OPNsense
Depends
Confidence: Medium
Buy it if you have networking skills and want enterprise firewall features without license fees.
New check
Comparison
OPNsense vs Vyos
OPNsense and Vyos both land on Depends.
Vyos
Depends
Confidence: Medium
Buy it if you have network-engineering skills and want a free, scriptable router/firewall OS for cloud or bare metal.
| Compare | ||
|---|---|---|
| Verdict | Depends | Depends |
| Best for | Homelab builders | Network engineers comfortable with CLI |
| Who it's not for | Anyone wanting plug-and-play Wi-Fi | Non-technical users wanting a plug-and-play Wi-Fi router |
| Privacy | Actively patched open-source firewall; two authenticated RCE CVEs disclosed and fixed in 2026 releases.⁷ | Active advisories: critical CVE-2025-30095 (SSH key disclosure/MITM) fixed in 1.4.5/1.5.1; a sandbox escape issue was also reported. |
| Support quality | Community forums; real support needs paid edition | Paid support portal exists; community forums active |
| Public sentiment | Long-term users praise stability and value, while some defectors find it overly complex to configure and maintain.⁶ | Users praise VyOS's reliability, performance, and value but consistently warn about its steep, CLI-only learning curve. |
| Biggest gotcha | Internet-facing firewall must be patched fast; pre-26.1.8 had authenticated RCE⁷ | Free tier is rolling release only; LTS builds and official support require paid subscriptions |
Pick OPNsense when
- Homelab builders
- SMBs wanting enterprise firewall features free
- pfSense defectors
- VPN/VLAN/IDS-heavy networks
When OPNsense is not a fit
- Anyone wanting plug-and-play Wi-Fi
- Offices with no IT admin
- Teams that skip security updates
- Buyers needing vendor SLA without paying
Pick Vyos when
- Network engineers comfortable with CLI
- Cloud and hypervisor routing (AWS, Azure, VMware)
- Homelab builders
- ISPs and MSPs building custom routers
When Vyos is not a fit
- Non-technical users wanting a plug-and-play Wi-Fi router
- Teams without Linux or command-line skills
- Buyers who need vendor-guaranteed, phone-support SLAs
- Anyone unwilling to self-manage patching and upgrades
Sources
- OPNsense official siteopnsense.orgofficial
- OPNsense Shop . Software & Licensesshop.opnsense.comofficial
- I switched from pfSense to OPNsense (XDA)xda-developers.comreview
- Moving Away From OPNsense (ramble.moe)ramble.moereview
review
- OPNsense AWS Marketplace reviewsaws.amazon.comreview
- CVE-2026-44194 . NVDnvd.nist.govsecurity
- CVE-2026-44193 . SentinelOnesentinelone.comsecurity
- RCE advisory . GitHubgithub.comsecurity
- OPNSense real world feedback . Lawrence Systemsforums.lawrencesystems.comreview
- OPNsense Support Options (official docs)docs.opnsense.orgofficial
- OPNsense reviews . PeerSpotpeerspot.comreview
- VyOS Networks Reviews . Trustpilottrustpilot.comreview
review
- VyOS Platform Reviews . PeerSpotpeerspot.comreview
