firewallcompare.com

What It Is

Firewall Compare is not a firewall product. It is a network security review site aimed at Homelab users, prosumers, and small offices. The crawled content shows that it mainly compares firewall platforms and hardware such as OPNsense, pfSense, UniFi, MikroTik, Protectli, and Netgate, while also covering topics like WireGuard/OpenVPN, HAProxy/nginx, and Suricata IDS/IPS.

Core Evaluation Dimensions

In terms of protection types, the site itself does not provide security protection, but its reviews cover typical perimeter security capabilities such as stateful firewalls, NAT, VLAN, VPN, IDS/IPS, and reverse proxies. For deployment, its content focuses on the experience of running OPNsense/pfSense on hardware such as Protectli, Netgate, Deciso, and generic x86-64 mini PCs. The articles discuss dimensions including installation, Web UI, plugin ecosystems, performance, upgrades, hardware support, and licensing differences—for example, comparing the throughput and Suricata performance of OPNsense 25.1 and pfSense CE 2.7 on the same Protectli VP2420 hardware.

For management and alerting, the crawled content is more about evaluating the management experience: OPNsense is described as having a more modern UI and easier Suricata ruleset management, while pfSense Plus is positioned as more stable and better supported within the Netgate ecosystem. However, there is no indication that the site itself provides monitoring, alerting, or console capabilities. Integration information mainly comes from the platforms being reviewed, covering plugins or packages such as Suricata, Zenarmor, WireGuard, Tailscale, Caddy, Nginx, HAProxy, pfBlockerNG, and FRR.

Pricing and Business Model

The site clearly states that it is “Always free to read,” and its newsletter is also free to subscribe to. At the same time, the pages disclose that some links are affiliate links and may generate commissions. Its pricing model can therefore be understood as free content plus affiliate promotion, rather than a subscription-based security service.

Pros, Cons, and Who It’s For

Its strengths are a focused subject area and practical scenarios, making it especially useful for users comparing OPNsense and pfSense, choosing mini PC firewall hardware, or planning VPN/IDS deployments. The downside is that it is not a first-party vendor product, so its conclusions should still be validated against your own network environment. It also does not provide information such as compliance certifications, enterprise SLAs, or official after-sales support. It is better suited to Homelab enthusiasts, small office administrators, and prosumer firewall buyers, and should not be used as the sole basis for enterprise security compliance procurement.

Access from China and Alternatives

The crawled text does not provide information about access from mainland China, payment, or mirrors, so its accessibility from China is unknown. If access is unstable, alternative information sources include the official OPNsense, pfSense/Netgate, and UniFi documentation, as well as ServeTheHome and the Reddit homelab community.