23 Mar Ultimate Firewall Comparison
Ultimate Firewall Comparison
pfSense CE vs pfSense Plus vs WatchGuard vs SonicWall vs Untangle vs Fortinet vs Sophos vs Cisco vs USG vs UDM vs EdgeRouter
Comparison Table
This table compares various features of different firewall products, including pfSense CE, pfSense Plus, WatchGuard, SonicWall, Untangle, Fortinet, Sophos, Cisco, USG, UDM, EdgeRouter:
| Feature |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open Source | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Pricing Model | Free | Free/Subscription | Paid | Paid | Paid | Paid | Paid | Paid | Paid | Paid | Paid |
| UI Usability | Moderate | Improved | Good | Moderate | Clean | Polished | Modern | Complex | Basic | Basic | CLI-only |
| Target Audience | Tech Users | SMBs/MSPs/Enterprise | SMBs | SMBs | SMBs | Enterprise | SMBs | Enterprise | SMB | SMB | Power Users |
| Can Run on Your Own Hardware | Yes | Subscription | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Operating System | FreeBSD | FreeBSD + Nexus | Proprietary | Proprietary | Linux | FortiOS | SFOS | FXOS / Linux | Proprietary | Proprietary | Linux |
| Firewall | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| OpenVPN | Yes | Yes | Yes | Client (no as server) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (basic) | Yes (basic) | Yes (basic) | Yes (CLI) |
| IPSec | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Paid | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| WireGuard | Yes | Yes | No | Yes (recent models) | Paid | Limited | Partial | No | No | Yes | No |
| L2TP VPN | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Paid | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (CLI) |
| IDS/IPS | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Content filtering | Squid – Deprecated | Squid – Deprecated | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (basic) | Yes (basic) | No |
| DNS filtering | Yes (pfBlockerNG) | Yes (pfBlockerNG) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (beta) | Yes (beta) | No |
| GeoIP filtering | Yes (pfBlockerNG) | Yes (pfBlockerNG) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (beta) | Yes (beta) | No |
| Traffic shaping | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (basic) | Yes (basic) | Yes (CLI) |
| High availability | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Virtualization support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| IPv6 support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-WAN support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Paid | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| SNMP monitoring | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Web interface | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Policy routing | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| HA Proxy | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Let’s Encrypt Certificates | Yes | Yes | No | Yes (recent models) | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Captive Portal | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (SDN) | Yes (SDN) | No |
| Active Directory Integration | Yes | Yes | Yes | Paid | Yes | Yes | Paid | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Centralized Management | No | Yes (MIM/Nexus) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (FMC) | No | Yes | Yes |
Last update: 2 August 2025
Choosing a firewall for your needs
We hope this comparison would help you understand the similarities and differences between these firewall products and assist you in making an informed decision when choosing a firewall for your needs.
