Protectli Vault Pro VP2420 review

The VP2420 is a bare firewall appliance. It has four Intel I226-V 2.5GbE RJ-45 ports, two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports and a console port. It is built around an Intel Celeron J6412 with four cores and four threads, a 2.0GHz base clock and a burst of up to 2.6GHz. Protectli doesn't fix an operating system to it. The vendor states compatibility with a variety of operating systems, including open source firewall projects. You choose the software and install it yourself.

Check this before anything else. The product is listed as out of stock, with bulk-only availability. The manufacturer says the VP2420 has been replaced by the VP2420e, which differs only by removing eMMC storage. If you want this hardware, the VP2420e is the model to look at. The rest of this review applies to both, going by that statement.

The research gives VPN figures from vendor tests, and they don't all agree. OPNsense WireGuard is listed at about 1200Mbps site-to-site. pfSense IPsec is about 1700Mbps. pfSense WireGuard is about 2250Mbps, but that conflicts with the OPNsense WireGuard figure and the test conditions aren't fully stated. Treat the numbers as vendor claims and expect a spread depending on software and setup. The CPU lists AES-NI.

The manufacturer doesn't list an IDS/IPS throughput figure in the research. Owners raise this as the main negative: limited CPU headroom under heavy IDS/IPS inspection. With four cores, a 2.6GHz burst ceiling and that owner feedback, it suits routing, firewall rules and VPN work better than a heavily tuned intrusion prevention ruleset on a fast line.

Four 2.5GbE ports give you room for a WAN link, a LAN and two more segments, such as a DMZ or a lab network. The ports are all RJ-45. The research lists no SFP or SFP+ cages, so anyone planning fibre uplinks should look elsewhere. The research also doesn't state VLAN support, so check that against the firewall software you plan to run.

Because the box is software-agnostic, features depend on what you install. The vendor's own test figures name pfSense and OPNsense, so those are the obvious choices. You can pick between an AMI BIOS and coreboot. Owners single out the Coreboot firmware option as a positive.

Memory is one SO-DIMM slot, DDR4-3200, up to 32GB. With a single slot and a 32GB ceiling, it suits a firewall plus a few packages or containers more than several virtual machines. The CPU lists VT-x and VT-d, so virtualisation features are present.

The research doesn't cover firmware update frequency, published advisories or fix times for this model. Nothing here shows how quickly problems get patched, so you can't judge the record either way. The manufacturer's datasheet is dated 2025. The research gives no release date. Check Protectli's support pages and your chosen firewall project's advisory feed before buying.

No paid subscription is listed, so core features don't depend on a licence. You get a two-year factory warranty, which can be extended. Owners describe the unit as very power efficient for the performance it delivers. The research gives no idle wattage figure, so you can't put a number on the electricity cost from what's here. Owners also praise value and build quality, and that includes the warranty.

The VP2420 is a firewall appliance for routing and VPN work, with four 2.5GbE ports and no paid subscription listed. Its weak spot is heavy IDS/IPS load, where owners report limited CPU headroom. Buy it, or the VP2420e that replaces it, if routing and VPN matter most and you are happy to install and manage your own firewall software.