pfSense Hardware Guide: What to Actually Buy

Thu, 13 Aug 2026 14:31:25 -0400

Short answer: for most homes, an Intel N100 mini PC with two or more Intel i226-V ports, 8 GB of RAM, and a small SSD handles a gigabit connection without effort and draws about as much power as a light bulb. If you’d rather not think about it, a Netgate appliance starts at $269 with pfSense Plus included.

The rest of this post is about the decisions underneath that answer — because the specification that matters most isn’t the CPU, and two of the numbers you’ll see quoted everywhere don’t mean what they appear to mean.

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pfSense Hardware Guide: What to Actually Buy