Networking · alternatives
Alternatives to OPNsense
21 networking tools sit alongside OPNsense in this directory. Below is what separates each from OPNsense on the figures we hold, price, model, tier count and rating, and a direct comparison for every one.
- Alternatives listed
- 21
- With a free tier
- 13
- Cheaper to start
- -
- OPNsense starts at
- Free
Why people look past OPNsense
Nothing on the record flags a reason to move. OPNsense has a free tier. People still switch over fit and workflow, and those are not things a catalogue entry can measure, which is what the comparisons below are for.
What each alternative does differently
Ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry. Differences are drawn from price, pricing model, tier count and rating, the fields the category listing carries. For a feature-level difference, follow the head-to-head link on each card: those pages read both full records.
Unix-like operating system for servers and appliances
- 1 tier to OPNsense's 2.
Open source infrastructure and network monitoring with distributed proxies and templating
Priced and rated the same as OPNsense on the figures we hold. The difference, if there is one, is in the feature records.
Open source infrastructure monitoring, free at its core, with paid support and modules sold separately by Icinga GmbH
- Sold on a Open source core, with paid repository, module and support subscriptions sold separately model rather than Open source, no licence fee.
Free, community-driven network monitoring with commercial support sold by a third-party partner, not the project itself
- Sold on a Open source, no licence fee; commercial support sold by a third-party partner model rather than Open source, no licence fee.
- 1 tier to OPNsense's 2.
Software-defined mesh networking, free up to 10 devices and one network, then billed per device
- Sold on a Free up to 10 devices and 1 network, then per additional device per month model rather than Open source, no licence fee.
- 3 tiers to OPNsense's 2.
Open source firewall software with a free Community Edition and a separate commercial Plus edition sold by Netgate
- Sold on a Open source Community Edition, free; commercial Plus edition sold separately by Netgate model rather than Open source, no licence fee.
Every OPNsense alternative at a glance
A dash means the catalogue entry carries no figure, not that the answer is nothing.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Tiers | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OPNsense (this page) | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 2 | |
| FreeBSDPick plain FreeBSD with pf when you want to build and script the firewall yourself and consider a web interface an unnecessary attack surface. | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs OPNsense |
| ZabbixPick Zabbix alongside rather than instead; OPNsense reports on itself but is not a monitoring system for the wider network. | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 2 | vs OPNsense |
| Icinga | Free | Open source core, with paid repository, module and support subscriptions sold separately | 2 | vs OPNsense |
| LibreNMS | Free | Open source, no licence fee; commercial support sold by a third-party partner | 1 | vs OPNsense |
| ZeroTier | Free | Free up to 10 devices and 1 network, then per additional device per month | 3 | vs OPNsense |
| pfSense | Free | Open source Community Edition, free; commercial Plus edition sold separately by Netgate | 2 | vs OPNsense |
| OpenVPN | Free | Open source core is free; Access Server billed per simultaneous connection | 3 | vs OPNsense |
| Catchpoint | Free | Free tier plus published entry tiers, enterprise quote-only | 4 | vs OPNsense |
| NetBird | Free | Per user per month | 3 | vs OPNsense |
| Nebula | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 2 | vs OPNsense |
| Headscale | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs OPNsense |
| Twingate | Free | Per user per month | 3 | vs OPNsense |
| Netdata | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 2 | vs OPNsense |
| Domotz | On request | Per collector or per managed device per month | 2 | vs OPNsense |
| Juniper Mist | On request | Quote, hardware plus required Wi-Fi Assurance subscription | 2 | vs OPNsense |
| Auvik | On request | Quote, per managed device | 1 | vs OPNsense |
| Kentik | On request | Annual contract only, per tier | 2 | vs OPNsense |
| Cisco Meraki | On request | Quote, hardware plus mandatory recurring licence | 1 | vs OPNsense |
| PRTG Network Monitor | On request | Per sensor tier, billed monthly on an annual contract | 5 | vs OPNsense |
| ThousandEyes | On request | Quote, unit-based consumption on annual or prepaid contracts | 1 | vs OPNsense |
| MikroTik RouterOS | On request | One-time purchase, per licence level | 2 | vs OPNsense |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry; Softwr hosts no reviews of these products. How each figure is used is set out on the OPNsense badges page.
Cheaper ways to solve the same problem
What you would be giving up
OPNsense is most often brought in for replacing a small business firewall appliance whose renewal quote exceeded the cost of the hardware, branch offices where the firewall configuration must be produced by ansible rather than by hand, sites that need wireguard and intrusion prevention on the same box without separate feature licences, a homelab or lab network needing vlan routing, multi-wan and dns filtering on one machine. Anything replacing it has to cover the ones you actually depend on, and a cheaper tool that misses one of them is not cheaper.
Two things this page cannot settle. It compares on price, model, tier count and rating, because those are the fields the category listing carries, feature-level differences need both full records, which is what the head-to-head pages load. And the ratings are third-party aggregates imported with each entry rather than reviews written here, so a 0.2 difference between two tools is noise rather than a finding.
If OPNsense is broadly right and the question is cost, the OPNsense pricing breakdown covers every tier and what each one adds. If you want the whole field rather than a shortlist, the Networking category lists everything the directory holds, and best networking tools ranks them.
OPNsense runs on x86-64 appliances, virtual machines, deciso hardware. Platform coverage is not carried on the category listing for the alternatives, so it is one more thing to check on each head-to-head page rather than here.
Questions about OPNsense alternatives
- What are the main alternatives to OPNsense?
- 21 other networking tools are listed in this directory, led by FreeBSD, Zabbix, Icinga, LibreNMS. They are ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry, not by any Softwr ranking.
- What is the best free alternative to OPNsense?
- 13 of the alternatives listed here can be used without paying: FreeBSD, Zabbix, Icinga, LibreNMS, ZeroTier.
- Is there a reason to switch away from OPNsense?
- Nothing in the data flags one. OPNsense has a free tier. Fit and workflow are the usual reasons to move, and those are not things this record can measure.
- What would I give up by switching from OPNsense?
- OPNsense is most often brought in for replacing a small business firewall appliance whose renewal quote exceeded the cost of the hardware, branch offices where the firewall configuration must be produced by ansible rather than by hand, sites that need wireguard and intrusion prevention on the same box without separate feature licences, a homelab or lab network needing vlan routing, multi-wan and dns filtering on one machine. Anything you replace it with has to cover the ones you actually rely on, the side-by-side comparisons linked from each alternative below put the two feature records against each other.
- Is there an open-source alternative to OPNsense?
- None of the networking tools listed here are recorded as open source. That is what the licence field on each entry says, and the field is not always filled in, so it is worth checking directly for any tool you are serious about.
- How were these OPNsense alternatives chosen?
- They are the tools filed in the same category, Networking, ordered by the aggregated rating on each entry. There is no editorial shortlist, and nothing on this page is paid: no sponsored placement runs on alternatives pages and the order cannot be bought. Softwr has not used these products.
- Where can I compare OPNsense against one of these directly?
- Every alternative below has a side-by-side page against OPNsense covering price, platforms, features and what each one is used for. Those pages read the full record for both products rather than the summary shown here.
- Does this list cover every networking tool?
- No. It covers what this directory holds in the Networking category, 21 tools beside OPNsense. The category page lists the rest of the catalogue as it grows.