall. If I want to export something, that is easy from OPNsense. Using blacklist and whitelist for creating policies, such as port forwarding, is very straightforward. In OPNsense, everything can be done on a single screen: identifying the source of packets, determining what to do with them, and deciding where they should land is the most convenient aspect. Additionally, grouping IP addresses in OPNsense is very easy, making the overall experience very user-friendly.

I assess OPNsense's intrusion detection capabilities through practical testing. When it comes to the LAN, if I unplug the cable, it displays a message indicating the disconnection. This helps me identify that this is the onboard LAN card and this is the PCI Express LAN card, and I note it down for future reference in documentation to assist the next person.

I find the load balancing features quite satisfactory as I am using two WANs with this system. The load balancing features have no negative impact on my operations, and I am satisfied with this aspect as it automatically takes over the network, directing load to the second WAN if one fails.

What needs improvement?

I have attempted to configure OPNsense VPN features, but I was not successful due to time constraints. However, I believe that with some effort, the VPN will work fine. I was using OpenVPN simultaneously for computer-to-computer communication, but not with OPNsense, though I am confident it will fulfill my needs. I want to implement a site-to-site VPN, but that project was dropped in between.

I want to mention that the proxy is mandatory in OPNsense if you want to use the antivirus plugin. Without a proxy, you cannot use the ClamAV antivirus plugin. I think that should be modified, as it should work without configuring a proxy. This is the only aspect in which OPNsense is falling behind because implementing a proxy requires system-to-system attention. Alternatively, using a transparent proxy poses a threat if not properly configured.

In OPNsense, I would appreciate an improvement in the proxy requirement. I need it to skip the proxy for implementing antivirus. I have some personnel who visit outside the premises, and if I statically configure the proxy on their laptops, they cannot connect when they join another network. My suggestion is to consider this improvement.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with OPNsense for around five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I did not experience too many problems with the implementation or configuration of OPNsense in my system. The main thing to note is that OPNsense is based on BSD, so in some cases, changing the machine causes references of the LAN card to change. For instance, on a single machine, it might show en0, en1, while on a different machine, it shows enp0, enp1. This inconsistent naming convention can be confusing during configuration, especially regarding which port is which.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

OPNsense is completely scalable for my needs.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Before OPNsense, I introduced SonicWall a couple of months ago. I worked with the TZ series, specifically the TZ 270 model.


    Scott B.

Flexible Firewall Solution with Strong Community Support, but Complex Configuration Options

  • October 14, 2025
  • Review provided by G2

What do you like best about the product?
This product is highly flexible and supported by a helpful community. It meets all of my firewall requirements.
What do you dislike about the product?
Because it is flexible, there are many options available for finding the best configuration.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
This product offers an excellent firewall solution that can accommodate a wide range of needs.


    Harry Fusser

Have struggled with complexity and pricing but found visual resources helpful in understanding features

  • September 18, 2025
  • Review provided by PeerSpot

What is our primary use case?

We work on the technological side of things, systems, automation systems. When it comes to Layer 2, 3, 4, we hit firewalls. We work with a big company in the United States, so we usually use their recommended ones. There is a certain flexibility for products. We are not bound to buy a certain product, so it is flexible.

This is not robotics; that is process automation. It involves DCSs, PLCs, that type of systems.

DCS refers to control systems and PLCs (Programmable Logic Controllers). It is basically automation for processes such as refineries, chemical factories, paper mills, so that is what we do.

We have been using OPNsense in a lab, so we are actually experimenting with it.

What is most valuable?

YouTube is one of the best features with OPNsense.

In today's world, it is YouTube that stands out. It is just a big game, with someone writing code, putting it in a box, an embedded system and writing the 200-page manual on how to use it. In my opinion, down the road it is plain old TCP/IP, UDP in terms of communications and it is completely overrated. But this is what we have to live with unfortunately, that is what is out there. YouTube provides video explanations, and that brings you to speed, instead of sitting down and reading a 200-page document on the product.

What needs improvement?

I do not appreciate the pricing or the licensing of this product.

It is more expensive than it should be for what it does. Consider the commercial products - OPNsense offers community editions which are free, and then you have to determine the difference between a licensed version and community version. You have to pay for features. I understand people provide something and you have to pay for that service. But pricing in my opinion is just too expensive. It makes no sense. It moves in the direction of a monopoly. It implies that you depend on that system and have no choice but to spend. With firewalls there is competition. When it comes to operating systems, that is harder. Look at Microsoft - they have a monopoly more or less, so there is almost no alternative.

How are customer service and support?

I have not had that chance yet with OPNsense, but this might be a good point. This is a differentiator. It is not just OPNsense firewalls, it is any other gizmo provider out there. You have Dell, you have Microsoft. Try to get support. The first question they ask you is about your support contract. If you say you do not have one, it is finished. This is where the monopoly starts. I am not sure how it is with OPNsense. If you call for support, it would be a test, actually. I have not done that yet. They might let you hang, saying you need a support contract, and finish. I do not know.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

How was the initial setup?

I do not think there is a difference. All these products that are out there are more or less on the same level when it comes to setting up OPNsense initially.

What other advice do I have?

We would have to do testing with OPNsense in an environment doing pen tests using cybersecurity tools that are available to pen test and see what happens. Because I am not in the IT group, and this is not our focus anyway, we have not done this bench testing, benchmarking, firewalls, or whatsoever, on-premises or not, all versions, hardware related, software firewalls.

With OPNsense, I find that you have to actually worry about this. There are two opinions on this. If I were an IT person, I would say it is fine, but I am not. I am an engineer. When I look at this IT stuff, in my opinion, this is in today's world completely overrated for what it is supposed to do. The fact that it is public makes it just not safe. And the rest is just a game. Firewall A, B, C, D, E, F, G, standard 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. It will never be safe as long as it is public.

You want a game changer, you have to make the networks private. And this has to run not through your little company, it has to run through the ISP. It is the internet community that has to handle this. I cannot predict it, but this public stuff over there is public. In the end, whatever is public-facing is not safe. I make sure I have backups in place. When something crashes, I restore as quick as I can.

I do not use OPNsense VPN features.

As a company, this is a big game that is being played. I do not appreciate this because I am actually a chemical engineer and I want to focus my energy on how to make products with better quality, more efficient, using less energy, less raw materials, and so forth. Here you are stuck with running a game just to get simple communications up safely because it is on the public internet, which makes absolutely no sense. Instead of being a boon for remoting and productivity enhancement, I think we have reached the point where it is the opposite.

There are many ways down the road I see that will happen, probably some private type of networks that businesses get from the ISPs, private connectivity, so that you can clearly separate what is public and what is not. All you see happening and this patching up is IP version 4, NATting, PATting, it makes no sense. We try to keep things isolated as much as we can. Whenever it comes to a business-related solution, we will always go with a provider. We are actually outsourcing it; we are not doing it ourselves.

My rating for OPNsense is 5 out of 10.


    Moutaz Sheikh Alard

Has helped simulate enterprise security setups and strengthens network segmentation practices

  • September 09, 2025
  • Review provided by PeerSpot

What is our primary use case?

I work with OPNsense to create my capstone project in the sixth semester. I work with OPNsense for my capstone project, and I am now planning to make it my main firewall in my network at home, and I'm planning to use it also in case I work in the company.

What is most valuable?

For my capstone, I use OPNsense for my project and its broader benefits for enterprise and cybersecurity context. OPNsense is an open source based firewall and routing platform. It offers enterprise-grade features such as intrusion detection and prevention system, VPN support, traffic shaping, and web filtering, all without license cost. This platform has a modular design, a clean web-based GUI, and frequent updates that prioritize security and usability. It competes with commercial firewalls such as Cisco ASA, FortiGate, and Palo Alto, but stands out because it's community-driven, cost-effective, and transparent.

I find OPNsense's feature of acting as a central firewall and gateway most valuable, providing robust point segmentation between the internal network and DMZs in my capstone project, intrusion detection to monitor malicious traffic, VPN services for secure remote access, and logging and monitoring for compliance and auditing. This allows me to simulate a real-world enterprise environment on a smaller scale, demonstrating both security hardening and network efficiency.

OPNsense impacts my projects and home network positively because its cost-effectiveness is perfect for lab and enterprise setup without expensive licensing. The flexibility, easy VLAN and DMZ configuration supports different zones such as web servers, mail servers, and log servers. The security-first design for IDS/IPS integration helps me showcase modern defense-in-depth strategies. The user-friendly management through the web GUI makes it possible to manage complex firewall rules clearly, which is critical when documenting and presenting a capstone. Scalability is also an advantage. Although my project is lab-based, OPNsense can scale into production deployments in SMBs and enterprise.

What needs improvement?

The documentation should be clearer because I faced some difficulties navigating many options. Providing clearer documentation will be helpful for other students who are new to experiences with OPNsense.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using OPNsense throughout my capstone project in the sixth semester.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

OPNsense is stable in my experience and has been reliable for my projects and home network. For my capstone project, OPNsense consistently performs as expected, maintaining stable routing and firewall rules across multiple VLANs and DMZs. The IDS/IPS engine using Suricata detects test intrusion attempts without causing noticeable performance degradation, and VPN tunneling works reliably, allowing secure remote access to my simulated enterprise work. Logs and monitoring tools provide clear visibility, which is important for documenting my project. For home and small network use, OPNsense is also reliable, providing enterprise-grade security at no cost, which is valuable for students and professionals building labs. It has a user-friendly GUI that makes managing the firewall straightforward, and the community support is active, making troubleshooting and updating reliable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

OPNsense is scalable, but the degree of scalability depends on the hardware resources and the network design. In theory, OPNsense can handle small home networks and even large enterprise environments if deployed on sufficiently powerful hardware or virtualized on a clustered system. It supports features such as high availability pairs, load balancing, and multi-WAN setups that allow it to scale beyond a single device. In practice, for my capstone project, I didn't simulate a very large enterprise, but I did segment multiple VLANs, set up DMZs, and enable IDS/IPS, and OPNsense managed this well without performance issues. This showed me that it can handle at least mid-sized network complexity reliably. I haven't tested it for large production environments, but it is a reliable, cost-effective, and scalable solution for labs and mid-sized enterprises.

How are customer service and support?

In my personal experience, I mostly interact with the community side and find it responsive and well documented. The forums answer most configuration issues I face, and the documentation is up to date. Compared to some open-source projects with weak support, OPNsense stands out for having both a strong community and commercial backing options.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I selected OPNsense as a primary solution in my project because of its strong open-source community support, robust features, and suitability for a cost-effective lab environment. If I were to switch to another solution, the most likely candidate would be pfSense or a commercial firewall appliance such as Cisco ASA or FortiGate.

For pfSense, built on a similar FreeBSD foundation with a long-standing reputation in academic and enterprise labs, I might choose it if I need certain community plugins or enterprise-level add-ons that are more mature in pfSense. The reason I initially didn't switch away from OPNsense is that it provides everything required for my capstone: VLANs, DMZ segmentation, IDS/IPS integration, VPN functionality, logging and monitoring, strong documentation, and GUI management. But for a production environment, I might recommend switching to Cisco or FortiGate for scalability in a very large network to ensure professional support in case of critical downtime and integration with another enterprise security system.

Before choosing OPNsense, I evaluated other options to ensure the choice aligns with both the technical goals of my project and real-world industry practice. The main alternative I considered was pfSense, which is very close to OPNsense. Both are free-based. I considered it because it's widely used in academic labs and has a strong plugin ecosystem. Ultimately, I preferred OPNsense for its more modern user interface, frequent updates, and strong focus on security features.

How was the initial setup?

Regarding the pricing, OPNsense has no cost. The setup is somewhat easy, and for licensing, I haven't tried the paid version yet, but overall it's perfect. I save time while working on my capstone project because OPNsense helps me save time during setup and configuration, especially for the intrusion prevention system that helps me be more aware of monitoring and catching any malicious packets or traffic already passing through my network.

What other advice do I have?

The GUI-based OPNsense is very useful and easy to deal with because many people find it frustrating to deal with command line projects. OPNsense provides a web-based GUI that makes the matter easier and more efficient to look at and to deal with.

I will discuss the general benefits of OPNsense, which include compliance support that is useful for organizations pursuing ISO 27001 and PCI DSS, as it helps enforce security controls. One benefit is open-source transparency; unlike black-box firewalls, its code is reviewable and trusted by the community. Rapid innovation through frequent updates means it stays aligned with modern threats, and many organizations use OPNsense as a cost-effective alternative to commercial appliances without sacrificing core security capabilities.

From using OPNsense, I think it could be easier, and I will talk about the lessons I learned. I gained hands-on experience with firewall rules design and the challenges of balancing security with usability. I learned the importance of logging and monitoring for incident response. Furthermore, I realized that open-source tools such as OPNsense can be viable for both learning and professional deployment. Most importantly, OPNsense helped me connect academic theory with practical enterprise-grade solutions.

I rate OPNsense a nine because the documentation needs more clarification.

If I were advising others considering OPNsense, I recommend a few key points. Start with clear goals; OPNsense has a wide feature set including firewalling, IDS/IPS, VPNs, traffic shaping, and more. Define what you need first—segmentation, remote access, monitoring—so you don't get overwhelmed. Invest in proper hardware since performance and scalability depend heavily on CPUs, RAM, and network interfaces, especially for IDS/IPS. Choose hardware with enough power; otherwise, packet inspection can slow the network. Leverage the community by utilizing the forums, GitHub, and documentation, which are excellent. Most configuration challenges I face have already been solved by others. Keep it updated because OPNsense has frequent updates and security patches. Staying current ensures you are protected against new vulnerabilities. For labs and mid-sized enterprises, open source is a fantastic solution; it is cost-effective, feature-rich, and transparent. For very large enterprises that require vendor SLAs or guaranteed throughput, you may want to evaluate commercial appliances alongside OPNsense.


    Mahmoud Suleiman

Has improved network security while reducing costs significantly

  • September 07, 2025
  • Review provided by PeerSpot

What is our primary use case?

My main use case for OPNsense is as a firewall on-premises.

Using OPNsense in my work environment, it serves as the first line of defense. I'm using it for filtering, using my own repository and Dnsmasq to filter unwanted websites. I'm using it as an SD-WAN, as an IPS, intrusion prevention software, and as a next-gen firewall.

As the first line of defense of my network, OPNsense firewall acts effectively, helping me reduce the number of attacks that my network suffers or has been impacted by a huge percentage. Due to its openness and because it's free, and it's a next-gen firewall, it can go up to the application layer to protect my network, which is very good and unique compared to traditional firewalls.

OPNsense is deployed on-premises in my organization.

What is most valuable?

In my opinion, the best features OPNsense offers are that it's open source, so it can be implemented in whatever scope or environment that I need. I just need to scale the hardware for that environment and I don't have to pay a license, perpetual or renewal.

The open-source aspect and flexibility of OPNsense have helped me significantly, especially due to the difference in the currency exchange rate here in Egypt, where the licensing and budgeting for IT infrastructure is very hard right now due to the high cost of the products in the Egyptian currency. Most companies see that the IT department is a consuming department, not one that's bringing money, with the ROI being an improvement in SLAs in a few percentages. We have a tight budget in Egyptian pounds, so when we get stuck because the budget has ended, we have to prefer open-source solutions to save budget, and here the open source can rise and shine. I don't need the license, so I will save cost in my budget that I can use in another product that doesn't have any alternative.

People sometimes overlook that OPNsense is modular, and that you can install plugins to improve it. You don't have to use it bare-metal OPNsense releases; it's modular, and you can add whatever plugin or features that you need to be added.

What needs improvement?

OPNsense can be improved by making it more user-friendly, as its current UI is not that user-friendly when compared to paid software such as Sophos. Sophos has a free version that is very limited, but OPNsense could be fantastic if this point is addressed correctly.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using OPNsense for a couple of years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

OPNsense is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

OPNsense's scalability is excellent; I just need to resize my hardware and upgrade the server, and voilà, I am good to go.

How are customer service and support?

OPNsense is open source, so you have to rely on the community for customer support.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I previously used Sophos Home, but I switched because it's very limited.

How was the initial setup?

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for OPNsense has been very positive since it is open source, reducing the cost of licensing. I don't need to license the software as it's free, and I can also scale the hardware, which cost me around 30,000 Egyptian pounds, less than a thousand dollars for used servers. This initial cost just required purchasing the server and installing the open-source software, reducing the amount of money needed for an enterprise firewall.

What was our ROI?

I have seen a return on investment as I saved a chunk of money, nearly $100,000, needed for licensing for an enterprise firewall such as FortiGate or Sophos.

We saved up to half a million Egyptian pounds, which is nearly $100,000 yearly on licensing or subscription using this kind of software. This saved a huge amount of money, and the network attacks reduced by approximately 60% after using that, even without customizing the custom configuration yet. Currently, I'm working on custom configuration.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Before choosing OPNsense, I evaluated pfSense, but pfSense is maintained by Netgate, which has filed for bankruptcy, so it's considered legacy and not fit for the modern network. OPNsense is a good option.

What other advice do I have?

I rate OPNsense 8 out of 10. It is a straightforward product that has nothing crazy to do with it.

My advice for others looking into using OPNsense is to get creative.

My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor, as we are just customers.


    Richard Chamberlain

Network isolation improves security with ease of use in home lab

  • September 04, 2025
  • Review provided by PeerSpot

What is our primary use case?

My main use case for OPNsense is that it is my home firewall for my home lab.

A quick specific example of how I use OPNsense in my home lab is that I use VLANs, so I have different networks or sub-networks inside my home network, and the VLAN inside of OPNsense allows me to keep them isolated.

I have added some firewall rules to allow different devices to talk to different subnets regarding how I'm using OPNsense in my home lab.

What is most valuable?

The best features OPNsense offers include the VLANs that work spotlessly, and I feel very secure in my network because of it. It was relatively easy to set up, though I think a better wizard would help out.

One of the things I appreciated about the VLANs is that I can have a Wi-Fi VLAN and feel secure that the server network or the VM network that I have on a different VLAN are isolated, and they cannot talk to one another, which adds a great level of security.

OPNsense has positively impacted my organization and home lab through its security features, though it's hard to quantify as I don't pay enough attention to the logs to see what it's stopping from an outside perspective. It's actually sitting behind my modem from my ISP and I'm not in bridge mode.

OPNsense definitely gives me peace of mind and helps my workflow because of the network isolation. I can have multiple subnets without having to worry about one affecting the other.

What needs improvement?

OPNsense could be improved with a better wizard, as when I first installed it, it seemed difficult to know where to go. I had to watch a couple of YouTube videos on it, so having better videos sponsored by OPNsense might be helpful.

It would be beneficial if they could create some videos on how to set it up themselves.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using OPNsense for about two years now.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

OPNsense is stable for me.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

OPNsense's scalability in my experience is very scalable, and I've been able to generate multiple VLANs without seeming to have any degradation.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I had not previously used a different solution for my firewall; this was the first one I tried.

What was our ROI?

Unfortunately, I have not seen a return on investment with OPNsense; I don't keep track of that, beyond the sense of saying that for a very little investment, I was able to increase the security of my network.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that since OPNsense is free, the licensing and setup was easy, and honestly, it's great for the price.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Before choosing OPNsense, I did evaluate other options, specifically I looked at pfSense first.

What other advice do I have?

The advice I would give to others looking into using OPNsense is to absolutely go play with it. For little cost, if you have an extra machine around that you can test it out on, test it out. I'm running it on a low-end mini PC with multiple network interfaces and it works great.

I would say that OPNsense is one of those technologies, a firewall that if you're not playing with, you should, just to keep your skills up and to secure your home network.

On a scale of 1-10, I rate OPNsense an 8.


    Stephen Zoran

Offers seamless deployment and feature-rich experience with deep packet inspection

  • April 29, 2025
  • Review provided by PeerSpot

What is our primary use case?

I am a Sales Engineer working for a consulting company. I use OPNsense to take my lab environment on the road for demos. Initially, I built it to bring my demos from my own lab. Although the company has a lab, putting an OPNsense firewall in there worked better because it was a colo. I run it both bare metal and virtualized, and in some cases, I do both.

What is most valuable?

The main features I find valuable are ease of use, code stability, and the ability to add features such as Zenarmor, which provides fourth-generation firewall capabilities with deep packet inspection. Additionally, integrating solutions like Tailscale for VPN is very valuable for my uses.

What needs improvement?

They are trying to augment reporting with Grafana dashboards. Some of those integrations could be improved to work better with Grafana.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have used the solution for about four years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is extremely stable. At the latest code level, I haven't experienced any crashes. Initially, there were some performance issues with earlier versions, but it is very stable now.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

So far, scalability has been good. I use Zenarmor, pinning it to one core for packet inspection, and the CPU performance seems very good. My use cases don’t drive a ton of bandwidth, but I’m looking at some AI applications that may increase that dramatically, and that's where we will test scalability.

How are customer service and support?

The support is good. I mainly rely on community support since the solution is open source. I haven't had to open many tickets, just one or two under the Pro license.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was very straightforward. It took about an hour the first time, but I could probably do it in five minutes now.

What was our ROI?

There are dramatic operational impacts compared to Check Point and FortiNet.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The pricing is competitive when compared to vendors like Palo and FortiNet.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I have experience with FortiNet and Palo Alto network solutions.

What other advice do I have?

Overall, I would rate OPNsense as nine out of ten. The ability to deploy easily and leverage fourth-generation features adds significant value, especially with Zenarmor.


    reviewer1027455

Enhancing network security with reliable firewall functionality and GeoIP features

  • November 15, 2024
  • Review provided by PeerSpot

What is our primary use case?

I use OPNsense primarily for network security. It involves basic firewall operations and GeoIP location functionalities. I've got multiple versions running, some on hardware purchased and some on VPSs.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features include the basic firewall functionality and the GeoIP location services. OPNsense is very stable, easy to upgrade, and maintain. I can work efficiently, knowing it does what it needs to do.

What needs improvement?

OPNsense should improve its performance in handling large volumes of voice traffic. It needs more support for Vigoroute and extensive VPN technologies. Enhancing its performance for significant amounts of data traffic would make it closer to a perfect solution.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been working with OPNsense for about five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I rate OPNsense's stability as very high. I would give it a nine out of ten. The only challenge faced was its inadequacy to manage large voice traffic effectively, even with dedicated hardware. It couldn't keep up with the packet per second for voice load, requiring a revert in our setup.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

OPNsense struggles to handle large volumes of voice traffic, indicating scalability issues in that specific use case.

How are customer service and support?

I haven't used technical support. I rely on forums and manage the setup independently.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

The only other similar product I can compare is FortiGate. Overall, I find OPNsense more user-friendly.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I consider the pricing of OPNsense to be high when compared with other market products. However, as a free firewall product, it is one of the best available currently.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I only evaluated FortiGate alongside OPNsense, as they are the two offerings from my company.

What other advice do I have?

For small to medium businesses, I recommend OPNsense. I'd rate it eight point five out of ten.


    Karan S.

My Experience with OPNSense

  • October 17, 2024
  • Review provided by G2

What do you like best about the product?
the thing which i liked using OPNsense it has very good contenet filtering and from my seniors i have heard it is very cost effective to our company also in my personal use i have seen it has good authentication but in the first place it has good user friendly interface also it has a good performance response time is very good also i am using this like everday .
What do you dislike about the product?
there are not much dislike here but one thing i wants to point out is initial setup is quite difficult if you are not aware of much of the tech also for personal use i was going through the documentation but it was not much of help full
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
it has good network security without connecting to this i cant access my company contenet which is very good idea so that some how if some has my laptop with out connecting to OPNsense they cant access the content also as i have mentioned earlier it is cost effective it has good web filtering like my organisation doesnt allow us to open our personal gmail in company laptop so we cant access all thanks to OPNsense