A simple comparison of what Neurowall offers, how it is priced, and how it differs from other firewall options.
If you want a firewall that runs on standard Linux, is easy to price, and avoids appliance lock-in, Neurowall is built for that.
| Dimension | AWS Network Firewall | FortiGate | pfSense | VyOS | Neurowall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Usage-based cloud pricing. | Quote-based appliance pricing. | Free core edition, paid support. | Subscription with no per-device fee. | Flat per-node pricing. |
| Deployment fit | AWS-first environments. | Appliance or VM deployments. | Physical or virtual deployments. | Cloud, bare metal, and edge. | Standard Linux across cloud, on-prem, and edge. |
| Operational style | AWS-managed. | Vendor platform. | Community-driven. | Automation-friendly. | Simple, API-first, Linux-native. |
| Best for | AWS-only teams. | Large enterprises. | Labs and small teams. | Routing-first teams. | Teams that want a modern, Linux-native network security platform without hardware lock-in. |
Neurowall has been benchmarked across throughput, rule scaling, packet-rate stress, and flood conditions. The useful buyer story is not just headline speed, but how predictably performance changes as policies grow and traffic gets ugly.
| Metric | Tested Result |
|---|---|
| Transport baseline at 20 Gbps offered rate | 19.99 Gbps |
| XDP prefilter | 15.06 Gbps |
| XDP firewall, 10K rules | 12 Gbps |
| XDP + DDoS + 10K rules | 12 Gbps |
| XDP packet rate during 20 Gbps firewall test | ~1.27 Mpps |
| Largest policy configuration tested | 375,000 policies |
| SYN flood generated in 375K-policy test | ~96K PPS |
| ICMP flood generated in 375K-policy test | ~83K PPS |
At a 20 Gbps offered rate, the rule-count scaling stayed essentially flat. The more visible cost is the XDP path itself, not the difference between 0 and 10,000 rules inside that path.
| Configuration | Throughput | vs baseline |
|---|---|---|
| Transport baseline | 19.99 Gbps | — |
| nftables raw, 10K IP rules | 20.00 Gbps | ~0% |
| XDP prefilter only | 15.06 Gbps | -24.7% |
| XDP + rules, 0 rules | 14.76 Gbps | -26.2% |
| XDP + rules, 10K rules | 14.82 Gbps | -25.9% |
| XDP + DDoS + rules, 0 | 13.04 Gbps | -34.8% |
| XDP + DDoS + rules, 10K rules | 13.01 Gbps | -34.9% |
| Policy type | Count |
|---|---|
| IP blocklist entries | 250,000 |
| IP allowlist entries | 100,000 |
| Mixed 3/4/5-tuple firewall rules | 25,000 |
| Total policies loaded | 375,000 |
| Test | Approx. Generated Rate | System Idle | Neurowall Process CPU | Memory |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 375K policies, idle | — | 89.18% | 14.29% | 773 MB |
| SYN flood | ~96K PPS | 74.52% | 23.34% | 754 MB |
| ICMP flood | ~83K PPS | 80.51% | 17.86% | 744 MB |
| Condition | System idle | Neurowall CPU | RSS | XDP/NAPI CPU share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Idle | 89.18% | 14.29% | 773 MB | 0.04% |
| ~96K PPS SYN flood | 74.52% | 23.34% | 754 MB | 14.25% |
| ~83K PPS ICMP flood | 80.51% | 17.86% | 744 MB | 12.00% |
Good if you want AWS-native firewalling and don’t mind usage-based billing.
A mature enterprise option, usually bought through quotes or bundles.
Great for flexible firewalling, especially if you prefer open source.
Strong for routing and automation with a subscription model.
Neurowall is the choice when you want predictable pricing and a firewall that runs on the Linux infrastructure you already have.
Usage-based pricing can be harder to predict.
Usually priced by appliance, VM bundle, or support package.
Good when you want open-source flexibility.
Short version: Neurowall is built for Linux-native gateway deployments with simple, predictable pricing.
| Capability | AWS Network Firewall | FortiGate | pfSense | VyOS | Neurowall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Firewalling | Yes, managed cloud firewall for VPC traffic. | Yes, next-gen firewall platform. | Yes, stateful firewall on FreeBSD. | Yes, nftables-based firewalling. | Yes, Linux-native network security platform with eBPF/XDP fast path. |
| VPN | Not the core product focus. | Available in the FortiGate ecosystem. | Included. | Included. | Included where needed for branch and edge deployments. |
| DDoS protection | Managed protection is available as part of the service and threat-defense options. | Included through Fortinet security services and subscriptions. | Usually handled by separate tooling or packages. | Typically paired with external controls or custom policy. | Built in, with packet-level filtering and attack mitigation. |
| Threat intel feeds | Available through managed AWS rule groups and partner integrations. | Included through Fortinet security services and subscriptions. | Usually handled by separate tooling or plugins. | Usually integrated through the operating model and external tooling. | Built in, with multi-source threat intelligence feeds. |
| L7 controls | Advanced inspection is available as an add-on capability. | Available through NGFW application controls and security services. | Available via firewall rules and related packages. | Available through policy and routing features, depending on deployment. | Built in, including domain-level blocking and application-aware controls. |
| Deployment model | AWS-only service. | Appliance or VM, often vendor ecosystem oriented. | Physical or virtual firewall/router. | Cloud, bare metal, and virtualized Linux deployments. | Standard Linux infrastructure across cloud, on-prem, edge, and Kubernetes ingress. |
| Management | AWS console / IaC / cloud networking constructs. | Vendor UI, APIs, and security management stack. | Web UI, CLI, and community workflows. | CLI-first with APIs and automation support. | REST, gRPC, CLI, and built-in web UI. |