Software Alternatives & Reviews

SmoothWall VS pfSense

Compare SmoothWall VS pfSense and see what are their differences

SmoothWall logo SmoothWall

Smoothwall Express Open Source Firewall distribution

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
  • SmoothWall Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-04-02
  • pfSense Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-09-20

SmoothWall videos

How to Install Smoothwall Express 3.1 SP2 + Review + VMware Tools on VMware Workstation Tutorial

More videos:

  • Review - Getting Started With Smoothwall Express
  • Review - Install and Configure Smoothwall Firewall within VMware Workstation

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 SmoothWall and pfSense)
Perimeter Security And Firewalls
Cyber Security
0 0%
100% 100
Monitoring Tools
7 7%
93% 93
Firewall
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

Share your experience with using SmoothWall and pfSense. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Reviews

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

SmoothWall Reviews

Best free Linux router and firewall distributions of 2023
Smoothwall got a good reputation in the early days when it was competing with IPCop. It went silent in 2014. Smoothwall OS has been abandoned and is no longer relevant or secure. You should avoid it. The website is still up and running but hasn't been updated in many years.
Source: teklager.se
8 Best Open Source Firewall to Protect Your Network
Smoothwall express supports LAN, DMZ, Internal, External network firewalling, web proxy for acceleration, traffic stats, etc.
Source: geekflare.com

pfSense Reviews

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.
Top 7 pfSense Alternatives
Wait, I said alternatives to pfSense so what is this doing on the list? pfSense Plus recently forked away from pfSense community edition (CE). Over time pfSense Plus and pfSense CE will continue to diverge. pfSense Plus is expected to have more features.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, pfSense seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 10 times since March 2021. 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.

SmoothWall mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of SmoothWall yet. Tracking of SmoothWall recommendations started around Mar 2021.

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 SmoothWall and pfSense, you can also consider the following products

IPFire - IPFire is a server distribution with intended to use as a firewall.

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

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

Endian Firewall Community - Endian Firewall Community (EFW) is a "turn-key" linux security distribution that turns...

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

Emsisoft Online Armor Firewall - Emsisoft Online Armor Firewall is a freemium online firewall protection system by the Emsisoft that is based on the own independent protection technology of the Emsisoft.