Pfsense machine or gigabit router?

[nryunger]

Hello SNB community!

I am lucky enough to have access to 1 Gbps fiber internet in my city, and I will be getting it shortly, so it is time to upgrade my network equipment. I have been researching online for the past several days and I am trying to decide what my best option would be to get the most out of my gigabit internet.

I have looked into building a pfsense machine or purchasing something like this and installing pfsense. The cost to build a pfsense machine to do what I want( gigabit throughput, NAT, and VPN) would be 300+ from everything I have read. I am wondering if pfsense machines are significantly better than a good router, or if a 100-200 dollar router would be the better choice, since I am not sure I want to spend the 300+ dollars and the hassle of setting it up. According to SNB this router has 850 WAN to LAN throughput and its 100 dollars.

Any help in better determining the pros and cons between the two would be greatly appreciated, especially on the router side. I am a huge networking noob so I am kind of lost.

Thanks

 

[System Error Message]

consumer devices use hardware NAT to get gigabit speed which means not being able to use other features. Go with the pfsense and learn up.