Pfsense Vs Mikrotik – Which networkrouter software should you get?

In the large sea of options when it comes to making a choice about the best network routing software lies pfsense and Mikrotik. Which one would be better for you and your home or organisation?

When settling on a router software, quite a number of factors come into play including; the financial implications, the number of users to be catered for, the nature of the organisation or users and the additional features that would be applicable. Although both Pfsense and Mikrotik are great network router software, they differ in these respects. It is important for a potential user to weigh these differences against their specifications because is these differences that make or break the decision to pick one out of these two.

What are the differences between Pfsense and Mikrotik?

Feature	Pfsense	Mikrotik
Pricing	Free	Free and paid versions
Operating System	Free BSD	Mikrotik-RouterOS
Support for network cards	Poor	Great
DNS and DHCP servers	Yes	Yes
Multiple configuration	Yes	No
	Download here	Download here

Pfsense Vs Mikrotik- How do they compare?

• Hardware requirements and compatibility

The hardware requirements for pfsense are; a computer with at least 130 MB of RAM and a 100 MHz, in the case of a hard drive 1GB od free space or 530 MB of space on a memory card. On the other hand, the minimum hardware requirements for Mikrotik is 65 MB free drive space.The Operating system for Mikrotik also supports multi-core computers as well as multi-CPU devices and can be installed on a variety of storage devices including USBs, IDE hard disks and Secure Digital cards, which is not the case for Free BSD which does not favour the use of multi-core and multi-CPU devices. However, Free BSD can be run from a hard drive or flash drive or memory carder, which is still a narrower scope than Mikrotik RouterOS.

This makes the hardware requirements for Mikrotik lower and easier to attain than those for Pfsense and its compatibility to devices easier to achieve.

• Network cards

Network cards are becoming very popularly used in routing systems, especially those with a large number of connected devices. They connect the computer system to the internet or a verified network for local data by translating data into signals that are compatible to the data network they intend to connect to. Mikrotik RouterOS supports a wide range of network interface cards including 10 GB Ethernet cards, 3 G modems as well as 802.11 WI-FI cards. Pfsense has been known to have trouble using and changing network cards, which is a major setback in its routing functionality.

This implies that Mikrotik preferable for a user who intends to use network cards in their system.

• Licensing and user support

Mikrotik RouterOS can be obtained in 6 different configurations for licensing, with the lowest being free. As the price increases, so does the range of extra features included in the package. This implies that the developers for Mikrotik actively give very good customer support through emails as well as having a call in service. On the other hand, pfsense is completely free, open source and can be downloaded directly from their official website and the developers offer customer support through an online forum and mailing list, which cannot be compared to the quality of support for Mikrotik. However, users of Pfsense have the option of paying for commercial user support.

This makes the cost versus licensing and user support option for Mikrotik more preferable to that of Pfsense, despite the fact that the latter is free.

Pfsense Vs Mikrotik- A comparison review

Pfsense

Pfsense is a software which was originally developed to be used as a framework for users to build their own routers with. It is open source and freely available for download on the internet, which implies that the user can use and tweak the code freely. Over time, pfsense has become very widely used because it doubles as a router and a firewall. As a routing system, it allows for multi-WAN load balancing for WAN as well as load distribution. It also allows for use of open VPN and client together with IPSEC. It has a multiple configuration feature that allows the administrator to set up different levels of sub nets within the network system and monitor and control the information that flows through them. This is very important in organisations with different employee levels, or for an administrator who aims at controlling the information flow in their network.

Pros

• It can be used as a reliable firewall
• It has a multiple configuration feature
• It has a lot of additional firewall and routing features
• It is easy to use

Cons

• It has issues configuring some network cards

Mikrotik

The operating system that Mikrotik is based on was specifically designed to be a network router, enabling a computer to be a very reliable router. This allows the computer to have a variety of features for wireless and IP networks which include DNS and DHCP servers, routing and hotspot, bandwidth limiters and firewall capabilities. It is very dependent on bandwidth control and limitation, especially for a network that is set up for a large number of client users to ensure that they all fairly get bandwidth. It also allows for anyone with the access policy to use the wireless hotspot.

It is very popular because besides just being a routing network, it allows the administrator to create firewall rules with a large amount of options for packets and connections. The router can be used in transparent mode, which allows the administrator to allocate a certain speed to the public IP that is authorized to connect to the internet. This is instrumental in monitoring the flow of data into and from the network system. Its licensing model is rather easy to navigate and the lower priced routers have a SFP port that allows the users to directly connect fiber to it without requiring any converters, which is a security measure.

Pros

• It is very easy to manage
• It has some firewall functions
• It allows the users to have a number of set secure connection choices
• It offers great user support

Cons

• The Mikrotik-RouterOS is not very intuitive and hence requires advanced computer knowledge

Conclusion

Mikrotik is a specialized network router, implying that it goes over and above to give the user a great router experience, but not much else. On the other hand, pfsense is a very versatile software being both a firewall and a router on top of allowing a user to build and configure their own router.

Verdict- So which is better, Pfsense or Mikrotik?

Both software are great. However, although pfsense is not as specialized as Mikrotik, their differences as router software is easily off set by the versatility and ease of use that comes with using pfsense, making pfsense the better network routing option.

FAQs

What Operating system does Pfsense use?

Pfsense is based on the Free BSD operating system. This implies that there is a lot of documentation for it online, and it can be freely tweaked to the user’s preference, or used as a framework to build a totally different software.

Is Pfsense free?

Yes it is and can be downloaded on the developer’s official website. However, the user has the option to pay for product support.