Primary Device
Netgate 4100
★ 3.8 Value Score
Technical Specifications
- Firewall Throughput: 4.09 Gbps (iPerf3, 10k ACLs, Netgate-published); 1.40 Gbps (IMIX)
- Threat Prevention Throughput: Not published by Netgate. IDS/IPS is available via optional Suricata or Snort packages, with no vendor throughput figure
- IPsec VPN Throughput: 960 Mbps (AES-GCM-128, iPerf3, QAT); 312 Mbps (IMIX)
- Max Sessions: 4,000,000 max active connections (vendor-stated)
- New Sessions/sec: Not published
- Interfaces: 2x 1GbE combo WAN (RJ45 or SFP); 4x 2.5GbE RJ45 LAN
- Form Factor: Desktop appliance
- Routing Throughput: 8.15 Gbps (iPerf3, Netgate-published)
- NAT Throughput: 3.42 Gbps (Netgate-published)
- CPU: Intel Atom C3338R with QAT, 2 cores @ 1.8 GHz
- RAM: 4 GB
- Software: pfSense Plus (included)
- Lifecycle Status: Discontinued (end of sale); Netgate positions the 4200 as the replacement
Curation Review
- ✔ Pros: Built-in Intel QAT acceleration for AES-GCM IPsec VPN; 4x 2.5GbE LAN ports provide multi-gigabit LAN capacity in a compact desktop form factor; Runs pfSense Plus with no separate software license; Supports optional Suricata or Snort IDS/IPS packages; Dual WAN combo ports (copper or SFP) give fiber or copper uplink flexibility; Large vendor-stated active connection capacity of 4 million
- ✘ Cons: Discontinued and at end of sale, with Netgate directing buyers to the 4200; No published IPS or Threat Prevention throughput, so security-service performance is unverified; IPsec VPN throughput of about 960 Mbps is modest for multi-gigabit sites; Limited 2-core CPU makes heavy IDS/IPS or strong-encryption workloads a bottleneck; Published figures come from older pfSense Plus 22.01 test runs and some third-party listings give conflicting numbers; New sessions per second is not published
- Est. Price: $599 - $699
Compare Against
Ubiquiti UniFi Dream Machine Pro Max
★ 5.0 Value Score
Technical Specifications
- Firewall Throughput: Not published by Ubiquiti. Third-party tests: about 3.8-4.7 Gbps internet (WAN) throughput; about 3.0 Gbps inter-VLAN routing
- Threat Prevention Throughput: 5 Gbps IDS/IPS (Ubiquiti spec)
- IPsec VPN Throughput: Not published by Ubiquiti. Unverified third-party estimate of about 1.8-2.2 Gbps
- Max Sessions: Not published
- New Sessions/sec: Not published
- Interfaces: 2x 10G SFP+ ports; 8x 1GbE RJ45 LAN ports; 1x 2.5GbE RJ45 WAN port (sources conflict on WAN; one lists a 25GbE WAN port)
- Form Factor: 1U rackmount
Curation Review
- ✔ Pros: 5 Gbps IDS/IPS rating from Ubiquiti; 10G SFP+ ports for fast uplinks or LAN; Multi-WAN support with 2.5GbE WAN; Integrated UniFi Network controller and UniFi OS for centralized management; Built-in NVR bay for UniFi Protect cameras; Rackmount 1U form factor suited to server racks
- ✘ Cons: Ubiquiti does not publish firewall, VPN, or session-rate figures; Real-world WAN throughput in independent tests is about 3-4.7 Gbps, below the 5 Gbps IDS/IPS rating; Port layout and WAN specs differ between sources; Costs about 2x the UDM Pro (about $220 more) for a modest throughput gain; Limited 1GbE LAN port count compared with dedicated switches; Requires UniFi ecosystem for full feature set
- Est. Price: $599 - $660