Other functions
More bang for free.
All the distros in this Roundup bundle a lot of other functionality besides the firewall. Some distros offer these features as free add-ons while others charge for these additional functionality. While we’ll list all the functionality provided by each distro, in order to be fair to the FOSS distros, we’ll rate all of them based on the modules that are available without any charge.
IPFire can be used as: a VPN gateway; an infrastructure server; a content filter; a proxy server; a caching name server; and an update accelerator etc. When used as an internet gateway the distro can connect to the internet through various technologies, including all popular types of broadband access, as well as mobile access, including VDSL, ADSL, Ethernet and 3G/4G.
Some of the interesting uses for both pfSense and OPNsense are as a traffic shaper, load balancer and VPN. They both offer three options for VPN connectivity including IPsec, OpenVPN and PPTP. Similarly, you can use the Sophos UTM server as a site-to-site VPN solution and configure it to handle VoIP connections and balance load.
Untangle doesn’t ship with any components pre-installed but its recommended package installs over a dozen applications and services including: web filter; virus blocker; spam blocker; bandwidth control; application control; captive portal; WAN balancer; and a firewall among others. Some of the applications that Untangle doesn’t install are the ad blocker, intrusion prevention and web cache. Also unlike the other distros, some of the Untangle applications are paid-for options that only install a 14-day trial version.