Software Alternatives & Reviews

Cisco Meraki VS pfSense

Compare Cisco Meraki VS pfSense and see what are their differences

Cisco Meraki logo Cisco Meraki

Meraki provides Cisco-based, cloud-controlled Wi-Fi and routing and security products for distributed wired and wireless networks.

pfSense logo pfSense

pfSense is a free and open source firewall and router that also features unified threat management, load balancing, multi WAN, and more
  • Cisco Meraki Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-06
  • pfSense Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-09-20

Cisco Meraki videos

My Thoughts About Cisco Meraki VS Ubiquiti UniFi WiFi Deployments

More videos:

  • Review - Introducing Cisco Meraki
  • Review - Cisco Meraki MR 33 Wireless AP and Dashboard Features Review

pfSense videos

pfsense Firewall Setup and Features in Depth Version 2.4

More videos:

  • Review - Pfsense: 5 Reasons to Use It
  • Review - Netgate SG-3100 Teardown / Speedtest / Review of this powerful pfsense packet pusher!

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Cisco Meraki and pfSense)
Monitoring Tools
25 25%
75% 75
Cyber Security
14 14%
86% 86
Firewall
100 100%
0% 0
Perimeter Security And Firewalls

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Cisco Meraki and pfSense

Cisco Meraki Reviews

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pfSense Reviews

The top 10 alternatives to OpenVPN
Netgate offers secure networking solutions, including pfSense Plus and TNSR software, which provide firewall, router, and VPN functionalities. These solutions cater to personal users, professional users, and organizations seeking secure and reliable internet connectivity.
Best pfSense Software Alternatives and Competitors
pfSense Software firewall is a robust, open-source security solution that is compatible with any hardware and can be tailored to meet your specific needs. It is a widely used technology, and many individuals seek dependable, popular software solutions with multi-device support, multiple concurrent connections, and protocol selections. Despite its usefulness, pfSense has...
The Best Open Source Router OS Software for Large or Small Networks
pfSense is a free and open-source router and firewall operating system based on the FreeBSD operating system. It is designed to be used on standard x86 hardware and can be deployed as a virtual machine or on dedicated hardware. pfSense offers advanced features and capabilities that are typically found in commercial routers and firewalls, making it an ideal solution for small...
Best free Linux router and firewall distributions of 2023
pfSense is one of the most popular operating systems today. It's a BSD-based system, similar to OPNSense, but with a longer history. pfSense started in 2004, and since then, it has grown to be the most well-known open-source platform in the industry. Although it gradually loses users to OPNsense, it's still an excellent system for new users because it has the most extensive...
Source: teklager.se
11 Best pfsense Alternatives To Secure Your Network
Unlike those of other available pfSense competitors, its capabilities allow it to be compared to commercial firewalls. You can also customize the pfSense firewall to match your needs based on the level of security and protection you want, as well as your specialist knowledge.

Social recommendations and mentions

pfSense might be a bit more popular than Cisco Meraki. We know about 10 links to it since March 2021 and only 8 links to Cisco Meraki. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Cisco Meraki mentions (8)

  • Another one is born, former vic beauty huns
    Interestingly - I work in IT - I’d be very surprised if Cisco didn’t put up a fight to another company using the same name - https://meraki.cisco.com - unlike the mlms products, ciscos is actually pretty good, if a little pricey. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Which networking and security brand is best for SMEs: Cisco or Fortinet?
    Cisco - https://meraki.cisco.com/ - https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/solutions/small-business/networking/routers.html - https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/solutions/small-business.html. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Small Business Recommendations
    Forgive me that this is exact opposite of their wishes to manage it locally. Meraki is cloud-based admin panel, but man, it's easy to take care of. It has its critics, naturally, usually by comparing it to Palo Alto or Fortinet. But those require real expertise to manage, that takes time and lots of training. Yet it's light years better than Ubiquiti. If they can handle the price, it's quite nice. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • [QCrit] YA Fantasy "The Meraki Mythos" (115k/version 2)
    Meraki is a popular brand name - will that cause any problems? https://meraki.cisco.com/ I wonder if you would need to change it. It was the first thing I thought of when I saw your title. Source: about 2 years ago
  • New sysadmin trying to get a handle on an unmanaged environment
    Network & Telephony - These are some other areas you'll probably have to wrangle at some point. Depending on your budget, skills, and time, Meraki might be the best "Easy button" for your network needs -- a top to bottom Meraki network (Firewall, Switches, APs) will make for very easy management, but it doesn't come super cheap either. If you're looking for something more affordable, but still intuitive,... Source: about 2 years ago
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pfSense mentions (10)

  • Need some help on setting up home network
    Https://pfsense.org (netgate hardware is used in businesses). Source: about 1 year ago
  • Is pfsense.org down, or is it just me?
    I am having trouble seeing available packages, updating pkg, or getting a response from pfsense.org. Is anyone else seeing this or am I going to spend the rest of my day chasing bugs? Source: over 1 year ago
  • Help with VLAN
    From the PIA Client to pfsense.org PING pfsense.org (208.123.73.69) from 10.6.112.128: 56 data bytes 64 bytes from 208.123.73.69: icmp_seq=0 ttl=49 time=49.455 ms 64 bytes from 208.123.73.69: icmp_seq=1 ttl=49 time=51.927 ms 64 bytes from 208.123.73.69: icmp_seq=2 ttl=49 time=49.333 ms 64 bytes from 208.123.73.69: icmp_seq=3 ttl=49 time=49.133 ms 64 bytes from 208.123.73.69: icmp_seq=4 ttl=49 time=49.027 ms ... Source: over 1 year ago
  • Can Surveillance Station record offsite cameras ?
    The above setup is critical to a reliable system. I'd use enterprise quality routers for a store and home connection. I personally use https://pfsense.org but there are many to choose from and several open source. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Exposing Synology to web: best/practical practices?
    What I would do is put that thing in DMZ and install a good router behind it like https://www.pfsense.org. No affiliation, just been my router for many years. There's also it's sibling https://opnsense.org. There are many, just get a enterprise quality router. Source: over 1 year ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Cisco Meraki and pfSense, you can also consider the following products

SonicWall - SonicWall security solutions protects your network, systems, users and data from cyber threats.

MikroTik RouterOS - The main product of MikroTik is a Linux-based operating system known as MikroTik RouterOS.

Sophos UTM - Sophos UTM integrates complete security software within a single appliance.

OPNsense - OPNsense® you next open source firewall. Free Download. High-end Security Made Easy™. Offers Intrusion Prevention, Captive Portal, Traffic Shaping and more.

Purple WiFi - Oct 4, 2017 - Spectators that attended the Los Pumas vs All Blacks game on Saturday were able to enjoy high-speed connectivity and share memories of the game thanks to Efan, Cisco Meraki and Purple's WiFi and analytics solution.

OpenWrt - OpenWrt is an open-source firmware based on Linux for wireless routers