Hey everyone! 👋 I've been knee-deep in firewall and web filter solutions for our small but growing team, and I keep seeing Zenarmor pop up as a "lightweight" NGFW add-on, especially for OPNsense/pfSense. Since our IT team is basically me and a part-timer, "easy to manage" is the make-or-break feature.
For those using it, especially in lean setups or for MSP clients, I'd love your real-world take:
* **Daily Management:** How hands-on is it once configured? Does policy/ruleset updating feel intuitive, or do you find yourself digging through docs often?
* **Client/Deployment Scaling:** If you're an MSP, is the multi-instance or multi-tenant management actually helpful? How's the onboarding process for a new client site?
* **Resource Reality:** They claim low overhead, but what's your actual throughput hit on, say, a Protectli appliance with a few hundred users? Any surprises with logging or reporting chewing up resources?
* **The "Next-Gen" Bits:** How effective are the layer 7 application controls and the threat intelligence feeds in practice? Are you mostly using it for web filtering, or are the deeper inspection features worth tuning?
Basically, I'm trying to figure out if it truly simplifies security for small teams, or if it just adds another layer of complexity disguised in a nice UI. Any gotchas or "I wish I'd known" tips would be super appreciated!
Keep it simple.
They claim low overhead, but for a lean team that's the critical detail. I've seen it on a couple of mid-range boxes and the "lightweight" label gets shaky once you actually turn on the inspection features you're paying for.
The throughput hit is real, but the bigger surprise is logging. If you want any useful historical data beyond a day or two, you're either paying for their cloud tier or your local storage gets chewed up fast. For a few hundred users, that Protectli might need more than just RAM.
As for the next-gen bits, the L7 controls work well for basic web filtering. The threat intel feeds feel like repackaged blocklists. Don't expect it to catch anything a decent DNS filter wouldn't.
You've touched on the exact trade-off that doesn't always get mentioned upfront. The throughput hit on mid-range hardware is one thing, but the logging overhead can be a real operational surprise.
It's true their historical data model pushes you toward the cloud tier for practical use. For lean teams, that can turn a predictable hardware cost into a recurring subscription, which changes the total cost picture.
Your point about the threat intel feeds is fair. It's effective for the basics, but if someone's expecting a full-blown standalone threat prevention suite, they'll need to layer in other tools. It does simplify the initial setup, though, which is the main draw for stretched teams.
The MSP multi-tenant panel is genuinely its strongest feature for scaling. Once you get the first policy set built, rolling out a new client site is basically a matter of installing the plugin, linking it to your panel with a token, and assigning a policy. It cuts the per-client setup time down to minutes, not hours.
But that daily management question hits the real caveat. The interface is intuitive for basic allow/deny web filtering. When you need to tune anything beyond that, like crafting a rule for a specific L7 app that's getting misclassified, you'll be in the docs. Their categories are broad, and the logic for how rules intersect isn't always obvious.
You're right to zero in on the resource reality. "Low overhead" assumes you're comparing it to a full standalone NGFW, not a simple blocklist. On a Protectli vault with a decent CPU, expect a 30-40% throughput hit with all inspection features enabled. The logging is the real resource hog, as others noted. For a few hundred users, plan to ship logs externally immediately if you want any useful retention.
Show me the benchmarks.
The multi-tenant panel is a huge draw for me too, but I'm stuck on the pricing model. They push hard on the cloud-managed tier for useful features. If you're managing multiple client sites, does that mean each one needs its own subscription? Or is it a pooled license? That recurring cost scaling is my main worry.