Open-source Cisco Meraki alternatives

OpenWrt is a Linux operating system targeting embedded devices, most often home routers. Rather than shipping one static firmware image, it provides a fully writable filesystem with package management. That frees you from the applications and configuration chosen by the device vendor, so you can customize the device with packages for almost any purpose. The code is written in C.

For developers, OpenWrt is a framework for building an application without creating a complete firmware around it. Prebuilt firmware images are published for numerous CPU architectures, each with a package set that suits a WiFi home router. The Firmware Selector helps you find a factory image for moving from vendor firmware, and the wiki has further downloads such as toolchains and SDKs. Building your own firmware needs GNU/Linux, BSD or macOS with a case-sensitive filesystem, and a feeds script pulls in package definitions. This GitHub repository is a mirror of the project's main git server and still accepts pull requests.

OPNsense is an open-source firewall project, and this repository contains its web GUI, API and systems backend. Its topics point to a broad feature set that includes a firewall, intrusion prevention, proxy, VPN, traffic shaping, a captive portal and routing, built on a BSD base.

The project invites developers to contribute and has designed its build process so that anyone can build and write code. Build tools are freely available in a separate tools repository, an architecture overview is on docs.opnsense.org, and the repository offers Makefile targets such as make package for assembling a package from the current state of the code. The team aims to evolve toward a new codebase gradually rather than in one big switch.

OPNsense is written mostly in PHP and is committed to staying available under the 2-clause BSD license, with every contribution required to carry the same terms. Contributions can be as simple as testing functionality, filing bug reports or sending pull requests.

pfSense is a network firewall distribution built on the FreeBSD operating system. It uses a custom kernel and bundles third-party free software to cover routing and security tasks. The project began in 2004 as a fork of the m0n0wall project and has since diverged significantly.

All components are configured through a web interface, so the project says no UNIX knowledge or command-line work is needed and rule sets never have to be edited by hand. A package system adds functionality, and the project states that with packages it can match or exceed the functionality of common commercial firewalls, without artificial limits. It lists products from Check Point, Cisco, Juniper, Sonicwall, Netgear and Watchguard among those it has replaced.

pfSense is copyright Rubicon Communications (Netgate) and published under an open source license, listed as Apache-2.0 on GitHub. Netgate sells bundled hardware appliances and commercial support, which is the main way the team funds development. Administrators used to commercial firewalls may find the interface familiar, though others face a learning curve.