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--></style></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal>Apologies if this comes off disjointed, I’ve revisited it a few times and had to pull some things from memory.</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>When pfSense announced their planned inclusion of AES-NI hardware requirement I started following several other projects (OPNsense, IPFire, etc.) because the older Netgate box I had worked great with 2.3.5 but would be unsupported when the next version was released (This seems to have been delayed still as of March 2019 pfSense 2.5.0). The license change and focus also became a concern of mine since I’d used and recommended it for several years. I stumbled across OPNsense after checking back with the m0n0wall project I had used previous to see it had ended and Manuel Kasper had given his blessing to the OPNsense project.</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Overall, you will see similar features on each. OPNsense seems to bring features and security updates in faster than pfSense. I like how the system updates and being able to select my mirrors for my packages. OPNsense has a partnership with the HardenedBSD project and tries to keep as close as they can to mainline FreeBSD whereas pfSense appears to customize things more. With this partnership I get several nice features (ASLR, PIE, SEGVGUARD) and an I can use LibreSSL easily. 2FA isn’t kludgy (maybe has changed in newer pfSense versions). Easy to view changelogs. The interface looks more polished and seemed “snappier” on my hardware although initially I stumbled around because of being used to pfSense so I used the search bar a good bit. I’m interested in ZeroTier. </p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>If you want to use pfBlocker features check out this <a href="https://www.routerperformance.net/opnsense/using-pfblocker-features-in-opnsense/">https://www.routerperformance.net/opnsense/using-pfblocker-features-in-opnsense/</a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> </p><p class=MsoNormal>There have also been… shenanigans around the pfSense/OPNsense communities. Many accusations thrown on both sides. Probably the one that made me swing to watching OPNsense more was when Netgate registered the opnsense.com domain and set it up as a “parody” site (<a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20160314132836/http:/www.opnsense.com/">http://web.archive.org/web/20160314132836/http://www.opnsense.com/</a>). After an appeal to the WIPO it now redirects to the true OPNsense project (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PfSense">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PfSense</a>). At the end of the day, I found the OPNsense license and community to be a “friendlier” place.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I don’t feel you can go “wrong” with either project, but I’m liking the direction of OPNsense currently.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Preston<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>-- <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>matter and those who matter don’t mind.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>-Dr. Seuss<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div style='mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal style='border:none;padding:0in'><b>From: </b><a href="mailto:ale@ale.org">Steve Litt via Ale</a><br><b>Sent: </b>Friday, November 8, 2019 6:28 PM<br><b>To: </b><a href="mailto:ale@ale.org">ale@ale.org</a><br><b>Subject: </b>[ale] OPNsense vs pfSense: was Recommendation Request - Router / MiniPC</p></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>On Fri, 8 Nov 2019 10:10:49 -0600</p><p class=MsoNormal>Preston via Ale <ale@ale.org> wrote:</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>> I've been planning on ordering a couple of these. Will be running</p><p class=MsoNormal>> OpnSense.</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>What's the difference between OPNSense and pfSense?</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I've read this:</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>https://www.firewallhardware.it/en/pfsense-vs-opnsense-technical-comparison/</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>My only problem with pfSense is it seems that not only did they change</p><p class=MsoNormal>their license, but they seemed to de-priortize people who want to use</p><p class=MsoNormal>pfSense without paying for service. The OPNsense web page at looks</p><p class=MsoNormal>kinda commercial, but at least they have an independent section called</p><p class=MsoNormal>"Users".</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>How do you feel about OPNsense vs pfSense?</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Thanks,</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>SteveT</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Steve Litt</p><p class=MsoNormal>November 2019 featured book: Manager's Guide to Technical</p><p class=MsoNormal>Troubleshooting Second edition</p><p class=MsoNormal>http://www.troubleshooters.com/mgr</p><p class=MsoNormal>_______________________________________________</p><p class=MsoNormal>Ale mailing list</p><p class=MsoNormal>Ale@ale.org</p><p class=MsoNormal>https://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale</p><p class=MsoNormal>See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at</p><p class=MsoNormal>http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>