I began using Ubiquiti network gear nearly 10 years ago. Prior to that, it was the Linksys WRT54G with modified router firmware. The first piece of Ubiquiti for me was an outdoor wireless access point. This was before the Unifi Security Gateway, aka: USG came onto the scene a couple years later along with the UAP-AC-Pro access points that I am still using today!
Ubiquiti gear is simply a rock solid performer. I have had no complaints over the years. Recently, however, after 8 years of 24×7 servcice, the USG power supply went bad and I replaced it. A week or so later the USG itself just dropped off the network and would not re-adopt. I am guessing it could the internal USB boot stick gone bad, but I had another like unit and adopted that in. After all, this happened at 8am when Wife had to log into work, so time was of the essence, no troubleshooting allowed.
It was then I decided I must upgrade to a new routing solution since the USG is end-of-life. What I realized was that the new breed of Ubiquiti Unifi routers now have the routing and management built in together into on unit, aka, the Dream Machine, and even in the upline products. Furthermore, Ubiquiti is forcing cloud logon in order to set up a new routing device. That is sounding more like Window 11, and lets not forget that Unifi Cloud compromise that was quickly swept under the rug. I dont like cloud anything. Its all gone to far and cloud is constantly hacked no matter the bank, Google, Apple, or otherwise. This is the SOLE reason that I am not going back to the Ubiquiti trough for a routing solution.
Pfsense is a very popular routing software platform. There are many others, OpenSense comes to mind as next in the popularity contest. But pfSense has a huge community following and is under constant development. It make sense to go this route unless something else takes its place. I compare pfSense to Ubuntu, to OpenSense to OpenSuse. I solidified on Ubuntu years ago due to the same community support, not to mention a bit if upper level enterprise development, just like the Netgate/pfSense alignment. Bang, decison done! pfSense it is.
Netgate routers equipped with pfSense and supported by Netgate are very expensive if looking through the price lens. I am looking at building the hardware and installing the software for cheaper, but have not yet firmed up that decision. I need a 1U server format and in these days of “shortage of everything post COVID” prices are getting stupid, even on the used market. Five year old motherboards are still in the $500 range. Dumb! Still looking while my second USG is in service.
Final Words: The Unifi USG has served me well for over 8 years and is now end-of-life. I cannot afford downtime for failing hardware. Unifi products are becoming too Cloud Intrinsic and drives my purchase decision to another direction. pfSense is a superior router OS choice, and it can front-end a Unifi Network, it just wont be adopted and managed in the Unfi application, and that is OK. The rest of my Unifi gear will continue to operate as usual. I can still manage VLANs and other WiFi aspects on the Unifi switches and Access Points. The time has come to become more of a network engineer, in my home, with my home lab and so called production network. Yes, home networks have become that important as more and more people rely upon a rock solid network to work from home.
