{"slug": "pfsense", "name": "pfSense", "category": "networking", "category_name": "Networking and VPN", "description": "", "recommenders": 3, "commenters": 7, "warners": 1, "score": 2.683, "rising": 0.35, "first": "2026-03-24", "latest": "2026-10-25", "why": "Pfsense and maybe openwrt allow split horizon DNS that allows Wireguard tunnels to work seamlessly", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 3, "neutral": 3, "compare": 0, "warn": 1}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 0, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "Pfsense and maybe openwrt allow split horizon DNS that allows Wireguard tunnels to work seamlessly", "icon": true, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://www.pfsense.org", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["pfSense"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 801812800, "item_id": 50113300, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50113300", "by": "theoreticalmal", "date": "2026-10-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Pfsense and maybe openwrt allow split horizon DNS that allows Wireguard tunnels to work seamlessly", "excerpt": "Pfsense and maybe openwrt allow split horizon DNS that allows Wireguard tunnels to work seamlessly whether you\u2019re on or off your home network. Took me years to figure out but it\u2019s what I use now", "context": "", "use_case": "split horizon DNS", "switched_from": "", "story": "What I self-host"}, {"id": 761194001, "item_id": 47574625, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47574625", "by": "LatticeAnimal", "date": "2026-03-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I\u2019ve been using OpnSense/pfsense [0] for years and would highly recommend it.", "excerpt": "I\u2019ve been using OpnSense/pfsense [0] for years and would highly recommend it. It has a great automatic update experience, config backups, builtin wireguard tunnels and advanced features like packet filtering options via suricata. When I am doing network management on my weekends, I\u2019m so glad I\u2019m not stuck in the Linux terminal learning about networking internals and can instead just go to a webui and configure my rou", "context": "", "use_case": "home router/firewall", "switched_from": "", "story": "How to Turn Anything into a Router"}, {"id": 760108401, "item_id": 47506775, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47506775", "by": "tombert", "date": "2026-03-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "build their own routers with Pfsense, Opnsense, ClearOS, or one of the many other firewall/router distros", "excerpt": "Seems like now is as good a time as any for people who know how to do this to build their own routers with Pfsense, Opnsense, ClearOS, or one of the many other firewall/router distros out there. You can get an old desktop or laptop that's more than good enough to be a router for basically nothing (or sometimes literally nothing) on Craigslist or Ebay. I suspect pretty much anyone who frequents this forum could probab", "context": "", "use_case": "DIY router", "switched_from": "", "story": "FCC Updates Covered List to Include Foreign-Made Consumer Routers"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 780946049, "item_id": 48809128, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48809128", "by": "magicalhippo", "date": "2026-07-06", "stance": "warn", "quote": "the really poor IPv6 support in pfSense", "excerpt": "I agree on the upgrade story, though supposedly the recent move to apk will help in that regard. I moved from pfSense to OpenWRT due to the really poor IPv6 support in pfSense. I don't use the AP capability either. How are things in OPNSense these days? Particular pain points from pfSense was that it published global IP as DNS address to LAN clients and no way around it, so connectivity broke every time prefix change", "context": "", "use_case": "router with IPv6", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenWrt One \u2013 Open Hardware Router"}]}], "who": [{"by": "alexnewman", "context": "home network with 25 gbps across 5 ISPs in Puerto Rico", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50050279", "date": "2026-10-12"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["home router/firewall", "split horizon dns", "router/firewall", "router", "router with ipv6", "diy router"], "compared": [{"slug": "openwrt", "name": "OpenWrt", "co": 4, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 2}, {"slug": "opnsense", "name": "OPNsense", "co": 5, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "openbsd", "name": "OpenBSD", "co": 1, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 1}, {"slug": "claude", "name": "Claude", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50222133", "title": "FreeDNS", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50109715", "title": "What I self-host", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50039291", "title": "Ask HN: Do you want a router that has DD-WRT pre-installed?", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49136736", "title": "NetBSD 11.0 Released", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48808482", "title": "OpenWrt One \u2013 Open Hardware Router", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47574034", "title": "How to Turn Anything into a Router", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {"warn": 1}, "2026-08": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {"neutral": 2, "recommend": 1}}, "quotes": [{"id": 803680386, "item_id": 50230024, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50230024", "by": "jonathanlydall", "date": "2026-10-25", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Since I moved to having a pfSense box at home", "excerpt": "In some situations it is most convenient/practical to have your router do dynamic DNS updates and depending on your router the options may be limited giving you no \"great\" options. Regarding your valid concerns about the PSL, as long as you have a domain already, you can just make a CNAME record to a free dynamic DNS provider's sub-domain record, I've done this for years with a No-IP ddns.net record. I don't especial", "context": "", "use_case": "home router/firewall", "switched_from": "", "story": "FreeDNS"}, {"id": 801812800, "item_id": 50113300, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50113300", "by": "theoreticalmal", "date": "2026-10-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Pfsense and maybe openwrt allow split horizon DNS that allows Wireguard tunnels to work seamlessly", "excerpt": "Pfsense and maybe openwrt allow split horizon DNS that allows Wireguard tunnels to work seamlessly whether you\u2019re on or off your home network. Took me years to figure out but it\u2019s what I use now", "context": "", "use_case": "split horizon DNS", "switched_from": "", "story": "What I self-host"}, {"id": 800804464, "item_id": 50050279, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50050279", "by": "alexnewman", "date": "2026-10-12", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I used to use pfsense and openwrt and stuff but now with Claude I just use a custom Linux distribution", "excerpt": "I used to use pfsense and openwrt and stuff but now with Claude I just use a custom Linux distribution running on a dell 2u. That being said I have 25 gbps of internet across 5 internet providers (puerto Rico) and that plugs into my internal home network running at 2x 25 gbps . So for savings it\u2019s like two quad 10 gbps cards. I\u2019ve found substantial speed advantages via consumer hardware considering the cross sectiona", "context": "home network with 25 gbps across 5 ISPs in Puerto Rico", "use_case": "router/firewall", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Do you want a router that has DD-WRT pre-installed?"}, {"id": 786220209, "item_id": 49138763, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49138763", "by": "efxhoy", "date": "2026-08-01", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I recently switched my router from pfsense to OpenBSD.", "excerpt": "I recently switched my router from pfsense to OpenBSD. I wanted a \u201cvanilla\u201d OS as opposed to a specific router OS like Opnsense. The setup on openbsd was very straightforward. I had to read up a bit and claude helped getting ipv6 and vlans up. Had I ignored ipv6 it would have been ready in half an hour from just reading man pages and official docs. The only reason ipv6 took longer is because I had no idea how it work", "context": "", "use_case": "router", "switched_from": "", "story": "NetBSD 11.0 Released"}, {"id": 780946049, "item_id": 48809128, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48809128", "by": "magicalhippo", "date": "2026-07-06", "stance": "warn", "quote": "the really poor IPv6 support in pfSense", "excerpt": "I agree on the upgrade story, though supposedly the recent move to apk will help in that regard. I moved from pfSense to OpenWRT due to the really poor IPv6 support in pfSense. I don't use the AP capability either. How are things in OPNSense these days? Particular pain points from pfSense was that it published global IP as DNS address to LAN clients and no way around it, so connectivity broke every time prefix change", "context": "", "use_case": "router with IPv6", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenWrt One \u2013 Open Hardware Router"}, {"id": 761194001, "item_id": 47574625, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47574625", "by": "LatticeAnimal", "date": "2026-03-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I\u2019ve been using OpnSense/pfsense [0] for years and would highly recommend it.", "excerpt": "I\u2019ve been using OpnSense/pfsense [0] for years and would highly recommend it. It has a great automatic update experience, config backups, builtin wireguard tunnels and advanced features like packet filtering options via suricata. When I am doing network management on my weekends, I\u2019m so glad I\u2019m not stuck in the Linux terminal learning about networking internals and can instead just go to a webui and configure my rou", "context": "", "use_case": "home router/firewall", "switched_from": "", "story": "How to Turn Anything into a Router"}, {"id": 760108401, "item_id": 47506775, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47506775", "by": "tombert", "date": "2026-03-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "build their own routers with Pfsense, Opnsense, ClearOS, or one of the many other firewall/router distros", "excerpt": "Seems like now is as good a time as any for people who know how to do this to build their own routers with Pfsense, Opnsense, ClearOS, or one of the many other firewall/router distros out there. You can get an old desktop or laptop that's more than good enough to be a router for basically nothing (or sometimes literally nothing) on Craigslist or Ebay. I suspect pretty much anyone who frequents this forum could probab", "context": "", "use_case": "DIY router", "switched_from": "", "story": "FCC Updates Covered List to Include Foreign-Made Consumer Routers"}]}