pfSense is the world’s most trusted open source firewall. It brings together the most advanced technology available to make protecting a network easier and addresses a wide range of security and networking needs.

About pfSense

What is pfSense?

pfSense is a free and open-source firewall and router software based on FreeBSD. It is commonly used as a firewall in a network, and it can also act as a VPN server or client, a DHCP server or relay, a DNS server or forwarder, and a WAN load balancer. It is highly configurable and can be used in a variety of network topologies and scenarios.

The free Community Edition of pfSense here: https://www.pfsense.org/download/.

What is the difference between pfSense CE and pfSense plus?

pfSense Community Edition is the free and open-source version that can be installed on amd64 and x86-64 architectures or virtual machines to make a dedicated pfSense firewall and/or pfSense router for a network. It is thoroughly documented ( pfSense documentation) and instructions are continuously updated on how to best operate pfSense software.

pfSense Plus is the proprietary version of pfSense that comes pre-installed on Netgate appliances. UK business customers can purchase Netgate appliances at competitive prices using the following link: ITG Shop.

What are the features available with pfSense?

FEATURES

Load Balancing

UTM Device

Traffic Shaping

Captive Portal

DNS / DHCP Server

IDS / IPS

OpenVPN / IPSec

Web Content Filter

Show All Features

Features

Firewall and Router

Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI)
GeoIP blocking
Anti-Spoofing
Time based rules
Connection limits
Dynamic DNS
Reverse proxy
Captive portal guest network
Supports concurrent IPv4 and IPv6
NAT mapping (inbound/outbound)
VLAN support (802.1q)
Configurable static routing
IPv6 network prefix translation
IPv6 router advertisements
Multiple IP addresses per interface
DHCP server
DNS forwarding
Wake-on-LAN
PPPoE Server

VPN

IPsec, OpenVPN and WireGuard
Site-to-site and remote access VPN support
SSL encryption
VPN client for multiple operating systems
L2TP/IPsec for mobile devices
Multi-WAN for failover
IPv6 support
Split tunneling
Multiple tunnels
VPN tunnel failover
NAT support
Automatic or custom routing
Local user authentication or RADIUS/LDAP

Intrusion Prevention

Snort-based packet analyzer
Layer 7 application detection
Multiple rules sources and categories
Emerging threats database
IP blacklist database
Pre-set rule profiles
Per-interface configuration
Suppressing false positive alerts
Deep Packet Inspection (DPI)
Optional open-source packages for application blocking

Enterprise Reliability

Optional multi-node High Availability Clustering
Multi-WAN load balancing
Automatic connection failover
Bandwidth throttling
Traffic shaping wizard
Reserve or restrict bandwidth based on traffic priority
Fair sharing bandwidth
User data transfer quotas

User Authentication

Local user and group database
User and group-based privileges
Optional automatic account expiration
External RADIUS authentication
Automatic lockout after repeated attempts

Proxy and Content Filtering

HTTP and HTTPS proxy
Non Transparent or Transparent caching proxy
Domain/URL filtering
Anti-virus filtering
SafeSearch for search engines
HTTPS URL and content screening
Website access reporting
Domain Name blacklisting (DNSBL)
Usage reporting for daily, monthly, etc.

Administration

Configuration

Web-based configuration
Setup wizard for initial configuration
Remote web-based administration
Customizable dashboard
Easy configuration backup/restore
Configuration export/import
Encrypted automatic backup to Netgate server
Variable level administrative rights
Multi-language support
Simple updates
Forward-compatible configuration
Serial console for shell access and recovery options

System Security

Web interface security protection
CSRF protection
HTTP Referer enforcement
DNS Rebinding protection
HTTP Strict Transport Security
Frame protection
Optional key-based SSH access

Reporting & Monitoring

Dashboard with configurable widgets
Local logging
Remote logging
Local monitoring graphs
Real-time interface traffic graphs
SNMP monitoring
Notifications via web interface, SMTP, or Growl
Hardware monitoring
Networking diagnostic tools

Who uses pfSense?

Thousands of businesses, educational institutions, government agencies and non-profits – on all seven continents, and for years – have come to rely upon pfSense® software for their secure networking needs.

What is pfSense best for?

pfSense best usage is as perimeter or internal firewall and router for small to medium-sized businesses. As a perimeter firewall, pfSense is typically placed at the boundary of the network to protect the internal network from external threats also thanks to its IDP/IPS capability. As an internal firewall it protects internal resources and segment the network. pfSense’s popular use is also for VPN connectivity, traffic shaping, and other advanced networking features.

Why Buy a Netgate pfSense Appliance?

Netgate appliances are the official pfSense hardware running pfSense plus natively. In other words, Netgate devices are developed, designed and tested to run pfSense plus reliably. With Negate pfSense plus appliances business users can access commercial support directly from the team that host and develop the pfSense project.

Netgate pfSense Appliances