pfSense has accumulated over 13 million cumulative installations worldwide, making it the dominant open-source firewall platform by a wide margin. This article compiles verified deployment figures, market share data, geographic breakdowns, and a direct technical comparison with OPNsense — its closest rival — using numbers from Netgate, 6sense, and third-party benchmark sources.
pfSense and OPNsense Statistics (2026)
- pfSense has surpassed 13 million cumulative installations across home, business, and cloud deployments.
- 6sense tracks 5,880+ companies actively using pfSense in enterprise perimeter security roles as of early 2026.
- pfSense holds 6.26% of the tracked perimeter security and firewall market.
- Brazil accounts for 35.84% of pfSense’s tracked enterprise deployments, ahead of the United States at 26.76%.
- The network security appliance market reached USD 9.14 billion in 2024 and is projected to exceed USD 19 billion by 2033.
How Large Is the Network Security Appliance Market?
pfSense and OPNsense compete within a hardware appliance segment that generated USD 9.14 billion in 2024, according to Global Growth Insights. That figure is projected to reach USD 19.05 billion by 2033, growing at a compound annual rate of 8.5%.
The next-generation firewall (NGFW) segment, which overlaps with enterprise pfSense deployments, sat at USD 5.82 billion in 2024 and is expanding faster — at 11.1% annually — with a projected size of USD 13.38 billion by 2032. Hardware appliances still account for 52.61% of NGFW revenue, per Straits Research, which is the segment where pfSense hardware builds on mini-PCs and rack servers compete directly. For a broader view of how Linux-based systems are used in telecommunications infrastructure, the underlying trends are similar.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Network Security Appliance Market (2024) | USD 9.14 billion | Global Growth Insights |
| Projected Market Size (2033) | USD 19.05 billion | Global Growth Insights |
| CAGR (2025–2033) | 8.5% | Global Growth Insights |
| NGFW Market Size (2024) | USD 5.82 billion | Fortune Business Insights |
| Hardware NGFW Revenue Share (2025) | 52.61% | Straits Research |
Source: Global Growth Insights, Fortune Business Insights, Straits Research
How Many Installations Does pfSense Have?
Netgate, pfSense’s developer and maintainer, reports over 13 million cumulative installations. That number spans home users, businesses, educational institutions, government agencies, and service providers running pfSense on physical hardware, virtual machines, and cloud infrastructure.
The enterprise tracker 6sense, which monitors verified business deployments, counts 5,880+ companies using pfSense in a perimeter security role as of early 2026. These are not competing figures — the 13 million reflects all deployments in all contexts; the 5,880 captures tracked commercial use. Netgate also reported winning 32 G2 awards in the Summer 2024 cycle. The platform supports 60+ third-party packages, which compares to OPNsense’s 80+ officially maintained plugins.
pfSense Customers by Company Size
The 6sense breakdown shows pfSense’s strongest enterprise adoption in companies with 20 to 499 employees. This aligns with what network administrators have described for years: pfSense is where SMBs land when they want enterprise firewall features without paying Fortinet or Palo Alto licensing fees.
| Company Size (Employees) | Number of Companies |
|---|---|
| 100 – 249 | 1,492 |
| 20 – 49 | 1,250 |
| 250 – 499 | 714 |
| Other Segments | ~2,424 |
Source: 6sense (2026)
pfSense Market Share vs Fortinet, Cisco, and SiteLock
In the tracked perimeter security and firewall market, pfSense holds 6.26% share — fourth behind Fortinet FortiGate (16.23%), Cisco ASA (15.68%), and SiteLock (13.00%). Those three vendors reach their positions through direct enterprise sales cycles. pfSense’s share comes entirely from inbound adoption with no licensing cost. Open-source deployments in home labs and small offices are structurally undercounted by enterprise trackers, so 6.26% likely understates pfSense’s real-world footprint. For context on Linux security patch response times relative to other platforms, there are related benchmarks worth examining.
| Vendor | Perimeter Security Market Share |
|---|---|
| Fortinet FortiGate | 16.23% |
| Cisco ASA | 15.68% |
| SiteLock | 13.00% |
| pfSense | 6.26% |
Source: 6sense (2026)
pfSense Customers by Country
Brazil is the single largest pfSense market in 6sense’s enterprise tracker, accounting for 35.84% of tracked deployments — ahead of the United States at 26.76%. France, at 11.08%, holds a share larger than most European neighbors, likely reflecting strong open-source adoption among French MSPs. This contrasts sharply with commercial vendors: Palo Alto draws 64.89% of its tracked customers from the U.S. alone. pfSense’s user base is far more geographically distributed. The DNS server market shows a similar pattern, with open-source options holding disproportionately strong positions in non-U.S. markets.
| Country | Customer Count | Share of Total |
|---|---|---|
| Brazil | 1,562 | 35.84% |
| United States | 1,166 | 26.76% |
| France | 483 | 11.08% |
| Other Countries | ~669 | ~26.32% |
Source: 6sense (2026)
pfSense vs OPNsense: Platform Comparison
OPNsense launched in January 2015, forked from pfSense by Dutch company Deciso. The two platforms now share FreeBSD as their underlying OS — a technical distinction that disappeared by 2024. OPNsense ships 80+ officially maintained plugins versus pfSense’s 60+ packages, and releases two major versions per year with biweekly minor updates. pfSense’s release cadence is slower, which some administrators consider an advantage given the network downtime risk that comes with firewall updates. OPNsense also includes a multi-language GUI, which contributes to its reach in non-English-speaking markets. Those considering SELinux and AppArmor adoption alongside a new firewall deployment may find OPNsense’s more modular plugin approach easier to extend.
| Metric | pfSense | OPNsense |
|---|---|---|
| Year Founded | 2004 (released 2006) | 2015 |
| Developer | Netgate | Deciso |
| Underlying OS | FreeBSD | FreeBSD |
| Packages / Plugins | 60+ | 80+ |
| Major Releases/Year | 1 (Plus) | 2 |
| Multi-language UI | No | Yes |
| Cumulative Installs | 13 million+ | Not disclosed |
| License | Apache 2.0 (CE) | 2-Clause BSD |
Source: StationX, WunderTech, Wikipedia
pfSense and OPNsense VPN Performance Benchmarks
On APU (AMD Embedded G-Series) hardware — a standard choice for small office deployments — pfSense and OPNsense deliver nearly identical throughput. Both platforms achieve approximately 100 Mbps on OpenVPN and 600+ Mbps on WireGuard, according to benchmarks published by TekLager. The 6x throughput gap between the two VPN protocols on equivalent hardware is the clearest data point for why WireGuard adoption has accelerated. Those running Linux VPN servers at scale see the same pattern in deployment statistics.
| Platform | OpenVPN Throughput | WireGuard Throughput |
|---|---|---|
| pfSense | ~100 Mbps | 600+ Mbps |
| OPNsense | ~100 Mbps | 600+ Mbps |
| OpenWRT (reference) | ~140 Mbps | 600+ Mbps |
Source: TekLager
FAQs
How many installations does pfSense have?
Netgate reports over 13 million cumulative pfSense installations across home, business, government, and cloud environments. Of those, 6sense tracks 5,880+ verified enterprise deployments as of early 2026.
What is pfSense’s market share in perimeter security?
pfSense holds 6.26% of the tracked perimeter security and firewall market, according to 6sense. It ranks fourth behind Fortinet FortiGate (16.23%), Cisco ASA (15.68%), and SiteLock (13.00%).
Which country has the most pfSense users?
Brazil leads with 35.84% of tracked enterprise pfSense deployments, followed by the United States at 26.76% and France at 11.08%, per 6sense data from 2026.
Is OPNsense faster than pfSense?
On identical APU hardware, both platforms deliver the same throughput: approximately 100 Mbps on OpenVPN and 600+ Mbps on WireGuard. There is no measurable performance difference between the two.
How often does OPNsense release updates compared to pfSense?
OPNsense releases two major versions per year with biweekly minor updates. pfSense releases one major version annually for the Plus edition, with the Community Edition on an irregular schedule.
