Alternatives to Defguard
Self-hosted WireGuard VPN and SSO gateway with built-in MFA
Defguard ranks #9 of 11 in Mesh VPNs, with an Alt Score of 70. It is licensed under AGPL-3.0 (core), Proprietary (enterprise module), freemium and available on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS and Android. 9 of 12 checklist rows are verified against a public source.
Defguard is an open-source, Rust-built WireGuard VPN manager that adds multi-factor authentication, an identity/SSO gateway, and a web UI for managing peers, gateways, and access policies. It's built for teams that want a self-hosted, enterprise-grade WireGuard mesh without relying on a third-party cloud control plane, and it ships both a free open-source edition and a paid enterprise tier.
Defguard is aimed at organizations that need to give employees and network devices remote access to internal infrastructure - IT/security teams replacing legacy SSL-VPN or hardware VPN appliances (Cisco, Fortinet, SonicWall) who want a self-hosted, WireGuard-based access control plane rather than a third-party cloud VPN service.
A self-hostable WireGuard VPN control plane with a built-in OpenID Connect identity provider, connection-level multi-factor authentication (TOTP, email OTP, biometrics, hardware keys), LDAP/Active Directory sync, firewall-style access control lists, activity and audit logging with SIEM streaming, and desktop (Windows/macOS/Linux) plus mobile (iOS/Android) clients. External SSO login (Google, Microsoft, Okta, JumpCloud) and some higher-end features (ACLs, high availability, SIEM streaming) sit behind the paid Business/Enterprise tiers.
Administrators deploy a Core component (identity, users, configuration) inside their private network, a stateless Proxy component with the only public endpoint used for enrollment/onboarding, and one or more Gateway components that terminate WireGuard tunnels for defined VPN 'Locations'. Desktop and mobile clients enroll via a token-based process, receive their WireGuard configuration automatically, and can be required to complete MFA at the protocol level before a tunnel is established; per-location Allowed IPs and firewall rules then control which internal subnets each client can reach.
Why people leave Defguard
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Ranked alternatives
Ordered by Alt Score. Click any score to see the breakdown.
Firezone is an open-source, self-hostable remote access platform built on WireGuard that creates direct, encrypted peer connections between users and internal resources through lightweight gateways.
Headscale is an open-source coordination/control server that is API-compatible with the official Tailscale client apps, letting teams self-host their own control plane while keeping the same mobile an.
OpenZiti is an open-source, programmable zero-trust networking platform stewarded by NetFoundry that builds an overlay fabric of routers and identities instead of exposing listening ports on hosts.
Nebula is an open-source peer-to-peer mesh networking tool originally built and battle-tested internally at Slack before being open-sourced.
innernet is an open-source tool built by Tonari that wraps raw WireGuard to automate peer key exchange and IP address allocation for private mesh networks, similar in goal to Nebula and early Tailscal.
Feature comparison
How Defguard compares with its alternatives, feature by feature.
| Mesh VPNs checklist | Defguard | NetBird | ZeroTier | Firezone | Headscale | Netmaker |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | ||||||
| Starts at | ||||||
| License | ||||||
| Platforms | ||||||
| WireGuard-based | ||||||
| Self-hostable control plane | ||||||
| NAT traversal | ||||||
| Exit nodes | ||||||
| ACLs / access rules | ||||||
| SSO integration | ||||||
| Device limit (free tier) | ||||||
| MagicDNS-style naming | ||||||
| Subnet routing | ||||||
| Open source clients | ||||||
| Audit published | ||||||
| Mobile support |
Every fact and feature listed for Defguard is verified against its own pages. Each alternative is sourced on its own page.
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Platforms Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android verified 2026-07-30
Desktop clients are available for Windows, macOS, and Linux. To use mobile apps available for iOS and Android, you need Defguard server.
https://defguard.net/wireguard-client/ -
Status active verified 2026-07-30
Defguard 2.0 stable is now available. This release introduces faster setup, high-availability improvements, firewall management updates, and static IP assignment for users and devices.
https://defguard.net/releases/2.0.0/features/ -
License AGPL-3.0 (core), Proprietary (enterprise module) verified 2026-07-30
crates/defguard_core/src/enterprise" directory, is licensed under the AGPL license... Enterprise License: All code in this repository (including within the "c" — Same dual-license split (AGPL-3.0 core + proprietary Enterprise License) confirmed identically in DefGuard/client and DefGuard/gateway LICENSE.md files. The Enterprise License (crates/defguard_core/sr
The code, except for the contents of the
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/DefGuard/defguard/stable/2.x/LICENSE.md -
Pricing model Freemium verified 2026-07-30
Open Source tier is free/unlimited (self-hosted). Business tier is free up to 10 users & 1 location, paid beyond that via an interactive calculator. Enterprise is custom/contact sales.
Open Source ... Always free ... Business ... Start for free ... Configurable package - free up to 10 users and 1 location ... Enterprise ... Custom
https://defguard.net/pricing/ -
WireGuard-based Yes verified 2026-07-30
Defguard uses the WireGuard protocol for VPN infrastructure access. It is technologically and security-wise more modern and secure than SSL VPN and IPsec.
https://defguard.net/faq/ -
Self-hostable control plane Yes verified 2026-07-30
Our Control Plane (controlling other components and user/network data) can be deployed in the Intranet segment, not accessible from the Internet ever!
https://defguard.net/security/ -
ACLs / access rules Yes verified 2026-07-30
Tier-gated: the pricing page lists 'Firewall (ACLs)' under the Business plan ('Everything in Open Source, plus:'), i.e. not included in the free/unlimited Open Source tier - Business is free only up t
Yes, Defguard supports Access Control Lists (ACLs) starting from version 1.3. This feature enables administrators to define and manage precise access rules for network resources...
https://defguard.net/faq/ -
SSO integration Yes verified 2026-07-30
CONFLICT flagged: acting as an OIDC identity provider ("log in with Defguard") is Open Source/free. But logging INTO Defguard via external SSO (Google/Microsoft/Okta/Keycloak/JumpCloud) is tier-gated
Defguard has also built in SSO based on OpenID Connect, so you can migrate your apps to authorize with Defguard instead of 3rd party service (and this is an Open Source feature)!
https://defguard.net/faq/ -
MagicDNS-style naming No verified 2026-07-30
This is admin-configured DNS-server-and-search-domain forwarding per Location, not automatic per-device hostname registration (e.g. device.tailnet-name) the way MagicDNS-style naming works; no such au
DNS - one or more DNS server IP addresses the client should use while the tunnel is up... Search domain - a domain that is automatically appended to unqualified hostnames.
https://docs.defguard.net/features/wireguard/dns-and-domains.md -
Subnet routing Yes verified 2026-07-30
To configure split tunnel routing, you need to add the networks that should always route through your VPN connection to the Allowed IPs configuration in the VPN Location.
https://docs.defguard.net/features/wireguard/create-your-vpn-network/split-tunnel-configuration.md -
Open source clients Yes verified 2026-07-30
Client repo (DefGuard/client) confirms the same AGPL-3.0-core / proprietary-enterprise-module split as the server; the enterprise-only portion of the client is not open source.
Dual license with Open Source AGPLv3 core
https://defguard.net/wireguard-client/ -
Audit published Yes verified 2026-07-30
As far as we know, we are the only VPN solution that publishes detailed penetration testing reports from periodic security audits conducted by ISEC on all Defguard components.
https://defguard.net/security/ -
Mobile support Yes verified 2026-07-30
Mobile apps require pairing with a self-hosted Defguard server; see FAQ: 'To use mobile apps available for iOS and Android, you need Defguard server.'
Mobile clients AppStore Download Google Play Download
https://defguard.net/download/
FAQ
Yes. ZeroTier, Firezone and Headscale have a free tier or are fully free. Free-tier limits in the comparison table are verified and dated.
NetBird, ZeroTier and Firezone — every license claim links its source.