PfSense explained

pfSense is a firewall/router computer software distribution based on FreeBSD. The open source pfSense Community Edition (CE) and pfSense Plus is installed on a physical computer or a virtual machine to make a dedicated firewall/router for a network.^[2] It can be configured and upgraded through a web-based interface, and requires no knowledge of the underlying FreeBSD system to manage.^{[3] [4]}

Overview

The pfSense project began in 2004 as a fork of the m0n0wall project by Chris Buechler and Scott Ullrich. Its first release was in October 2006.^[5] The name derives from the fact that the software uses the packet-filtering tool, PF.^[6]

Notable functions of pfSense include traffic shaping, VPNs using IPsec or PPTP, captive portal, stateful firewall, network address translation, 802.1q support for VLANs, and dynamic DNS (DDNS).^[7] pfSense can be installed on hardware with an x86-64 processor architecture. It can also be installed on embedded hardware using Compact Flash or SD cards, or as a virtual machine.^[8]

Release cadence and support

Since 2021, pfSense Plus editions have followed an annual major version release cadence. The CE version of the software has followed an annual minor version release cadence. Based on their list of unsupported software,^[9] pfSense only supports the current and previous version of both the CE and Plus editions.

OPNsense

See main article: OPNsense. In January 2015, the OPNsense project was started by forking the version of pfSense at that time.^[10]

In November 2017, a World Intellectual Property Organization panel found Netgate, the copyright holder of pfSense, utilized OPNsense' trademarks in bad faith to discredit OPNsense, and obligated Netgate to transfer ownership of a domain name to Deciso.^{[11] [12]}

WireGuard protocol support

In February 2021, pfSense CE 2.5.0 and pfSense Plus 21.02 added support for a kernel WireGuard implementation. Support for WireGuard was temporarily removed in March 2021 after implementation issues were discovered by WireGuard founder Jason Donenfeld.^{[13] [14] [15]} The July 2021 release of pfSense CE 2.5.2 version re-included WireGuard.^[16]

See also

• List of router and firewall distributions

Further reading

• Mastering pfSense, Second Edition Birmingham, UK: Packt Publishing, 2018. . By David Zientra.
• Security: Manage Network Security With pfSense Firewall [Video] Birmingham, UK: Packt, 2018. . By Manuj Aggarwal.

Notes and References

1. Web site: pfSense adopts Apache 2.0 License. Serve The Home (Loyolan Ventures, LLC). 19 June 2016.
2. Web site: Ot . Anina . 6 Reasons Why You Should Be Using pfsense Firewall . MUO . 2021-02-03.
3. Web site: You should be running a pfSense firewall. 22 December 2014. 27 July 2015. InfoWorld.
4. Configure a professional firewall using pfSense. Sloan. Miller. Free Software Magazine. 22. 26 June 2008. 27 September 2009. https://web.archive.org/web/20111003125833/http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/articles/configure_professional_firewall_using_pfsense. 3 October 2011. dead.
5. News: Fields. Robert. Happy 10th Anniversary to pfSense Open Source Software. Netgate Blog. 28 October 2016. en.
6. Web site: [//freesoftwaremagazine.com/articles/interview_with_jeff_starkweather_chris_buechler_and_scott_ullrich/ Interview with Jeff Starkweather, Chris Buechler and Scott Ullrich]. Tony. Mobily. 14 August 2007. Free Software Magazine. 5 May 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20150912002748/http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/articles/interview_with_jeff_starkweather_chris_buechler_and_scott_ullrich. 12 September 2015. dead.
7. Web site: pfSense® CE functions . Miniserver Blog .
8. Web site: How to Install pfSense Firewall on Ubuntu and CentOS? . Geekflare . 2020-02-06.
9. Web site: Releases — Older/Unsupported Releases . docs.netgate.com . en-us.
10. OPNsense: the "open" firewall for your datacenter . 2018-11-21 . Fischer . Werner . en . 2024-10-11 . media.ccc.de.
11. Web site: WIPO Domain Name Decision: D2017-1828. WIPO. November 12, 2017.
12. Web site: OPNsense – Forkin' Fork . https://web.archive.org/web/20160314132836/http://www.opnsense.com/ . 2016-03-14 . 2025-08-27 . www.opnsense.com . en-US.
13. Web site: Salter. Jim. 2021-03-15. In-kernel WireGuard is on its way to FreeBSD and the pfSense router. 2021-03-20. Ars Technica. en-us.
14. Web site: Releases — 21.02/21.02-p1/2.5.0 New Features and Changes. 2021-03-20. docs.netgate.com.
15. Web site: Kumar. Rohit. 2021-03-19. pfSense and FreeBSD Pull Back on Kernel WireGuard Support. 2021-03-20. ServeTheHome. en-US.
16. Web site: pfSense CE 2.5.2-RELEASE Now Available . www.netgate.com . en-us.