OPNsense
OPNsense is an open-source FreeBSD-based firewall and routing platform operated by Deciso B.V., serving SMBs, enterprises, and MSPs globally. It monetizes via a paid Business Edition subscription, European-manufactured hardware appliances, training materials, and donations.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2015
- HeadquartersMiddelharnis, Netherlands
- Headcount—
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What OPNsense does
OPNsense is an open-source firewall and routing platform developed and commercially operated by Deciso B.V., a private Dutch limited company headquartered in Middelharnis, Netherlands. The software is forked from pfSense (2015) and built on Hardened BSD, providing a stateful IPv4/IPv6 firewall with multi-WAN load balancing and failover, integrated VPN (IPsec, OpenVPN, WireGuard, Tinc), hardware failover via CARP, reporting through RRD graphs and NetFlow, and intrusion detection and prevention using Suricata with Proofpoint Emerging Threats rules. The platform serves SMBs, enterprises, home users, and managed service providers seeking an open, verifiable alternative to proprietary commercial firewalls.
The product is offered in two tiers: a free Community Edition under a BSD/MIT 2-clause license and a paid Business Edition sold as an annual subscription through shop.opnsense.com. The Business Edition adds commercial firmware, Web Application Firewall, Proxy Access, Extended Blocklist, OPNcentral centralized management, integrated GeoIP database, and bundled training (Practical OPNsense e-book and Introduction Course). Deciso also manufactures and sells purpose-built OPNsense hardware appliances engineered in Europe, ranging from compact fanless desktops to rack-mountable units. An extensible plugin ecosystem (HAProxy, CrowdSec, Tailscale, Nginx, Wazuh, etc.) augments core functionality.
The go-to-market is predominantly product-led and community-led: free downloads drive adoption across a community of over 300,000 participants worldwide, while commercial conversions occur via the official e-commerce shop and direct enterprise sales ([email protected]). Revenue is generated from Business Edition subscriptions, hardware appliance sales, donations, and training materials. No external institutional funding or venture capital is disclosed, indicating a bootstrapped commercial open-source model.
OPNsense firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- OPNsense
- Legal name
- Deciso B.V.
- Website
- https://opnsense.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2015
- Operating status
- Operating
- Short description
- OPNsense is an open-source FreeBSD-based firewall and routing platform operated by Deciso B.V., serving SMBs, enterprises, and MSPs globally. It monetizes via a paid Business Edition subscription, European-manufactured hardware appliances, training materials, and donations.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
OPNsense industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Network Security Software
- NAICS
- Computer Systems Design and Related Services (54151)
- SIC
- Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Edge Security Delivery (DDoS, WAF, Bot Mitigation at Edge) (HDABAGAH)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- VPN Gateways & Concentrators (IPsec/SSL) (HDAFAFAC)
Keywords
Where OPNsense is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Middelharnis
- HQ country
- Netherlands
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
OPNsense business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Business Edition Subscriptions: OPNsense offers a paid Business Edition designed for companies, enterprises, and professionals seeking turnkey, high-end security solutions. The paid version unlocks premium features and advanced tools including Web Application Firewall, Proxy Access, Extended Blocklist, OPNcentral, and Integrated GeoIP database. Purchasing the paid version also supports the project, ensuring community continues to benefit from ongoing innovation.
- Hardware Appliances: OPNsense sells purpose-built hardware appliances engineered in Europe, combining premium quality, performance, and sleek design. The range includes compact fanless desktops to powerful rack-mountable appliances, built for ease of use, seamless deployment, and long-term reliability. Hardware is sold through the official shop.
- Donations: OPNsense accepts donations from the community to support continued development and improvement of the project. Donors are acknowledged on the donate page, with many being mentioned publicly if they wish.
- Training and Educational Materials: OPNsense sells the Practical OPNsense 5th Edition e-book by Markus Stubbig with the Business Edition license. Training courses including the Official OPNsense Introduction Course presented by trainer Maher Haddad are also offered with purchase.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Others | Free Community Edition - Full-featured open source firewall |
| Subscription | Annual | Business Edition - Premium enterprise features and support |
| One time/ perpetual license | One time/ perpetual license | Hardware Appliances - Purpose-built OPNsense hardware |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels6 records
OPNsense product offering
Product offeringCore offering
OPNsense is an open-source, FreeBSD-based firewall and routing platform that provides stateful IPv4/IPv6 firewalling, Multi WAN load balancing and failover, integrated VPN support (IPsec, OpenVPN, WireGuard, Tinc), hardware failover via CARP, intrusion detection and prevention through Suricata, and modern reporting via RRD graphs and NetFlow. It is offered as a free Community Edition under a BSD/MIT 2-clause license and as a paid Business Edition that adds Web Application Firewall, Proxy Access, Extended Blocklist, OPNcentral centralized management, and an integrated GeoIP database, with purpose-built hardware appliances sold alongside.
Product overview
OPNsense is an open-source firewall and routing platform available in two editions: the free Community Edition delivering comprehensive network security features including stateful firewalling, Multi WAN, VPN, intrusion prevention, and hardware failover; and the paid Business Edition adding Web Application Firewall, Proxy Access, Extended Blocklist, OPNcentral centralized management, and integrated GeoIP database. The platform is extended through Community Plugins (e.g., HAProxy, CrowdSec, Tailscale, Nginx) and Third-Party Plugins. Official hardware appliances are also sold to complement the software platform.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- OPNsense Community Edition Free open-source firewall and routing platform for individuals, SMBs, and enterprises, providing stateful IPv4/IPv6 firewalling, Multi WAN load balancing and failover, integrated VPN (IPsec, OpenVPN, WireGuard, Tinc), hardware failover via CARP, RRD/NetFlow reporting, and Suricata-based intrusion prevention.
- OPNsense Business Edition Paid commercial subscription that unlocks Web Application Firewall, Proxy Access, Extended Blocklist, OPNcentral centralized management, integrated GeoIP database, commercial firmware repository, official OPNsense Open Virtualisation Image, a bundled E-book, and a free hands-on labs e-learning course for beginners. Designed for companies, enterprises, and professionals seeking turnkey, high-end security solutions.
- OPNsense Official Hardware Appliances Purpose-built firewall and routing hardware appliances engineered in Europe, ranging from compact fanless desktops to rack-mountable units, designed and optimized to run OPNsense with premium build quality, performance, and long-term reliability. Sold as one-time/perpetual purchases through the official shop.
- OPNsense Community and Third-Party Plugins Extensible plugin ecosystem extending the OPNsense platform with curated community-contributed plugins (HAProxy, Nginx, Tailscale, CrowdSec, etc.) and third-party-maintained plugins, allowing customers to add capabilities such as load balancing, content filtering, behavioral analysis, DNS, caching, and observability to their firewall deployment.
Quantifiable outcome
- Data breaches averaging over $4 million globally drive demand for cost-effective open source security alternatives like OPNsense
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use OPNsense
Customer profileNamed customers4 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
OPNsense technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration4 records
Feature9 records
OPNsense partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Five partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- Q-FeedscoreQ-Feeds provides advanced threat intelligence integration for OPNsense, offering real-time protection against emerging threats. The partnership enables fast deployment with threat intelligence active within 5 minutes and flexible subscription options for different threat levels. Q-Feeds integration is available as an optional plugin.
- DecisocoreDeciso B.V. is the Dutch company behind OPNsense, responsible for commercial activities, hardware development, Business Edition, and project governance. The company operates from Middelharnis, Netherlands and maintains the official shop, sales, and support operations.
- Proofpoint (Emerging Threats)coreOPNsense integrates Proofpoint's Emerging Threats Open rules for intrusion detection. Users can also choose the optional ET PRO (commercial subscription) or ET PRO Telemetry (free sign-up) for enhanced threat intelligence.
- FreeBSD ProjectcoreOPNsense is built on Hardened BSD, utilizing the FreeBSD foundation for its core firewall and routing capabilities. The project leverages FreeBSD's network stack and security features as the foundation of its platform.
- SuricatacoreOPNsense uses Suricata for its intrusion detection and prevention system (IDS/IPS), providing advanced inline inspection capabilities. The integration includes Suricata 8.0.3 and newer versions with declarative conf.d structure.
Scale indicators4 records
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights5 records
OPNsense competitors and assessment
Company assessmentOthers
- CrowdSec: Open-source behavioral detection engine available as an OPNsense plugin. While not a direct firewall competitor, CrowdSec is part of OPNsense's plugin ecosystem and represents the collaborative open-source security community OPNsense participates in.
Emerging players
- Untangle (ngfw.com): Open-source-based UTM/next-generation firewall platform with free and paid tiers targeting SMBs. Overlaps with OPNsense's SMB and MSP customer base, offering comparable firewall, web filtering, and VPN features through a different deployment model.
- VyOS: Open-source network operating system supporting routing, firewall, and VPN functionality. Competes in the open-source networking space and appeals to users seeking Linux-based alternatives to BSD-based OPNsense, particularly for SD-WAN and service provider deployments.
- Endian Firewall: Open-source UTM/firewall platform (Endian Switchboard) targeting SMBs and industrial customers. Competes with OPNsense in the cost-sensitive firewall segment with similar feature breadth including VPN, IDS/IPS, and content filtering.
Direct peers
- pfSense (Netgate): Direct open-source firewall competitor from which OPNsense forked in 2015. Netgate offers pfSense CE (free) and pfSense Plus (commercial subscription) with overlapping feature sets including stateful firewalling, VPN, IDS/IPS, and hardware appliances, making it the closest head-to-head competitor.
- IPFire: Open-source Linux-based firewall distribution commonly ranked alongside OPNsense and pfSense as a top-3 open-source firewall. Competes directly for cost-conscious SMB and home users seeking a free, feature-rich alternative to commercial firewalls.
Broad incumbents
- Fortinet: Dominant commercial firewall and network security vendor with FortiGate appliances and the Fortinet Security Fabric. Competes with OPNsense in the enterprise and mid-market segments where OPNsense's Business Edition and hardware appliances are positioned, though Fortinet offers a much broader portfolio.
- MikroTik: Latvian manufacturer of RouterOS-powered routers and firewalls widely deployed in SMB and service provider networks. Competes on price-performance for routing-plus-firewall functionality, often appearing alongside OPNsense in budget-conscious network builds.
- Sophos: Commercial firewall and endpoint security vendor with Sophos XGS hardware appliances and centralized management. Targets the same SMB and mid-market firewall segment as OPNsense, offering bundled security subscriptions that compete against OPNsense's Business Edition value proposition.
- Palo Alto Networks: Enterprise firewall leader with PA-Series hardware and Prisma SASE cloud platform. Competes in the high-end enterprise firewall market that OPNsense targets through its Business Edition, though Palo Alto serves a fundamentally different buyer profile and price point.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
OPNsense social profiles
Digital presenceOPNsense financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
OPNsense leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
OPNsense funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
OPNsense M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about OPNsense
What does OPNsense do?
OPNsense is an open-source, FreeBSD-based firewall and routing platform that provides stateful IPv4/IPv6 firewalling, Multi WAN load balancing and failover, integrated VPN support (IPsec, OpenVPN, WireGuard, Tinc), hardware failover via CARP, intrusion detection and prevention through Suricata, and modern reporting via RRD graphs and NetFlow. It is offered as a free Community Edition under a BSD/MIT 2-clause license and as a paid Business Edition that adds Web Application Firewall, Proxy Access, Extended Blocklist, OPNcentral centralized management, and an integrated GeoIP database, with purpose-built hardware appliances sold alongside.
Is OPNsense a public or private company?
OPNsense is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was OPNsense founded?
OPNsense was founded in 2015.
Where is OPNsense based?
OPNsense is headquartered in Middelharnis, Netherlands, in the Europe region.
How does OPNsense make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Business Edition Subscriptions are the primary driver. The others are hardware Appliances, donations and training and Educational Materials.
Who are OPNsense's main competitors?
CrowdSec is listed as an others. Emerging players are Untangle (ngfw.com), VyOS and Endian Firewall. Direct peers are pfSense (Netgate) and IPFire. Broad incumbents are Fortinet, MikroTik, Sophos and Palo Alto Networks.
Does OPNsense have an API?
Yes. OPNsense exposes a comprehensive REST API covering core platform services including Auth, Captiveportal, Core, Cron, Dhcrelay, Diagnostics, Dnsmasq, Firewall, Firmware, Hostdiscovery, Ids (Intrusion Detection), Interfaces, Ipsec, Kea, Monit, Ntpd, Openvpn, Radvd, Routes, Routing, Syslog, Trafficshaper, Trust, Unbound, and Wireguard. The documentation includes a full API reference with plugin extensions (Acmeclient, Beats, Bind, Caddy, Chrony, Clamav, Collectd, Crowdsec, Freeradius, HAProxy, Nginx, Ntopng, Qfeeds, Redis, Rspamd, Tailscale, Tinc, Tor, WireGuard, Zerotier, and many others). API support includes Source NAT and Destination NAT (port forward) endpoints. The development manual documents the API as part of the shift toward an API-driven configuration model. Developer documentation is at docs.opnsense.org/develop.html.
What industry is OPNsense in?
OPNsense's product category is Network Security Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDABAGAH, Edge Security Delivery (DDoS, WAF, Bot Mitigation at Edge), with a secondary code of HDAFAFAC, VPN Gateways & Concentrators (IPsec/SSL). Its NAICS code is 54151 and its SIC code is 7370.