I have always enjoyed messing around with home networking and a couple of years ago I went forward with a bare-metal OPNsense box and have been using that over two years.
At the time I did some limited research into pfsense but they were starting to focus on their hardware (with software) solution vs OPNsense was more tailored toward the DIY community and I decided to move forward with OPNsense.
I don’t think either OPNsense or pfsense have changed their strategy much in the last two years, but I wanted to do a high level comparison of the two and self reflect did I go down the correct path of of OPNsense vs pfsense?
Software Versions
OPNsense Version
I am running OPNsense 25.1
pfSense Version
I tested with 2.8.0-RELEASE
Setup of pfSense in Virtual Machine
As I mentioned above, I am using OPNsense bare-metal as my current router, for testing, I decided to just use pfsense in a virtual machine. First time I started it up, it booted up with the WAN address the same as my current default gateway, so it took down my network. No worries, just powered of the virtual machine and it was resolved, but now I had to configure it to work on my computer, but still access the webui.
| Virtualbox Network | pfsense adapater | |
| Adapter 1 | Not attached | No Configuration |
| Adapter 2 | Bridged Adapter | IP from your local network |
User Interface
OPNsense Dashboard
Overall, I find the OPNsense user interface to be cleaner and more modern compared to other firewall platforms. It offers a well-organized layout with easy navigation and built-in monitoring tools like CPU and traffic charts right on the dashboard. The menu being on the left and easily to expand and collapse menus or use the search to find what you are looking for.
Initially, I thought it was missing a dark mode, which would have been a nice touch for nighttime use or lower eye strain. After digging into the settings, I was pleasantly surprised to find that dark mode is actually available, although it isn’t immediately obvious at first glance.
pfSense Dashboard
The pfSense dashboard is straightforward and includes the essentials, but it lacks modern or dynamic widgets. The main menu is positioned at the top, making it easy to see the contents of each section. While the breadcrumb navigation helps a bit when drilling down into menus, the overall interface feels a bit old-school and clunky compared to more modern platforms.
Firewall Capabilities
When it comes to creating and managing firewall rules, I think OPNsense and pfSense are pretty similar. Both have a familiar layout with clear rule sets, easy interface selection, and support for aliases to keep things organized. The UI is different between the two, but the overall process of setting up and reviewing rules feels about the same.
OPNsense Firewall
pfSense Firewall
VPN
OPNsense VPN
OPNsense includes three built-in VPN options right out of the box: IPsec, OpenVPN, and WireGuard. I haven’t set any of them up myself yet, so I’d recommend checking out a solid online guide if you’re planning to configure one.
pfSense VPN
pfSense includes three built-in VPN options right out of the box as well: IPsec, Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol (L2TP), and OpenVPN. I haven’t set any of them up myself yet, so I’d recommend checking out a solid online guide if you’re planning to configure one.
Intrusion Detection System (IDS) / Intrusion Prevention System (IPS)
OPNsense IDS/IPS
pfSense IDS/IPS
Out of the box, pfSense doesn’t have anything, but you can easily install add-on packages such as Snort and Suricata that are popular IDS and IPS respectively.
Resource Usage
I wanted to perform a resource usage, but with comparing bare-metal to virtual machine isn’t an apples to apples comparison, so maybe something I look at expanding in the future.
Software Philosophy
There has been some drama between the two and if you are interested, suggest reading this article : https://www.xda-developers.com/why-use-opnsense-over-pfsense-dont-trust-netgate/
OPNsense Software
OPNsense and pfSense have an intertwined history. OPNsense was forked from pfSense in 2015, and pfSense was forked from m0n0wall, so you can they both are derived from m0n0wall.
pfSense Software
The pfSense project began in 2004 as a fork of the m0n0wall project. While pfSense is open source, they do some some closed source code for their commercial/enterprise efforts.
Hardware
If you’re interested in running officially supported hardware, both OPNsense and pfSense offer solid options. Either way, going with vendor-supported hardware can offer better stability, updates, and peace of mind for critical setups.
OPNsense Hardware
OPNsense does have official hardware store that has a variety of desktop to rackmount firewalls. The hardware is designed, made and shipped from Europe, so it does come with a higher pricetag.
pfSense Hardware
pfSense heavily pushes you toward their Netgate hardware, makes sense as a corporation. They do have some more economical priced firewalls/routers.
Documentation and Community Support
Both platforms offer detailed documentation and active community support. I’ve included links to the main documentation pages for each below if you want to dive deeper.
OPNsense Documentation
pfSense Documentation
https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/index.html
Final Thoughts
After running OPNsense on a bare-metal setup for over two years, I still feel confident in the decision I made. While both OPNsense and pfSense offer strong features, solid community support, and official hardware options, OPNsense has stayed more aligned with the DIY and open-source community. Revisiting both platforms now, it’s clear that their core strategies haven’t changed much. While both offer similar capabilities in terms of firewall rules, VPN support, and documentation, I continue to prefer OPNsense for its cleaner, more modern interface and user-friendly layout. At the end of the day, both platforms are capable, but for a hands-on, flexible experience, I’m glad I went with OPNsense.
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