Updated October 30 2023 Licence Changes to pfSense Plus

My Forum Post on the topic

My previous live stream on the topic


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[matt]

I would pay $129 ONE time not yearly.
Buy their hardware and get free updates forever. So I could buy and run a Netgate 1100 for 5 years for $189 one time cost or if I want to use my own hardware it's $645 for the same time frame. Hard pass.

[pest]

This time the community pushed back and Negate had no choice. However, this is not the first time the company tried to screw us over to get a few extra bucks.
I'd argue it can't be trusted and it's better to prepare and switch to another firewall while we have time to do it properly.

[libertine]

Thanks Tom for all your work and information.

[neosmith]

$129 is still a bit steep! $75/year I would pay no problem! Heck, I would even be fine paying the $129 if it was a one-time cost, but a year seems too much for home users!

[askjeroen]

Question : Do they plan to bring a plus install iso out? Not the CE to Plus upgrade bla bla.

[ofbarea]

Before pfsense I was using EdgeRouter gear. Moved to pfsense ce just because it's simpler to configure and easier to figure it out what happened when issues arise because of recent changes. I do keep my EdgeRouter updated as it is my backup router

[TeflonBilly]

$129/year is entirely too expensive for Home usage. They need to add a non-subscription, no support tier for around $20-40 that needs to be renewed upon every major upgrade (2.7=>2.8 for example.)

[pstgh]

Thanks for your updates! I appreciate it. I'm a textbook example of someone who jumped up from CE to + for my home based (non-Netgate) router, and I am now happy to spend the $129 ($99 this year), but not having an account at Netgate, I'm not exactly sure how to do that- most of the docs that I come across are for folks who want to move from CE to + by buying the license. Any assistance would be appreciated. Can it be done from within the GUI? I'm on 23.05 (not 23.05.1) Thanks. -Update- neva mind- I figured it out- thanks

[Absolute-Unit]

I'm using netgate hardware... It's not an issue now... But given their track record, it probably will be later.... That's why I have started my slow migration over to Opnsense. :/

[Mr.Leeroy]

Even $5/mo is not competitive subscription price in A LOT of places outside US.
$10/mo is straight not affordable outside of 'large home, small office' true homelab environment again outside US.

[iambenmitchell]

Time to switch to OPNsense.

PFSense seems to neglect the CE version, maybe it has changed recently but when I set up my router in May or so this year, the PFSense plus version was a kernel version newer than the CE version. As my hardware was pretty new, the old kernel did not fully support my hardware and I had performance issues until upgrading to Plus.

[DroningtheNorthwestFALM]

Thank you again for all your help!!! Used the discount code 😃 keep up the great videos!!

[Ale-orgk]

December 22, 2023 and I'm still getting the latest update 23.09.1 on pfSense+
As long as they allow me to receive updates with the current license I will continue to use the plus version. I believe their policy is not to release new free licenses, but the ones out there will continue to work until Hardware dies. (they hope so. mine fw is a VM xD)

[gjkrisa]

sucks it’s 129 a year what’s with that? what happens when the license expires no more updates or ?

[snowrangr]

"we are already testing builds based on OpenSSL 3 which can be available in 24.1 when it does not negatively impact overall operation." I think all they said is in the middle of their 23.7 version isn't the time to jump from 1.1.1 to 3.x

[rtresidd]

Webpage has had some major updates in the past couple of days, wonder if that was in the works when they did the initial release and they just borked the ordering/communication of things.

[woswasdenni]

"we reacted to quickly" .... yea mistakes are human, ... however you cant do that as a firewall manufacturer
also zero day warning is unprecedented. this is not about license anymore, its lost trust forever. the hole fiasco was unprofessional and downright at the very least stupid.
to much to be a company to rely on for core software.
all in all this is a problem on so many levels.

[DarkNightSonata]

OpnSense the way to go. literally 0 reason to stick to pfSense. what a garbage company

[stevecottam]

Thanks Tom for the update and as usual to the point. I don't think that Netgate did anything seriously wrong as CE version is more than enough for the average home user, and I understand that they have the right to make a profit. the real villain is the 'pirates' that think license are there for other people. Keep up the good work.

[CalvinHenderson]

Hello Tom, I am curious why the Netgate / pfSense social team randomly tells their followers to subscribe to their youtube channel if they do not like making videos like you said at the 3:50 mark ???