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This is alist of router and firewall distributions, which are operating systems designed for use asrouters and/orfirewalls.
| Name | Status | Type | Architecture | Min hardware requirements | License | Cost | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alpine Linux | Active | Linux distribution | x86,x86-64,ARM | Open source | Free | Linux distribution running from aRAM drive. Its original target was small appliances like routers, VPN gateways, or embeddedx86 devices. However, it supports hosting other Linux guest OSes under LXC control, making it an attractive hosting solution as well. UsesBusybox andmusl. | |
| ClearOS | Discontinued | Red Hat Enterprise Linux derivative | x86,x86-64 | GPL and others | Free or paid registration | Router and firewall for SMBs with network, gateway and server modules accessed through WebConfig. A paid registration for extra online services is available, but not necessary for operation of the product. | |
| Cumulus Linux | Discontinued | Debian derivative | ? | Free with registration, or paid subscription. | Open source Linux based networking operating system for bare metal switches. | ||
| DD-WRT | Active | Linux distribution | MIPS,x86,ARM | ? | Free or paid registration forx86 | Embedded Linux firmware distribution available on a variety of wireless routers. | |
| Endian Firewall | Active | Linux distribution | x86-64 | ? | Free (PC) or hardware version | UTM distribution with routing, firewall, anti-spam and anti-virus for web, FTP and e-mail, OpenVPN, IPsec,captive portal functionality, and captive portal (missing incommunity version).Endian Firewall Community (EFW) is a complete version for x86. The anti-virus for EFW isSophos orClamAV. The intrusion protection isSnort. | |
| fli4l | Active | Linux distribution | x86,x86-64 | GPL (Free software) | Free | Linux-based router project supporting a large set of layer-1 technologies (e.g. Ethernet LAN, Wireless LAN, ISDN, DSL, UMTS), layer-3 protocols and functionality (IPv4, IPv6, stateful packet filter), and various network-related functionality (e.g. Bridging, Bonding, VLANs; DNS, DHCPv4, DHCPv6, IPv6 RA; PPP (client+server), PPTP (client+server), Multilink PPP, OpenVPN, 6in4 tunneling; support for various DynDNS clients, NTP time synchronization). It is easily extendable by a large number of additional packages. | |
| floppyfw | Unmaintained | Linux distribution | x86 | ? | Free | Single-floppy router with Linux's advanced firewall capabilities. | |
| FRRouting | Active | GPL2 | Free Range Routing or FRRouting or FRR is a network routing software suite running on Unix-like platforms, particularly Linux, Solaris, OpenBSD, FreeBSD and NetBSD. | ||||
| Gargoyle | Active | Linux distribution | MIPS,x86-64 | A free OpenWrt-based Linux distribution for a range of Broadcom and Atheros chipset based wireless routers. | |||
| Global Technology Associates, Inc. | Discontinued | FreeBSD derivative | x86 | ? | Free (limited functionality) or paid | GB-OS firewall andUTM appliance. | |
| IPFire | Active | Linux distribution | x86,x86-64,ARM | RAM : 1 GB Storage : 4 GB | GPLv3 | Free | IPFire is a hardened Open Source Linux distribution that primarily performs as a Router and a Firewall; a standalone firewall system with a web-based management console for configuration. |
| Kerio Control | Active | Linux | x86-64 | Proprietary | Paid hardware or virtual appliance | Router/firewall distribution. | |
| LEAF Project | Active | Linux distribution | x86 | GNU General Public License version 2.0 (GPLv2), MIT License | Free | linux Embedded Appliance Framework; a customizable embedded Linux network appliance used as an Internet gateway, router, firewall, and wireless access point. | |
| LibreCMC | Active | Linux-libre | MIPS | GPLv2 | Free | Linux-libre distribution for computers with minimal resources, such as theBen NanoNote,ath9k-basedWi-Fi routers, and other hardware with emphasis onfree software. Based onOpenWrt, the project's goal is to aim for compliance with theGNU Free System Distribution Guidelines (GNU FSDG) and ensure that the project continues to meet these requirements set forth by theFree Software Foundation (FSF). LibreCMC does not supportac (Wi-Fi 5) orax (Wi-Fi 6) due to a lack of free chipsets. | |
| m0n0wall | Discontinued | FreeBSD derivative | x86 | ? | Free | Development ended 2015-02-15. Small web-administrative router/firewall/VPN (IPsec/PPTP only; no OpenVPN) distribution. m0n0wall was forked to smallwall.org shortly after Manuel Kasper announced end of development for m0n0wall. | |
| Openwall | Active | Linux | x86,x86-64 | ? | Free | GNU/*/Linux (or Owl for short) is a small security-enhanced Linux distribution for servers, appliances, and virtual appliances. Effectively at end of life. | |
| OpenWrt | Active | Linux | x86,x86-64,MIPS,ARM,PowerPC,AVR32,CRIS,m68k,SPARC,SuperH,Ubicom32, etc. | GPL V2 | Free | Linux distribution with a focus onCPE-routers and similar embedded devices. Its comprehensive build system is based on a heavily modifieduClibc#Buildroot and suitable forembedded systems in general. | |
| OPNsense | Active | FreeBSD derivative, fork ofpfSense | x86-64 | FreeBSD License | Free or paid | Forward caching proxy, traffic shaping, intrusion detection, two-factor authentication, IPsec and OpenVPN[1] | |
| pfSense | Active | FreeBSD derivative, fork ofm0n0wall | x86-64,ARM | Closed & Open source licenses | Free as PfSense CE or paid on Netgate Devices asPfSense Plus | Customized distribution tailored for use as a firewall, router, DHCP server, gateway, OpenVPN, IPsec, proxy and anti-virus (Snort). | |
| Smoothwall | Active (Closed Source) | Linux distribution | x86 | Closed & Open source licenses | Free or paid | Router/firewall distribution with a web interface and light terminal. | |
| Sophos | Active | Linux derivative | x86-64 | ? | Free, Paid or hardware/virtual appliance | UTM - offers free home use for up to 50 clients. Provides HTTP/S web filtering, spam filtering, antivirus (web and email), VPN (PPTP and a HTML5 agentless VPN) and Point-to-point links between UTM and other devices via IPSec and SSL-VPN. Formerly Astaro Security Gateway.[2] | |
| Tomato Firmware | Active | Linux distribution | Broadcom only:MIPS,ARM | GPL V3 | Free | FreeHyperWRT-based, Linux core firmware distribution for many Broadcom-based wireless routers, originally Linksys WRT54G. Ported to ARM-based consumer routers.[3] Now active under the FreshTomato Fork | |
| Vyatta | Discontinued | Linux distribution | x86,x86-64 | ? | Paid | Enterprise-class router, firewall, VPN, intrusion protection and more delivered as a complete network operating system that runs onx86 hardware or inXenServer,VMware orHyper-V to provide vFirewall, vRouter network virtualization functionality. | |
| VyOS | Active | Linux distribution | x86,x86-64 | RAM : 512MB Storage : 2GB (recommended) | GPL v2 | Free "snapshot" builds or self-compiled. Stable builds require subscription | Based on Vyatta. After Brocade halted development of Vyatta CE (free edition) in favor of the subscription edition, this project aims to keep open source development going. But have switched to a paid subscription model too. |
| Windows RRAS | Active | Windows add-in feature | x86,x86-64 | ? | Requires prerequisite Windows OS license | Windows Routing and Remote Access Service is a feature that can be installed on Windows (mainly server) Operating Systems, and can perform routing functions, NAT, and implement firewall rules. | |
| Zentyal (formerly eBox Platform) | Active | Ubuntu derivative | x86,x86-64 | Open source | Free with paid services available | Zentyal is an open-source router/firewall and small business server. | |
| Zeroshell | Discontinued | Linux distribution | x86,ARM | GPL V2 | Free (contribution required for some graphing functions) | Web-administrative router/firewall live CD with QoS features. It is also able to act as a Wi-Fi access point with advanced features such as the multiple SSID and 802.1x RADIUS authentication. Zeroshell supports VLAN trunking (802.1q), bridging, WAN load balancing, and fail-over features. |