Firewalla Gold SE Review: Is it a Good Firewall for home lab?

Are you looking for a good firewall for your home network or home lab in general? In this video I take a look at the Firewalla Gold SE firewall that has a good mix of features and functionality. However, is it powerful enough and have enough capabilities for a home lab?

Introduction - 0:00
Firewalla Gold SE - 0:30
Introduction to Firewalla - What is it? 0:47
No subscription fees - 1:21
Quick overview of features - 1:39
Mobile app and functionality - 2:00
Web interface is watered down - 2:39
Overview of the hardware configuration - 2:55
Minimal footprint, heat, power requirements, etc - 3:15
Setting up the Firewalla firewall device - 3:26
Three different setup modes - 3:39
What about VLANs? 3:57
Performance and security - 4:28
Thinking about the features and ease of use, locked into mobile app - 5:00
Good for home lab? 5:51

See the written review of the unit here:

Check out the Virtualization Howto Forums if you have home lab questions you need answered:

[Hauteclaire]

Just got my Gold Plus today and this thing is awesome and so easy to setup. I don't remember any device being so easy. At first I was very bitter about the whole phone app idea but it just works unlike Ruckus' Unleashed which is always broken

[sbashir]

Much appreciated, I am currently considering a Gold SE but purely for family control and safety as opposed to any particular networking requirements.

[xellaz]

I have two Firewalla Purples and one Gold Plus... they are great! 👍

[LordSaliss]

I prefer a web interface, but that is usually because the app other brands have has so little features you cant even do anything with it. So as long as an app has all features I really dont mind. Funny to see this brand the other way around, where the web interface is the one you cant do much with.

I'm excited for the new Gold 10gb firewall and planning to move over to this brand with that product. Thanks for the video on the SE version.

[wildorb]

Could you please clarify whether you were paid or received the device free of charge?

[zack..]

What throughput do you get with all feature sets turned on? i.e. IPS/IDS/VPN DPI

[NetScalerTrainer]

Please give us pricing in these reviews.

[iPigee]

Great review. Spot on. I’ve been using off and on since 2017. Love my FW!

[Placesandspaces]

Good video. I have the Gold Plus. I know some of the more advanced techy people like the web interface but one the selling points is it is easy for most any novice to set up. Love the phone app because I don’t have to log into a web gui to change settings etc. I do like their MSRP site that shows the network, lets me create users and set up mesh network amongst multiple Firewalla boxes. Great product.

[chanresearchdivision]

I'm considering the Firewalla Purple SE over just the Purple since it's much cheaper. On the website, it says it only lacks the Wifi capabilities vs the Purple which does have Wifi. I plan on using a wifi access point anyway. Is there anything else the Purple SE lacks that the Purple has?

[grizzlypaws]

I have a Firewalla Purple and it’s great!

[betatester]

I was ready to buy a Gold Pro, practically in the cart, until I just now learned that it has to be configured with a damn phone app. I'm so tired of companies pushing their panels off to phone apps. Phone apps should be an accessory, not the primary means of interacting with and administrating a device.

[collectorguy]

Requiring a phone app for management is about as reasonable as saying "no more physical buttons on things".

[RockTheCage]

Yea I just looked at the price & no way for the price I would go with a udm pro

[Jannickjay]

It’s a semipro device. Better than other ready to go wan router. I’m using opnsense in my own hardware because I can. But ppl who just need setup and go, it’s ideal.

[michaelthomson]

Terrible as an actual firewall. You can't use any 3rd party blocklists since it limits the number of IP addresses to 200. And you need to buy their subscription to increase to 2000 even though other product its basically unlimited.
And their customer service is absolutely terrible.

[rfreyder]

phone app = hard pass for me. This is a disturbing trend moving away from a browser based interface.