Best DIY firewallProtectli Vault Pro VP2420 (4-port, 16GB/480GB)
The VP2420 is the hardware half of the classic DIY firewall build: four 2.5 GbE ports, silent cooling and coreboot, ready for pfSense or OPNsense. Total control, if you're willing to be your own firewall admin.
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What we loved
Worth knowing
Why we recommend it
The VP2420 is the hardware half of the classic DIY firewall build: four 2.5 GbE ports, silent cooling and coreboot, ready for pfSense or OPNsense. Total control, if you’re willing to be your own firewall admin.
In our testing the highlights were clear: four 2.5 GbE Intel i226-V ports — ideal for OPNsense; fanless and silent, built for 24/7 duty; open-source coreboot firmware option; enough CPU headroom for IDS and VPN at gigabit speeds.
It is not perfect — you install and maintain the firewall OS yourself; costs more than turnkey boxes like Firewalla. For most buyers in this category those trade-offs are easy to live with, but weigh them against your setup before you click buy.
At a glance
Where this product shows up in our guides
- Firewalla vs pfSense for Home: The Honest Total-Cost ComparisonWe ran both for months: the app-first appliance against the build-it-yourself firewall. The honest total cost — money and hours — decides it.
How it compares in Firewalls & Network Security
| Product | Our score | Price | Best for | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Protectli VP2420 this review | 8.7/10 | $764 | pfSense/OPNsense, homelab builders | |
| Firewalla Gold SE | 9.4/10 | $449 | families, prosumers | Review → |
| Ubiquiti UDR7 | 9.1/10 | $279 | prosumers, UniFi ecosystems | Review → |
| Firewalla Gold Pro | 9/10 | $879 | 10G fiber, small business | Review → |
| Firewalla Purple SE | 8.9/10 | $229 | budget, first firewall | Review → |
| Fortinet FortiGate 40F | 8.8/10 | $650 | small business, branch office | Review → |
| GL.iNet Flint 2 | 8.8/10 | $160 | VPN power users, OpenWrt tinkerers | Review → |
Full ranking and our test notes: all Firewalls & Network Security reviews.
