The open-source firewall,
rebuilt in the open.
FreeSense is a free, community-driven firewall & router operating system — a fully open derivative of pfSense® CE, built from source on FreeBSD with signed updates and zero vendor lock-in.
curl -O https://downloads.freesense.org/release/latest/ · amd64 · UEFI & BIOS
Everything you expect from a serious firewall — and nothing locked away.
Truly open source
Every line — base OS, web GUI, packages, and the build pipeline — is public and Apache-2.0 licensed. Build your own from source, or run the signed official images.
Built on FreeBSD
A hardened FreeBSD foundation with pf, the same battle-tested packet filter trusted in production firewalls for two decades.
Signed package updates
Updates and plugins are delivered as cryptographically signed packages from pkg.freesense.org — no full reinstall to stay current.
Familiar web GUI
A complete web interface for firewall rules, NAT, VPNs, DHCP, DNS, traffic shaping, monitoring, and a full package manager.
Reproducible builds
The whole OS is rebuilt automatically on GitHub from upstream FreeBSD sources — no vendor lock-in, no hidden patches, no mystery binaries.
Two release channels
Run stable for production, or track development to ride the latest FreeBSD and features. Switch channels from the update page.
A community fork that gives back.
FreeSense stands on the shoulders of the pfSense® CE project and the FreeBSD operating system. We rebuilt it as a fully open, independently maintained distribution — removing vendor-specific infrastructure and rebuilding everything reproducibly from upstream sources. FreeSense is not affiliated with or endorsed by Netgate.
Read the license & attribution →Ready to try it?
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