Firewall Comparison: 8 Platforms Side by Side
Compare pfSense, OPNsense, OpenWrt, MikroTik RouterOS, Sophos, Untangle/Arista, Firewalla, and UniFi across 18 normalized attributes.
Dataset 8 platforms × 18 attributes · updated 2026-10
| Attribute | OPNsense ↗ FreeBSD firewall forked from pfSense in 2015; fast release cadence and a modern UI. | pfSense CE ↗ The original FreeBSD firewall distro maintained by Netgate; huge installed base. | OpenWrt ↗ Linux router firmware for embedded/consumer hardware; firewall is a secondary role. | MikroTik RouterOS ↗ Powerful Linux-based router OS tied to inexpensive MikroTik hardware. | Sophos Firewall (Home) ↗ Free home edition of Sophos' commercial NGFW with full UTM features. | Untangle / Arista NG Firewall ↗ Debian-based NGFW (now Arista). Home subscriptions went end of sale in 2024; business product only. | Firewalla ↗ Plug-in security appliance managed entirely from a phone app. | Ubiquiti UniFi (Gateway) ↗ Ubiquiti's polished gateway/controller ecosystem; great UX, limited extensibility. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| License / cost model | Free / open source (BSD 2-clause); paid Business Edition | Free / open source (Apache 2.0); pfSense Plus closed on Netgate HW | Free / open source (GPL) | Bundled with MikroTik hardware; CHR licensed for VMs | Free Home Edition (non-commercial, 4 CPU cores; RAM limit removed May 2025) | Home subscriptions ended April 2024; free tier basic only, apps need paid Complete | Hardware purchase; no subscription for core features | Hardware purchase; no recurring license |
| Base OS | FreeBSD | FreeBSD | Linux (musl, BusyBox) | Linux (RouterOS) | Linux (Sophos Firewall OS) | Linux (Debian-based) | Linux (Ubuntu-based, locked appliance) | Linux (UniFi OS / EdgeOS lineage) |
| GUI quality | 4/5 | 4/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 4/5 | 4/5 | 4/5 | 5/5 |
| IDS / IPS | Suricata (inline IPS) + ZenArmor / Sensei NGFW plugin | Snort or Suricata (package) | Limited — community packages (banIP, no inline IPS) | No inline IPS; raw firewall + RAW table only | Built-in IPS, web filtering, AV, app control (full UTM) | Intrusion Prevention app (subscription) | Built-in IDS/IPS (signature based, app-managed) | Built-in IDS/IPS (Suricata-based) on capable gateways |
| VPN types | WireGuard, OpenVPN, IPsec | WireGuard, OpenVPN, IPsec | WireGuard, OpenVPN, IPsec (packages) | WireGuard, IPsec, OpenVPN, SSTP, L2TP, PPTP | IPsec, SSL VPN, site-to-site; WireGuard (recent) | WireGuard, OpenVPN (Tunnel VPN), IPsec | WireGuard + OpenVPN server/client | WireGuard, OpenVPN, IPsec, Teleport, L2TP |
| Native WireGuard | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| HA / failover | CARP active/passive with state sync (pfsync) | CARP active/passive with state sync (pfsync) | Manual / VRRP (keepalived package); no state sync | VRRP; no stateful sync | Active/passive HA (commercial-oriented) | Limited; not its strength | Dual-WAN failover on Gold models; no CARP | WAN failover; no firewall-level CARP |
| Plugin / add-on ecosystem | 4/5 | 4/5 | 4/5 | 2/5 | 1/5 | 3/5 | 1/5 | 2/5 |
| Hardware flexibility | 5/5 | 5/5 | 4/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 1/5 | 2/5 |
| Ease of learning (5 = easiest) | 3/5 | 3/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 3/5 | 4/5 | 5/5 | 5/5 |
| Multi-WAN / load balance | Yes — gateway groups, policy routing, failover | Yes — gateway groups, policy routing, failover | Yes via mwan3 package (config-heavy) | Yes — ECMP, recursive routing, PCC load balance | Yes — WAN link manager with failover/balancing | Yes — WAN Balancer / WAN Failover apps | Dual-WAN on Gold/Gold Plus/Gold SE | Dual-WAN failover/balance on supported gateways |
| IPv6 support | Full (DHCPv6, prefix delegation, RA, NPTv6) | Full (DHCPv6, prefix delegation, RA) | Full and a project strength (DHCPv6, PD, 464XLAT) | Full but configured manually | Supported | Partial / weaker than peers | Supported (improving) | Supported (improved, occasionally quirky) |
| Dynamic routing (BGP/OSPF) | BGP/OSPF via FRR plugin | BGP/OSPF via FRR package | BGP/OSPF via FRR/BIRD packages | Strong — BGP, OSPF, RIP, MPLS | BGP, OSPF, RIP, PIM | Basic (OSPF/BGP limited) | None (consumer appliance) | OSPF/BGP on higher-end gateways only |
| Commercial support | Deciso (vendor) + Business Edition subscription | Netgate TAC (paid) + Netgate appliances | None official (community + integrators) | MikroTik support + large consultant pool | Paid (Home Edition is unsupported) | Paid Arista support + appliances | Vendor support; active community | Ubiquiti support; very large community |
| Community size | 4/5 | 5/5 | 5/5 | 4/5 | 3/5 | 2/5 | 3/5 | 5/5 |
| Release cadence | Two major releases/year + frequent patches | CE slower; Plus leads on Netgate hardware | Roughly yearly major + point releases | Frequent stable/long-term channels | Enterprise release train | Vendor-driven | Frequent app/firmware updates | Frequent (sometimes bumpy) firmware updates |
| Form factor | DIY x86, VM, or Deciso appliances | DIY x86, VM, or Netgate appliances | Runs on consumer routers / APs and x86 | MikroTik appliances or CHR x86/VM | DIY x86/VM for Home; appliances commercially | DIY x86/VM or Arista appliances | Fixed appliance only | UniFi appliances only (integrated ecosystem) |
| Best for | New x86 firewall builds wanting modern UI + fast updates | Proven, well-documented builds; existing pfSense shops | Router/AP combos on supported consumer hardware | Routing-heavy / WISP / multi-WAN on a budget | All-in-one UTM (IPS+web+AV) without DIY plugin work | Existing business deployments only — no longer a home/homelab option | Set-and-forget security with zero CLI, phone-managed | Unified network stack with the best out-of-box UX |
Ratings are editorial 1–5 scores grounded in feature parity and community consensus, not synthetic benchmarks. “Free” platforms may still sell hardware or paid support.
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