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Cybersecurity · head to head

IVPN vs OPNsense

I

IVPN

Cybersecurity

Privacy-focused VPN with anonymous account numbers instead of email signup

From
$6/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
OPNsense logo

OPNsense

Networking

FreeBSD-based firewall and routing platform with weekly updates and a full configuration API

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only OPNsense has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: IVPN has no free tier, unlike several consumer VPN competitors with limited free plans.; OPNsense throughput depends entirely on hardware you selected yourself, and intrusion prevention at multi-gigabit rates will saturate a machine that handled plain firewalling fine, with no vendor sizing commitment to fall back on.
  • They diverge on capability: IVPN covers Anonymous account numbers, OPNsense covers Stateful firewall on pf.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which IVPN and OPNsense actually diverge.

Attributes where IVPN and OPNsense differ
AttributeIVPNOPNsense
Starting price$6/monthFree
Pricing modelsubscriptionOpen source, no licence fee
Free tierNoYes
Platformswindows, mac, linux, ios, androidx86-64 appliances, Virtual machines, Deciso hardware
CategoryCybersecurityNetworking

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in IVPN

  • Anonymous account numbers
  • Multi-hop connections
  • Independent audits
  • WireGuard and OpenVPN support
  • AntiTracker

Only in OPNsense

  • Stateful firewall on pf
  • VPN suite
  • Suricata IDS and IPS
  • Full configuration API
  • High availability
  • Weekly update cadence

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

IVPN

  • Signing up for a VPN without providing an email addressnot OPNsense
  • Verifying a VPN's no-logs claims via independent auditsnot OPNsense
  • Layering multi-hop routing for higher-anonymity browsingnot OPNsense
  • Blocking trackers and ads via built-in AntiTrackernot OPNsense

OPNsense

  • Replacing a small business firewall appliance whose renewal quote exceeded the cost of the hardwarenot IVPN
  • Branch offices where the firewall configuration must be produced by Ansible rather than by handnot IVPN
  • Sites that need WireGuard and intrusion prevention on the same box without separate feature licencesnot IVPN
  • A homelab or lab network needing VLAN routing, multi-WAN and DNS filtering on one machinenot IVPN

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

IVPN

  • Has no free tier, unlike several consumer VPN competitors with limited free plans.
  • Standard plan's two-connection limit is lower than many rivals offering five or more devices.
  • Smaller server network than large mainstream VPN providers, which can limit streaming unblocking.
  • Pricing is higher than budget VPN competitors for comparable simultaneous-connection counts.

OPNsense

  • Throughput depends entirely on hardware you selected yourself, and intrusion prevention at multi-gigabit rates will saturate a machine that handled plain firewalling fine, with no vendor sizing commitment to fall back on.
  • The weekly update cadence is good for security but means more change events than a team used to annual appliance firmware, and occasional regressions reach production installations.
  • FreeBSD underneath limits driver support compared with Linux, so recent network cards and some virtualisation drivers can be unsupported or slow.
  • The plugin ecosystem is uneven in quality; some plugins are maintained by a single contributor and can lag a major release, breaking a function you depended on.
  • Community support is a forum, so an outage at two in the morning on the free edition is your problem alone unless you bought the business subscription in advance.

Pricing, plan by plan

IVPN

$6/month
  • Standard$6/month
    • 2 simultaneous connections
    • $60/year billed annually
    • WireGuard and OpenVPN support
  • Pro$10/month
    • 7 simultaneous connections
    • Multi-hop connections
    • $100/year billed annually

OPNsense

Free
  • OPNsense Community EditionFree
    • MIT licence with no feature restrictions
    • All VPN, IDS and HA features included
    • Weekly updates and two major releases a year
  • OPNsense Business Edition$undefined/year
    • Stabilised update track lagging community releases
    • Commercial support from Deciso
    • Additional enterprise plugins and configuration backup

Which should you pick?

Choose IVPN if

  • You need anonymous account numbers.
  • You work on windows, mac, linux, ios, android.
  • You also want multi-hop connections.
IVPN review

Choose OPNsense if

  • You need stateful firewall on pf.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on x86-64 appliances, Virtual machines, Deciso hardware.
  • You also want vpn suite.
OPNsense review

Questions people ask

Is IVPN or OPNsense better?
Neither clearly leads. IVPN starts at $6/month and OPNsense at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, IVPN or OPNsense?
OPNsense has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $6/month for IVPN and Free for OPNsense.
Does IVPN or OPNsense run on more platforms?
IVPN runs on windows, mac, linux, ios, android. OPNsense runs on x86-64 appliances, Virtual machines, Deciso hardware.
Can I use OPNsense for free?
Yes. OPNsense has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. IVPN starts at $6/month.
What is IVPN best used for?
IVPN is most often used for signing up for a vpn without providing an email address, verifying a vpn's no-logs claims via independent audits, layering multi-hop routing for higher-anonymity browsing, blocking trackers and ads via built-in antitracker. Of those, signing up for a vpn without providing an email address and verifying a vpn's no-logs claims via independent audits are not what OPNsense is typically brought in for.
What can IVPN do that OPNsense cannot?
IVPN covers Anonymous account numbers, Multi-hop connections, Independent audits, WireGuard and OpenVPN support. OPNsense covers Stateful firewall on pf, VPN suite, Suricata IDS and IPS, Full configuration API.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

OPNsense: How is it different from pfSense?

It is a 2015 fork with an MIT licence, a fixed weekly release cadence, a complete configuration API and a different interface. Feature coverage is comparable; the release process and API are the real differences.

OPNsense: Do I need the Business Edition?

Only if you want commercial support or a slower, stabilised update stream. No features are withheld from the community edition.

OPNsense: Can it handle a gigabit internet connection?

Plain firewalling on modest current hardware, comfortably. With Suricata inspection enabled, expect to need a considerably stronger CPU.

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