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 Enterprise Fortress Gateway (EFG)
★ 4.9 Value Score
Technical Specifications
- Firewall Throughput: 23.5 Gbps (routing, iPerf3, DHCP WAN)
- Threat Prevention Throughput: 12.5 Gbps (IDS/IPS)
- IPsec VPN Throughput: 580 Mbps (site-to-site, single tunnel)
- Max Sessions: 1,000,000 concurrent
- New Sessions/sec: 71,000 (listed under general capacity; not specific to VPN or IPsec)
- Interfaces: 2x 2.5GbE RJ45, 2x 25G SFP28, 2x 10G SFP+ (some listings show 2x RJ45 + 4x SFP28; verify against the Ubiquiti datasheet)
- Form Factor: 1U rack-mount, dual hot-swappable PSUs
- SSL/TLS Inspection Concurrent Sessions: 10,000 (5,000 recommended under heavy traffic)
- CPU / Memory: 18-core ARM v8.2 @ 2 GHz, 16 GB DDR4
- UniFi Capacity: 500+ UniFi devices, 5,000+ clients
Curation Review
- ✔ Pros: 25G SFP28 and 10G SFP+ uplinks at a gateway price point; 23.5 Gbps routing throughput; 1 million concurrent sessions; 18-core ARM CPU with 16 GB RAM; hot-swappable redundant PSUs; supports 500+ UniFi devices and 5,000+ clients; manages through UniFi Network controller with a single pane of glass
- ✘ Cons: IPsec VPN throughput of 580 Mbps is low for a gateway at this price; IDS/IPS throughput of 12.5 Gbps halves routing performance when threat inspection is enabled; SSL/TLS inspection is limited to about 10,000 concurrent sessions; port configuration differs across listings and should be verified; frequently out of stock at major US retailers, with a $170 memory surcharge at some resellers; no built-in Wi-Fi, so it depends on separate UniFi APs and switches; reviewers cite a steeper learning curve than consumer-grade routers
- Est. Price: $1,999 - $2,892