I have been using pfsense for many years after using proprietary hardware such as Firebox and Juniper. It has served me very well and I have become used to the interface.

However, I'd like to test openwrt as a router but am not sure I am comparing apples to apples here.
Pfsense to me is a full out firewall which I've been able to use in both home and business situations where there was a complex LAN behind it.

Openwrt on the other hand seems to be more of a smaller level firewall, more like what you'd find built into a standard modem or router.

Am I missing something or am I on track?

First off your primary baseline would be comparing the hardware that you intend to use. OpenWRT/LEDE typically gets deployed as firmware for smaller/consumer type embedded routing equipment. That's not to say you can't install it on an X86 platform in the same way you do pfsense, just make sure you include that as part of your plan or understand the difference.

(Maybe a better question is what is there about pfsense that is pushing you away from it and what is there about OpenWRT/LEDE that you see as a draw?)

Realistically if you put both on equal hardware you should not see any significant differences in performance. Software wise the interfaces will definitely differ but I doubt there's anything you can ONLY do on PFsense that would not be possible on OpenWRT/LEDE... it just might not be as upfront/readily available. Depends entirely on what your requirements are and what you're trying to achieve.

Hi, thanks for the reply.

I am thinking hardware like the TP-Link Archer C7 AC1750 for example, not the small mini routers.

Nothing is pushing me away from pfsense, I'll be using it for a long time to come and very often suggest it to others.
Mainly, I am interested in learning more about openwrt as a router since I've never actually used openwrt for it's router functionality, usually always as a simple Linux device. For example, loggers, IP cameras, just never as a router.

I think openwrt is more of a home solution, similar to what comes on consumer grade routers/firewalls. I understand your point about interfaces also.

Thanks, I think you've helped to clear this up for me.