We performed a comparison between Netgate pfSense and Smoothwall Firewall based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out what your peers are saying about Netgate, Fortinet, OPNsense and others in Firewalls."I really like the captive portal feature for our guest network. It has nice VLAN features in terms of separating our network. The anti-virus is also good."
"The network security and cloud security are most valuable."
"Whenever I need something, Fortinet improves and updates the software for me."
"Their interface is very easy to use, it is without bugs."
"It is a one box solution, which covers most of the edge device’s requirements."
"The solution is very user friendly. The user interface in particular is quite nice."
"Its stability is the most valuable."
"We were looking for the VPN feature and controlling the inflow and outflow of all the traffic within the site and across the sites. We are also using it for the VPN and VLANs."
"My company mainly works in the health and educational domain, schools and universities. I prevent the improper use of content from schools and universities. I defend the medical records for the patients in our hospitals. That is the main use case for me for the firewall."
"Good basic firewall features."
"A very stable product that lasts over time, easy to understand, and administer."
"The solution is very easy to use and configure."
"The main features of this solution are customization and ease to use."
"Creation of certificates and the facility to administer services are valuable features."
"The most valuable features of pfSense are the reports, monitoring, filtration, and blocking incoming and outgoing traffic."
"The solution is very robust."
"It was easy to initially deploy it."
"Some configuration elements cannot be easily altered once created."
"The security of Fortinet FortiGate could improve."
"Maybe they could make some features more accessible, such as a way to translate directions between two networks that share the same subnets."
"Web security solutions can be improved."
"Cisco Meraki products are rising very quickly in the cloud and the connected era. Meraki products offer much better ROI, upgradability, and manageability."
"There could be more integration between the logging and analytical platforms to make it more seamless and integrated."
"Backup can be improved."
"I would like to see more advanced developments of a wireless controller in the future."
"The configuration of the solution is a bit difficult."
"We would like to see ready-made profiles to cover most users' needs."
"Needs services on additional features, such as managing inventory and generating reports."
"The security could be improved."
"My only observation is about the quality of the IPSec logs, which are difficult to interpret and are poor in filters."
"The main problem with pfSense is that we have to use proxy solutions."
"It would be great to add more to security."
"I would like to see pfSense integrate WireGuard. Currently, pfSense uses OpenVPN, and there's nothing wrong with it, but WireGuard is a lot leaner and meaner."
"There is room for improvement in the UI. They can improve it by making it so that everything is in one place, so we don't have to jump around to different pages."
Netgate pfSense is ranked 1st in Firewalls with 128 reviews while Smoothwall Firewall is ranked 34th in Firewalls with 1 review. Netgate pfSense is rated 8.6, while Smoothwall Firewall is rated 9.0. The top reviewer of Netgate pfSense writes "User-friendly, easy to manage the firewall, rule-wise and interface-wise". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Smoothwall Firewall writes "Offers good scalability and monitoring features ". Netgate pfSense is most compared with OPNsense, Sophos XG, KerioControl, Sophos UTM and Cisco Secure Firewall, whereas Smoothwall Firewall is most compared with OPNsense.
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