A network firewall sits between your sites, clouds and the internet and decides which connections pass.
This guide ranks them on what the price page shows, where the vendor is registered, what must be bought on top of the box (subscriptions, management), and how hard a policy is to rebuild elsewhere.
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In short
What network firewalls software does
A network firewall filters traffic between network zones by address, port, application and user, and increasingly inspects encrypted sessions and blocks known attacks before they reach internal systems.
To rank network firewalls tools we asked, in turn, how much work setup takes, what it truly costs, whether data can be taken back out, whether leaving is possible, and who the product suits. Vendors outside the best-known names fill places 1 to 3 when they exist, and the big brands rank from place 4. The reasoning behind the five tests, and behind having no score out of ten, is set out on the how we work page.
No prices published; sold 100% through channel partners
—
Multi-site organisations that want clustering and central policy through a reseller
Buyers who want to order online or compare published prices
Country is where the vendor is headquartered or contracts from, which is a different question from where your data is hosted. Where the two tell different stories, the entry says so.
Open-source firewall and routing platform from a Dutch maker
Ranked #1 of 14 in Best Network Firewalls in 2026.
Open sourcePublished pricingEurope
The vendor homepage describes OPNsense as an open-source firewall and routing platform running on FreeBSD 15.1, offering CARP hardware failover with state synchronisation, an integrated GeoIP database and a two-clause BSD licence.
The Business Edition product page lists a commercial firmware repository, an OVA image, OPNcentral for central upgrades and status, and says the edition lags behind the community release. The shop shows a 3-year Business Edition price of EUR 399 (reduced from EUR 447) and eight DEC appliance families described as designed, made and shipped from Europe. The homepage address is Middelharnis, the Netherlands.
What stands out
Open source
Dutch vendor
Own appliances
Where it costs you
The free build is the testing ground for features, so the stable path is the paid Business Edition, which deliberately lags behind it.
No vendor-run threat-intelligence subscription bundle is described; commercial rule sets such as Proofpoint ET Pro are separate products.
Right for
Teams with network engineers who want an auditable code base and EU-made hardware
Wrong for
Organisations that need a single vendor to own firewall, sandbox and managed detection
NetherlandsSoftware free (BSD licence); Business Edition 3-year licence EUR 399 in the shop; own DEC appliances priced in the shop
French firewall maker with national security certifications
Ranked #2 of 14 in Best Network Firewalls in 2026.
Pricing on requestEurope
The Stormshield network-security page presents SNS hardware and virtual appliances for IT and OT networks. It states that the firewall firmware is qualified at Standard level and certified to CC EAL4+ by ANSSI in France, and holds Spanish CCN approvals (Producto CCN Aprobado and Cualificado).
The about page calls Stormshield a wholly-owned subsidiary of Airbus Defence and Space Cyber Programmes with French roots. The page invites visitors to ask sales about trial versions or prices.
What stands out
EU vendor
ANSSI certified
IT and OT
Where it costs you
No prices are published; the site routes price and trial questions to the sales and pre-sales teams.
The product page covers network security only; the endpoint and cloud security products of the big US vendors are not part of this range.
Right for
French and Spanish public bodies and operators that need nationally certified firewalls
Wrong for
Buyers who want self-service pricing or a free download
FranceNo prices published; trial versions and prices via sales or partners
pfSense Plus firewall software and appliances from Netgate
Ranked #3 of 14 in Best Network Firewalls in 2026.
Pricing on requestNorth America
The Netgate pricing page says pfSense Plus is included at no charge with a Netgate appliance, with turnkey units from USD 189, and is sold on Amazon and Azure marketplaces from USD 0.08 to 0.40 an hour with free 30-day trials.
It states there are no feature or throughput upcharges and that three tiers of TAC support are available. The about page says Netgate (Rubicon Communications LLC) was formed in 2004, is headquartered in Austin, Texas, and took over leadership of the pfSense project in 2012.
What stands out
Open-source roots
Published prices
Cloud images
Where it costs you
The pricing page lists firewall, router and VPN functions; a cloud sandbox or user-identity suite of the kind sold by the big vendors is not described there.
Support is bought as separate TAC subscription tiers, so the total depends on the tier chosen.
Right for
Sites that want published prices and a firewall they can also run on their own hardware
Wrong for
Estates that want one console across firewall, endpoint and email security
United StatespfSense Plus included with Netgate appliances from USD 189; cloud marketplace images USD 0.08 to 0.40 an hour; no throughput or seat charges
Ranked #4 of 14 in Best Network Firewalls in 2026.
Pricing on requestEurope
The Sophos firewall comparison page lists XGS desktop models (2nd generation XGS 88, 108, 118, 128 and 138; 1st generation 87 to 136 while stock lasts), 1U models XGS 2100 to 4500 and 2U models XGS 5500 to 8500, plus SD-RED 20 and 60.
It says the hardware portfolio is managed from Sophos Fusion and shows no prices. The legal pages name Sophos Limited, registered in England and Wales, with its registered office in Abingdon, Oxfordshire.
What stands out
UK vendor
XGS appliances
Desktop to 2U
Where it costs you
The XGS hardware page lists no prices and no virtual or cloud form factors.
First-generation desktop models are described as available only while stock lasts, so older sites need a model check.
Right for
Mid-size organisations that already run Sophos endpoint or MDR and want one supplier
Wrong for
Buyers who need a published price list
United KingdomNo prices published; XGS models sold through partners
Seattle firewall line sold through resellers and MSPs
Ranked #5 of 14 in Best Network Firewalls in 2026.
Pricing on requestNorth America
The WatchGuard firewall page describes T Series and M Series Fireboxes, FireboxV for virtual environments and Firebox Cloud designed for AWS and Azure, an Appliance Sizing Tool, FireCloud Gateway for Firebox, and Security Suites.
Its navigation labels the online store as renewals only. The privacy policy names WatchGuard Technologies, Inc., 255 S. King St., Seattle, as controller, and Panda Security, S.L.U. in Bilbao for purchases from Panda.
What stands out
T and M Series
FireboxV and Cloud
MSP channel
Where it costs you
The online store is limited to renewals, so a first purchase always goes through a reseller.
Security services are sold as suites on top of the appliance, so the quote has two parts.
Right for
Small and mid-size sites bought and managed through a local reseller or MSP
Wrong for
Buyers who want a self-service purchase online
United StatesNo prices published; online store is for renewals only
Ranked #6 of 14 in Best Network Firewalls in 2026.
Pricing on requestElsewhere
The UniFi gateway page says advanced security features come out of the box without a licence and describes IDS/IPS, a Zone-Based Firewall, content filtering of over 100 categories, license-free Site Magic site-to-site VPN and SD-WAN, and failover or distributed multi-WAN.
The store list shows Cloud Gateway Ultra at USD 129 with 1 Gbps IPS, Dream Machine Pro Max at USD 599 with 5 Gbps and Enterprise Firewall Core at USD 3,499 with 79 Gbps.
What stands out
Published prices
No licence
UniFi ecosystem
Where it costs you
The firewall is part of a network-gear ecosystem; the pages read do not describe sandboxing, SSL decryption policy or clustering of the kind enterprise firewalls offer.
One model in the store list is out of stock with no restock date.
Right for
Small offices and multi-site retail that already run UniFi switching and Wi-Fi
Wrong for
Regulated firms that need certified firewalls and a support contract
Not stated by the vendorGateways from USD 129 (Cloud Gateway Ultra) to USD 3,499 (Enterprise Firewall Core), listed in the store; advanced security features need no licence
Firewall with built-in SD-WAN for sites and public clouds
Ranked #7 of 14 in Best Network Firewalls in 2026.
Pricing on requestNorth America
The CloudGen Firewall page describes deployment across physical locations and in Azure, AWS and Google Cloud, zero-touch deployment of hardware to remote sites, Firewall Control Center for central management, Firewall Insights for reports, built-in SD-WAN and a cloud-hosted Advanced Threat Protection sandbox.
It offers a Try Free option and a Build and Price link but publishes no prices. The trust centre names Barracuda Networks, Inc., 3175 S. Winchester Blvd, Campbell, California.
What stands out
SD-WAN built in
Public cloud
Zero-touch rollout
Where it costs you
Prices and licence terms are not shown on the product page; a configurator is linked.
Barracuda's network-protection menu also lists SecureEdge, and the page does not explain how it relates to CloudGen.
Right for
Multi-site and multi-cloud estates that want SD-WAN included in the firewall
Wrong for
Single-site offices with no cloud workloads
United StatesNo prices published; Build and Price configurator and free trial link
Firewall range with a managed-protection option and MSP console
Ranked #8 of 14 in Best Network Firewalls in 2026.
Pricing on requestNorth America
The SonicWall firewalls page lists model ranges from micro-SMB to large distributed enterprises and data centres, a virtual firewall series, Unified Management for MSPs and the Managed Protection Security Suite, where SonicSentry staff monitor, tune policies, apply firmware and run monthly health checks.
It says qualifying deployments carry an embedded cyber warranty from Cysurance. Search results from sonicwall.com give the corporate address as 1033 McCarthy Blvd, Milpitas, California.
What stands out
MSP management
Managed protection
SMB to data centre
Where it costs you
The managed service applies to Generation 7 or newer firewalls only.
No prices appear on the firewall page, which sends buyers to partners and a free-trial route.
Right for
Distributed organisations and MSPs that want the vendor to operate the firewall
Wrong for
Buyers who want to run everything in-house with no managed service
United StatesNo prices published; sold through partners
Cisco firewall family from 200 Series to 6100 Series
Ranked #9 of 14 in Best Network Firewalls in 2026.
Self-hostablePricing on requestNorth America
The Cisco firewall page lists Secure Firewall 200, 1200, 3100, 4200 and 6100 Series, the ISA3000 ruggedised model, Firewall for Public Cloud, Private Cloud and Container, and Secure Access as a cloud-delivered security service edge.
It mentions an on-premises Firewall Management Center and cloud management in Cisco Cloud Control, and gives no prices. Cisco's privacy page lists Cisco Systems, Inc., 170 West Tasman Dr., San Jose, California.
What stands out
Series 200 to 6100
Cloud or on-prem management
Industrial ISA3000
Where it costs you
The page describes no licensing model and no prices.
Cisco sells it next to Secure Access and other security products, so scoping the quote takes care.
Right for
Organisations that already run Cisco networking and want one vendor and one support route
Wrong for
Small teams that want to compare prices before talking to a partner
United StatesNo prices published; savings calculator and a See, try, or buy link
Firewall managed from the Secure Management Console
Ranked #10 of 14 in Best Network Firewalls in 2026.
Pricing on requestNorth America
The Forcepoint NGFW page describes policy management, incident response and reporting in the Secure Management Console, zero trust network access controls, Advanced Malware Detection and Protection, load-balancing clusters, multi-ISP application-aware routing and physical and virtual appliances.
A customer quote on the page says a partner converted a full policy set in one day. The contact page gives the headquarters as 10900-A Stonelake Blvd, Austin, Texas; the about page cites 1400+ employees in 150 countries.
What stands out
SMC console
Clustering
Multi-ISP SD-WAN
Where it costs you
No prices or tier names are published on the product page.
The product page lists no model names or throughput figures, so sizing needs a quote.
Right for
Organisations with distributed sites such as rail or restaurant chains that need central policy
Wrong for
Buyers who want a large partner ecosystem and public price points
United StatesNo prices published; quote on request
Juniper SRX firewalls, sold under HPE since July 2025
Ranked #11 of 14 in Best Network Firewalls in 2026.
Pricing on requestNorth America
A request to Juniper's SRX product page returns a 301 redirect to a buy.hpe.com page for the Juniper SRX4100 firewall, in a section named Juniper firewall products.
HPE's press release says HPE closed its acquisition of Juniper Networks on 2 July 2025. The HPE store page itself was blocked when we tried to read it, so no throughput, licensing or price facts are stated.
What stands out
HPE-owned
SRX series
Redirected pages
Where it costs you
The juniper.net product page redirects to the HPE store, which returned an access block when we fetched it, so no model or licence facts could be verified here.
Branding and product pages are in transition after the acquisition.
Right for
Organisations with Juniper routing or Mist wireless that now buy through HPE
Wrong for
Buyers who need to compare model specifications from a vendor page today
United StatesNo prices read; Juniper product pages now redirect to the HPE store
FortiGate firewalls on Fortinet's own security processors
Ranked #12 of 14 in Best Network Firewalls in 2026.
Pricing on requestNorth America
The FortiGate page describes FortiOS, patented security processors, FortiGuard AI-Powered Security Services in ENT, UTP and ATP bundles or a la carte, appliances for data centre, campus and branch, FortiGate-as-a-Service, virtual and cloud forms, and post-quantum IPsec that requires FortiOS 7.6.1.
The about page says Fortinet was founded in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2000 and reports 1,000,000+ customers. The contact page gives 909 Kifer Road, Sunnyvale, California.
What stands out
Own ASICs
FortiOS
FortiGate-as-a-Service
Where it costs you
The firewall page publishes no prices; only the names of the ENT, UTP and ATP bundles are visible.
Features such as post-quantum IPsec depend on FortiOS 7.6.1 or later, so version planning matters.
Right for
Mixed estates from branch to data centre that want one OS across many form factors
Wrong for
Buyers who want a self-service price list
United StatesNo prices published; FortiGuard services sold as ATP, UTP and ENT bundles or a la carte
Ranked #13 of 14 in Best Network Firewalls in 2026.
Pricing on requestNorth America
The Palo Alto Networks NGFW page describes App-ID and User-ID, SSL/TLS decryption, management through Panorama or Strata Cloud Manager, the PA-Series, and cloud-delivered security services named Advanced Threat Prevention, Advanced URL Filtering, Advanced WildFire and Advanced DNS Security.
The hardware page lists models from the rugged PA-50R to the PA-7500 chassis with up to 1.5 Tbps App-ID performance. The about page states 16K+ employees and 70K+ customers. Search results from its site give the headquarters as 3000 Tannery Way, Santa Clara, California.
What stands out
PA-Series
PAN-OS
Panorama or Strata Cloud Manager
Where it costs you
No prices are published; the page ends in a contact form.
Core protections are separate Advanced subscriptions, so the quote is the firewall plus several services.
Right for
Large enterprises that want App-ID policy and a deep subscription catalogue
Wrong for
Small sites that want a price list or a light console
United StatesNo prices published; contact form and sales-led
Quantum firewalls, Spark for small sites, Maestro clustering
Ranked #14 of 14 in Best Network Firewalls in 2026.
Pricing on requestMiddle East
The Check Point firewall pages describe Quantum Force appliances in branch, enterprise perimeter, data-centre and industrial families, Maestro Hyperscale clustering to 1,000 Gbps, a DDoS Protector and the Spark 2500 series (models 2530 to 2590 with 750 to 5,500 Mbps threat-prevention throughput) with zero-touch provisioning and MSP multi-tenant management.
The homepage says Check Point is 100% channel. The about page gives founding in 1993, 7000+ employees and Tel Aviv, Israel as corporate headquarters.
What stands out
Quantum Force
Maestro clustering
Spark SMB
Where it costs you
Every product page leads to a demo or partner route; no prices are published.
Security management is a separate product line, so a firewall purchase adds management on top.
Right for
Multi-site organisations that want clustering and central policy through a reseller
Wrong for
Buyers who want to order online or compare published prices
IsraelNo prices published; sold 100% through channel partners
A network firewall filters traffic between network zones by address, port, application and user, and increasingly inspects encrypted sessions and blocks known attacks before they reach internal systems. The differences that matter are rarely in the feature list, so this is the order we would work through them.
01
Check who publishes a price
Only 1 of the 14 print a price; 13 quote per organisation. Comparable without a sales call: OPNsense.
02
Decide how much the jurisdiction matters
The 14 companies behind this list are established in 6 countries, by region North America 9, Europe 3, Middle East 1, Elsewhere 1. Disclosure obligations attach to the company, so they travel with the vendor even when the servers stay at home.
03
Check the open source options
Open source here means OPNsense. The price of self-hosting is the time your team spends maintaining it.
What goes wrong most often when buying network firewalls software
Shortlisting network firewalls software on a feature matrix. Every vendor in this category ticks every box, so the matrix tells you nothing and costs a week.
Testing with clean data. Import the messy export from the system you are replacing, because that is what your first week of network firewalls software will actually look like.
Letting the vendor run the demo. Ask for a network firewalls tool sandbox and do your own three most common tasks in it, timed.
Buying for the company you plan to become. The entry-level network firewalls tools here are not worse products, they are aimed at a different size of company.
07
Frequently asked questions
8 answers
What is the best network firewalls in 2026?
Our ranking of 14 puts OPNsense first. A firewall and router on FreeBSD under a two-clause BSD licence, built by Deciso in the Netherlands, with appliances sold under the same name.
It lists no per-throughput fees. The free build is also where features are tested first, and support runs through paid Business Edition or support packages you arrange yourself.
Which network firewalls tools publish their pricing?
Published pricing exists for 1 products on this page:
OPNsense: Software free (BSD licence); Business Edition 3-year licence EUR 399 in the shop; own DEC appliances priced in the shop.
13 vendors do not print a price.
Is there a free network firewalls tool?
No. None of the 14 offer a usable free tier.
Where are these network firewalls vendors established?
Vendor countries on this page, North America 9, Europe 3, Middle East 1, Elsewhere 1:
OPNsense: Netherlands.
Stormshield Network Security: France.
Netgate pfSense Plus: United States.
Sophos Firewall (XGS): United Kingdom.
WatchGuard Firebox: United States.
Ubiquiti UniFi Gateways: Not stated by the vendor.
Barracuda CloudGen Firewall: United States.
SonicWall Firewalls: United States.
Cisco Secure Firewall: United States.
Forcepoint NGFW: United States.
Juniper SRX: United States.
Fortinet FortiGate: United States.
Palo Alto Networks NGFW: United States.
Check Point Quantum Firewalls: Israel.
Which network firewalls tools are open source?
OPNsense.
Which network firewalls tools can you host yourself?
Cisco Secure Firewall. The other 13 are hosted by the vendor only.
What should you use instead of OPNsense?
Second is Stormshield Network Security, which suits French and Spanish public bodies and operators that need nationally certified firewalls. Third is Netgate pfSense Plus, which suits Sites that want published prices and a firewall they can also run on their own hardware.
Who should not buy OPNsense?
Organisations that need a single vendor to own firewall, sandbox and managed detection. The free build is the testing ground for features, so the stable path is the paid Business Edition, which deliberately lags behind it..
If a network firewalls product of yours deserves a place among these 14, say what it is and who it serves. Inclusion rests with us alone. See software advice for the rules.
