Looking for a Firewalla product but not sure which one to choose? Find the best fit for your needs and protect your network with Firewalla.
- There is no subscription fee for all products
- A mobile phone is required to use all products
Firewalla Gold
- Internet speed: up to 1 Gigabit
- Link Aggregation: up to 2 Gigabit
- Port-based network segmentation and VLAN
- Control your network bandwidth usage and manage network traffic using Advanced Smart Queue
- A state-of-the-art router+firewall combo
- When in router mode, there are no compatibility problems
- Physically inline and can replace your main router
- Multi-WAN support for network availability
- Higher performance than the Purple and the Blue Plus with no feature limitations
- More CPU resources for customization scripts + docker containers.
- WireGuard VPN support
- Firewalla Gold Rev B is a variation created to keep the Gold in a reasonable price range https://help.firewalla.com/hc/en-us/articles/5001754775827-What-is-the-Firewalla-Gold-Rev-B-
- Made for large networks
Firewalla Gold Plus
- 4x 2.5Gbit Interfaces
- Internet Speed: up to 2.5Gigabit
- Link Aggregation: up to 5 Gigabit
- Everything else is the same as the Gold version
Firewalla Purple
- Pick this unit if you do not need extra ports and performance from the Gold and still want Gigabit performance and an inline firewall in the router or bridge mode.
- Internet speed: up to 1 Gigabit
- More CPU resources for customization scripts + docker containers.
- WireGuard VPN support
- Short distance WiFi
- Great for travel or working remotely
- Great for medium-sized networks
Firewalla Purple SE
- Running the same software stack as the Purple
- More affordable version, 500Mbit packet processing, and without WiFi
Firewalla Blue Plus
-
The Firewalla Blue Plus includes all the features of the Firewalla Blue but with a slightly faster processor and 2 GB of memory. The following features are unique to the Firewalla Blue Plus:
- The ability to block more regions (increased from 3 to 10)
- Simple Smart Queue to manage congestion and buffer bloat
- Docker container support
- WireGuard VPN support
- Great for slower and small networks
Firewalla Red
- Production Stopped due to a chip shortage
- EOL October 2023
- App support EOL April 2024
Firewalla Blue
- Production Stopped due to a chip shortage
- EOL October 2023
- App support EOL April 2024
Learn more
Hardware and Performance Comparison
Blue Plus
|
Purple
|
Gold
|
Gold Plus
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Packet Processing Speed | 500 Mb | 1 Gb | >3 Gb | >5 Gb |
| Memory | 2048 MB | 2048 MB | 4096 MB | 4096 MB |
| Number of Ports | 1 x Gigabit | 2 x Gigabit | 4 x Gigabit | 4 x 2.5 Gigabit |
| Active Protect Entries | 20,000 | 20,000 | 40,000 | 40,000 |
| CPU | 64bit Quad Core ARM 1.2ghz | 64bit Six-Core ARM 1.6ghz - 2ghz | 64bit Quad-Core Intel 2.2ghz (AES NI) | 64bit Quad-Core Intel 2.2ghz (AES NI) |
| OpenVPN Server Speed | 70 Mb | 120 Mb | 120 Mb | 120 Mb |
| WireGuard Server Speed | 280 Mb | 500 Mb | 500 Mb | 500 Mb |
| Storage | 16 GB | 16 GB | 32 GB | 32 GB |
| WiFi WISP (WAN) | - | Yes | - | - |
| WiFi LAN | - | Yes | - | - |
| Console Port | None | None | 1 | 1 |
| Power (Watt) | ~7W | ~7W to 9W | ~10W to 12W | ~10W to 15W |
| Size | 5.4 x 5.4 x 3.4 cm | 9 x 6 x 3 cm | 13 x 11 x 3.4 cm | 13 x 11 x 3.4 cm |
| Weight | 2.15 oz / 61 g | 3.84 oz / 110g | 19.9 oz / 565 g | 19.9 oz / 565 g |
| Operating Temperature (with airflow) |
32°F to 95°F | 32°F to 113°F |
Original:32°F to 122°F Rev B: 32°F to 113°F |
32°F to 113°F |
Software Features Comparison
Blue Plus |
Purple |
Gold |
Gold Plus |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core Features | ||||
| Active Protect (up-to-date threat detection and prevention for the whole network) | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Deep Insights | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Ad Block | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Family Protect, Safe Search, Family Time/Social Hour | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Device Management | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Device Groups | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Manage Rules (Allow, Block, Domains, Categories) | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Alarms | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Content Filtering (adult, gaming, video, ...) | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Bandwidth and Monthly Data Plan Monitoring | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| VPN Server OpenVPN | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| VPN Server WireGuard | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| VPN Client | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| DNS over HTTPS | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| IPv6 | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| DDNS | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Simple & DHCP Mode | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Router Mode | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
| Transparent Bridge Mode | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
| Application-based Block | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Advanced Features | ||||
| Site to Site VPN |
1x connection |
1x connections |
10x connections |
10x connections |
| Geo-IP Filtering / Regional Blocking | 10 countries | 10 countries | no limit | no limit |
| Web Portal Access | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Target List (Rules Grouping) | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Blocking History | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Custom or 3rd party software installation | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Inline Firewall | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
| Simple Smart Queue | ✔ | |||
| Advanced Smart Queue + Rate Limit | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
| Content Prioritization | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
| New Device Quarantine | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Docker Containers | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| SSH / Root Access | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| VPN Network Flows | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
| Network Performance Monitoring |
(beta) |
✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Router Features | ||||
| Router | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
|
WAN (PPPoE, Static IP, DHCP, Triple-Play, VLAN) |
✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
| Network segmentation (preset network types, inter-network traffic rules) |
VLAN Only | ✔ | ✔ | |
| VLAN | 5 Max | ✔ | ✔ | |
| Inbound and outbound per segment Firewall | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
| Policy-Based Routing | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
| Policy-Based Routing - VPN | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Multi-WAN Load Balancing + Failover | Wifi + Ethernet | ✔ | ✔ | |
| Link Aggregation (802.3ad) | ✔ | ✔ | ||
Disclaimer: some of the features above may be in beta, and eventually be in production mode.
Comments
23 comments
Are there any subscription fees? Or do I just buy the hardware?
No, there is no subscription fee…
You just buy the hardware and download the free mobile App.
I have Gigabit fiber to my house. I like all the features of BluePlus but don't need the enterprise capabilities of Gold.
Will the packet processing speed of Blue Plus just end up throttling my 1 Gigabit fiber? Can I get a blue plus (feature set) with Gigabit throughput?
The Blue Plus will throttle your speed to around 500mbit. This is not an artificial limit, but rather the CPU doesn't have enough power to sustaining examining packets at gigabit speed.
I really need the features of gold but our speed right now is not in the range stated. We are running at about 25-30 mbps. Will the firewalla gold work with this internet speed?
@Jason, Gold will work with any speed less or equal to gigabit.
I work from home and need good internet reliability, so I have 2 Internet providers - one via cable modem and one via dsl. I could write scripts to leverage Linux advanced networking to create an automatic active/active connection, but I'm wondering if it would be easier to drop a Gold in and be done with it. Is this something that would be fairly straightforward?
@JJ, you should get the Gold, it can do standby/failover or load balancing between two different WAN, more information here https://help.firewalla.com/hc/en-us/articles/360051575473-Firewalla-Gold-Feature-Guide-Multi-WAN
will packet processing speed affect my internet speed? just say my internet package is 1Gbps and i buy blue which has a limit of 500Mbps packet processing speed, will it slowdown to read the packets in SME organization?
The packet processing power is the total CPU power to dig into your network. For example, if you have a blue+, and it is rated 500mbit, this means if your total bandwidth is 1gigabit, once that passes through Firewalla, it will get shaped (reduced to) 500mbit. You can stop monitoring devices to bypass firewalla monitoring, then that traffic is not shaped, it will be 1gbit.
On the Gold it is rated 3Gigabit, this means the gold can process 3 gbit of traffic in parallel. Since each port is 1gbit, the 3gbit is the aggregation of all traffic flowing (LAN to WAN, and LAN to LAN if you are segmenting)
This needs to be updated to add purple..
@sukumar, since the purple is not yet shipped, we do not advertise its capabilities formally on our site. Here is a draft, (reminder, anything here with regard to the purple may change) https://help.firewalla.com/hc/en-us/articles/4403879345939
Where are you with developing a wifi connector for Gold to allow for cell-based hotspot failover? I know this was discussed last year and the supply chain was an issue. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and hoping we are close to getting a valuable failover accessory for my Gold. Thanks for your response.
I found the tables above a little confusing because they appear to be ordered from left to right by date of release instead of increasing features. The date of release is not important to me as a consumer, but the features are.
Hi, What if I already have a VPN services, Can I integrate with Firewalla? by example: ExpressVPN.
Best Regards.
@Rojas, the feature is VPN client, which allows you to use third-party VPN services. https://help.firewalla.com/hc/en-us/articles/360023379953-VPN-Client
I would really love it if you had a virtual machine edition.
Hi Firewalla Team, should the operating temperatures in the comparison be in Celsius instead of Fahrenheit? It just seems like some low values for embedded devices. 45C/113F for a max temperature on my FW Purple seems extremely low. Especially since I'm running consistently at 60C with peaks around 80C. Thanks a bunch, I'm definitely interested in the real op temps.
@Noah, these are operating temperatures, which is the local ambient environment at which a Firewalla operates. (or just the room temperature).
If there is no subscription fee, how does the unit get updates? If there are updates, how long do we get them without subscription and how often do they release?
Hi, can you made the prices in Europe more affordable please? I would love to try the product but the price+ shipping is too high. Thank you!🙏
is Active Protect, Deep Insights, Ad Block, Family Protect, Safe Search, and Family Time/Social Hour available when in bridge/transparent mode?
@USTSG Yes, they are supported. However, VPN client & Policy-based routing are not supported in bridge mode.
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