Hiya, just getting into networking and recently completed my Tp-link Omada stack, which I’m very pleased with. Have heard great thing about all three mentioned services above, but struggle to understand which to go for. Do they have different use cases? Is one easier than the other? Which one is recommended to begin with?
They all offer more or less the same network services with different UIs.
OpenWRT is specifically designed to work as a lightweight system running on consumer-grade routers. If you want this, you’ll have to check the website’s Table Of Hardware to determine if your hardware is compatible.
OPNsense and pfSense are general-purpose FreeBSD-based operating systems that you can run on discrete computers or in VMs that act as network gateways. All three are free/gratis, but you have to make an account and go through the store page to download pfSense.
I personally use OPNsense in a VM.
Thanks for the info :)