#15 of 18 firewall and router platforms · Updated October 2026
TNSR review 2026
Netgate TNSR · Narrow specialist
TNSR ranks #15 of 18 firewall and router platforms in the Firewall and Router Ledger 2026, with a Ledger Index of 48.6 out of 100. TNSR is a VPP router with BGP, OSPF and IPsec at line rate on commodity x86, a stateful firewall since 2025 and no threat, web or captive portal layer.
Scores
Source: Firewall and Router Ledger 2026, edition 2026-10-16. How each score works: methodology.
Pros
- Routing and WAN4/5
- High availability and performance4/5
Cons
- Threat protection2/5
- Network services2.5/5
- Observability2.5/5
What the Ledger says
TNSR scores as a router first: BGP, OSPF, IS-IS and IPsec run on the VPP dataplane with DPDK, and 26.02 added firewall state sync between HA peers. It scores low on threat protection and network services because it has no TLS inspection, web or DNS filtering, captive portal or web UI, so it fits a data centre edge or a lab that wants throughput over features. A buyer should confirm the current price and whether a free lab edition still exists before planning on it, because the 2020 price list is the last public number and Home+Lab has left the product pages. The lack of a published support window is the main lifecycle gap.
TNSR has no AI features and announces none. Its model-driven RESTCONF API is the one asset an automation agent can use today.
Capability by area
Buying, lock-in and release record
Buying and licence (commercial risk)(lower is better)
- Price and licence volatility3
- Per-instance pricing since 2020 with no current public number; the free Home+Lab edition is no longer visible on the product pages (status unconfirmed)
- Purchase constraints3.5
- Subscription only; package repositories need a business subscription; lab evaluation by request to sales
- Channel and access2.5
- Direct sales, resellers and AWS and Azure Marketplace; update certificates tied to the subscription
- Owner stability2
- Small private company, same owner since the first release; no acquisition
- Cost of staying supported2.5
- Annual subscription per instance; no LTS, so staying supported means following the four-monthly releases
Technical lock-in(lower is better)
- Formats2
- Clixon configuration exportable as text through the CLI and RESTCONF; TNSR-specific syntax
- Export path2
- No converter to or from pfSense or other platforms; FRRouting and strongSwan configuration concepts carry over
- Stack coupling1
- Any network and storage; runs alone
- Hardware / cloud coupling1.5
- x86 with SSE4.2 and DPDK-compatible NICs; Secure Boot must be disabled; Netgate appliances optional
- Skills and tooling coupling2.5
- VPP, FRRouting and YANG skills transfer; the CLI is TNSR's own
Release credibility
- Cadence3.5
- Version names show a release about every four months (25.02, 25.06, 25.10, 26.02); no release found after 26.02.2 by October 2026; no published schedule
- Roadmap transparency1.5
- Release notes public; no public roadmap or tracker
- Say-do3
- No dated promises found to test
- Velocity2.5
- 26.02 brought HA state sync, upstream VPP and DPDK bumps and fixes; one substantive capability per release
- Lifecycle stability2.5
- No published support policy; upgrades are in place and documented per release
Partners and services
- Partner programme openness2.5
- Netgate reseller programme; terms not published
- Multi-tenancy and self-service0.5
- No tenant model or central manager
- API and infrastructure-as-code3
- Complete RESTCONF and NETCONF API; no vendor Terraform or Ansible content
- Skills and certification1.5
- Documentation and TAC; no certification found
Alternatives to TNSR
Questions about TNSR
Is TNSR any good?
TNSR ranks #15 of 18 firewall and router platforms in the Firewall and Router Ledger 2026, with a Ledger Index of 48.6 out of 100. Its strongest areas are routing and wan, high availability and performance. Its weakest are threat protection, network services, observability.
What are the best alternatives to TNSR?
The closest by Ledger Index are IPFire (48.1), Forcepoint NGFW (47.3), Arista NG Firewall (46.4), OpenWrt (51.8).
How is TNSR licensed and sold?
Per-instance pricing since 2020 with no current public number; the free Home+Lab edition is no longer visible on the product pages (status unconfirmed).
How much lock-in does TNSR bring?
TNSR scores 9 out of 25 on technical lock-in (lower is better). Export path: No converter to or from pfSense or other platforms; FRRouting and strongSwan configuration concepts carry over.
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