I have two 2014 Mac Minis running pfSense at home. I run two physical networks, one inside the other for obvious reasons. If you have to ask, then you wouldn’t understand. What is important here is that you can buy these computers for dirt cheap, and with pfSense and a USB NIC, bob’s your uncle. Yes it can be done, and they work great. I am not using virtual machines, pfSense is running on the metal.
2014 Mac Mini with pfSense