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OPNsense®

Features
Ease of use
Ease of management
Quality of support
Affordability
Market presence
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Pricing from
€149.00 per year
Free Trial unavailable
Free version
User corporate size
Small
Medium
Large
User industry
  1. Construction
  2. Real estate and property management
  3. Agriculture, fishing, and forestry

What is OPNsense®

OPNsense is an open-source firewall and routing platform based on FreeBSD, used to secure and segment networks at the edge or between internal zones. It is commonly deployed by SMBs, service providers, and IT teams that want a software firewall on commodity hardware or virtual machines. The product combines stateful firewalling with VPN, traffic shaping, and optional intrusion detection/prevention via add-on services. It is typically managed through a web UI and supports configuration backup and updates through its package and release system.

pros

Open-source, auditable platform

The core software is open source, which allows independent review of code paths and configuration behavior. Organizations can deploy it without per-user licensing and can standardize builds across sites. The project publishes frequent updates, and administrators can track changes through release notes and repositories. This model can be attractive where vendor lock-in is a concern.

Broad edge security features

OPNsense provides stateful firewalling, NAT, VLANs, policy-based routing, and multi-WAN capabilities for typical perimeter and branch use cases. It supports common VPN options (including IPsec and OpenVPN) for site-to-site and remote access scenarios. Optional IDS/IPS functionality is available through integrations (for example, Suricata) and can be tuned per interface and policy. These capabilities cover many requirements that otherwise require separate appliances or subscriptions.

Flexible deployment options

The software runs on dedicated appliances, generic x86-64 hardware, and virtualized environments, which helps align performance and cost to the deployment. It supports common network interface hardware and can be integrated into existing switching and routing designs. Configuration can be exported and restored, supporting repeatable rollouts and disaster recovery. This flexibility is useful for labs, branches, and multi-site rollouts.

cons

Enterprise support varies by channel

Because the product is open source with multiple ways to obtain support, support experience can depend on the chosen vendor, appliance provider, or community resources. Organizations that require strict SLAs, global support coverage, or managed services may need to contract separately. This can add procurement and operational complexity compared with single-vendor platforms. Support and lifecycle expectations should be validated before standardizing.

Advanced security requires tuning

IDS/IPS and related inspection features can require careful rule selection, performance sizing, and ongoing tuning to reduce false positives. Enabling deep inspection features may reduce throughput on smaller appliances or under heavy traffic. Administrators often need to monitor logs and adjust policies to maintain usability. This operational overhead can be higher than more tightly integrated, subscription-driven stacks.

Not a full SASE platform

OPNsense primarily addresses on-premises or IaaS edge firewalling rather than cloud-delivered security services. Use cases such as cloud-based secure web gateway, CASB, and globally distributed zero-trust access typically require additional products or services. Remote-user security at scale may therefore involve extra components beyond the firewall. Buyers comparing it to cloud-first security stacks should account for these gaps.

Plan & Pricing

Plan Price Key features & notes
Community Edition (Open Source) Completely free Downloadable open-source OPNsense (BSD 2-clause); community edition is available for direct download.
Business Edition (1 year) €149.00 per year Commercial firmware repository, official OVA image, GeoIP database access, selected professional plugins (e.g., OPNcentral, Proxy Access), free e‑book; license valid for a single installation.
Business Edition (3 year, prepaid) €399.00 (one-time) Prepaid 3-year Business Edition license (sale price listed); same Business Edition benefits, license valid for one installation.
Business Support Subscription €329.00 per year Annual support subscription (email & phone remote support, implementation support, prioritized support); 20% discount if all supported devices have Business Edition licenses.
Business Support Package (no subscription) €429.00 (one-off) One-off package that includes 2 hours of support, valid for 12 months (does not auto-renew).
Professional Services (1Yr Starter) €3,999.00 per year Annual professional services starter (includes 20 hours of professional services such as design, training, customization).
Proofpoint ET Pro Ruleset (IDS/IPS ruleset) €749.00 per year Commercial ET Pro ruleset subscription (delivered as an oinkcode / feed).
Branded Version (custom) €2,198.00 (one-off) Custom-branded OPNsense build (logo/color theme) — optional one-time purchase.
Maintenance Subscription for Branded Version €799.00 per year Annual maintenance/updates for branded OPNsense versions.

Notes: Official OPNsense hardware appliances sold via the official shop often include "Open Source + 1 year free Business Edition" as a bundled license; appliance prices are listed separately in the official shop.

Seller details

Deciso B.V.
Amersfoort, Netherlands
2014
Private
https://opnsense.org/
https://x.com/opnsense
https://www.linkedin.com/company/deciso

Tools by Deciso B.V.

OPNsense®

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