PACKETPERF

Primary Device

Netgate 4100
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 Cloud Gateway Max (UCG-Max)
Ubiquiti UniFi Cloud Gateway Max (UCG-Max)
★ 4.9 Value Score

Technical Specifications

  • Firewall Throughput: Not published by Ubiquiti in the sources reviewed
  • Threat Prevention Throughput: 2.3 Gbps IDS/IPS per Ubiquiti spec page (older listings show 1.5 Gbps)
  • IPsec VPN Throughput: Not published by Ubiquiti; third-party reviews report about 800-1,000 Mbps for WireGuard and 300-400 Mbps for OpenVPN
  • Max Sessions: Not published in the sources reviewed
  • New Sessions/sec: Not published in the sources reviewed
  • Interfaces: 1x 2.5GbE RJ45 WAN, 4x GbE RJ45 LAN (one LAN port can be reconfigured as a second WAN for multi-WAN)
  • Form Factor: Compact desktop; UCG-Max-NS variant includes 512GB NVMe storage

Curation Review

  • ✔ Pros: Low entry price at $199 MSRP; Compact desktop form factor; Five-port layout with multi-WAN support via a reconfigurable LAN port; Runs UniFi OS with integrated IDS/IPS, site-to-site and remote VPN options (IPsec, WireGuard, OpenVPN, L2TP); Manages 30+ UniFi devices and 300+ clients per Ubiquiti listing
  • ✘ Cons: Routing and IPS throughput (2.3 Gbps) is modest for multi-gigabit WANs with inspection enabled; Published throughput figures conflict across sources (1.5 vs 2.3 Gbps IPS, varying VPN numbers); Only one 2.5GbE port, with the remaining ports at 1GbE; Vendor does not publish IPsec tunnel, session, or new-connection limits; Some resellers list prices well above MSRP (one US listing at $394.79)
  • Est. Price: $199 - $279

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