Which one pfsense / opnsense

Are using pfsense / opnsense?

If using one did try other?

Why did use what your using?

I'm using OPNSense. It is a fork of PFSense so fundamentally the same but at the time, PFSense dropped support for Wireguard so tried it and it did everything I needed.
I running on an APU2 and have an HP thin client too as a backup.

PFSense probably has better support online but as yet, I've yet to come upon an issue that has not been covered for me.

pfSense for me just because there seemed to be more help out there. Here is a good article looking at the differences:

https://teklager.se/en/pfsense-vs-opnsense/

Basically not much to chose between them performance wise, so it will be for other reasons to choose one over the other.

I used pfSense for several years on a PC Engines APUC4 and it worked perfectly, never failed, never went down.

I then switched to OPNSense specifically for the Wireguard support and that's been equally reliable. I think OPNsense has the more attractive GUI but that's a minor point. pfSense probably has the better support forum. Both are brilliant.

If you wish to compare them, a useful technique is to run them in VMs using VMware Workstation or VirtualBox before making a decision.

Edited by ashdown (Mon 02-Aug-21 20:08:06)

pfSense. I tried Opnsense back in 2017ish for a week and came straight back. pf, to me, is more polished and easier to use. Runs very nicely, although it pays to stay a couple of versions back if you can as sometimes the releases are... not great.

I'm waiting for pfSense Plus for lab to show up - free version for your own hardware with all the goodies.

I did also try a Unifi Dream Machine Pro. Ubiquiti are really good for APs and switches, but their UDM routers aren't amazing.

What going try is play about with them in VM system an see which one works best for me.

Once made mind up on which variant then it down get system hardware. Ideally it be using passive cooling if that even possible.

In reply to a post by amiga_dude:

Ideally it be using passive cooling if that even possible.

The PC Engines APU2C4 (and variants) is passively cooled, completely silent and much lower power consumption than a typical PC. Mine has been up for several years.

There are also some custom PCs designed for this very task such as Qotom.
They are more expensive and more powerful which is needed for a faster connection. They also support the CoreBoot BIOS.

The APU2 can get close to gigabit with a bit of tuning though - https://teklager.se/en/knowledge-base/opnsense-perfo...

I would add that getting APU2 to do 1Gig does take a fair amount of tweaking and only possible if PPPoE isn't a requirement of the ISP. I couldn't get more than around 500Meg on my FTTP connection using PPPoE on an APU2. These platforms were great but they haven't been updated in some time and are now underpowered for most people with fast FTTP.

Also with the latest versions (applies to both pfSense and opnSense), the underlying FreeBSD no longer works with those tweaks, and network throughput has taken a hit.

I'd recommend getting Kettop Mi7200l6, these aren't too expensive if ordered direct from China, and will certainly be future proof, run idle at around 5 watts and are passively cooled.

Edited by E300 (Tue 10-Aug-21 09:15:52)

I would say pfSense. Both are good but pfSense perhaps has better community support at the moment, which is handy if you're stuck with something.

In reply to a post by branflakes:

I did also try a Unifi Dream Machine Pro. Ubiquiti are really good for APs and switches, but their UDM routers aren't amazing.

It's such a shame that their UDM devices have somewhat inferior firmware. Some basic features that I take for granted on most routers, it lacks on the UDM (e.g. NAT settings). I regret buying my UDM Pro but I hope as time progresses the firmware might get more sophisticated and offer the features that I desire/need. Even the Edgerouter (EdgeOS, based on VyOS) offers far more flexibility than their UDM devices.