Alternatives to Firezone
Open-source, WireGuard-based zero trust access platform with gateways
Firezone ranks #3 of 11 in Mesh VPNs, with an Alt Score of 85. It is licensed under Apache-2.0 + Elastic License 2.0, freemium from $5/user/mo and available on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS and Android. 12 of 12 checklist rows are verified against a public source.
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. It supports SSO (Google, Okta, Entra ID), granular access policies, and internet-egress gateways that function like exit nodes. Firezone positions itself as a modern replacement for legacy corporate VPN gateways.
Firezone is aimed at organizations that need to manage secure remote access to internal infrastructure and services for a distributed workforce, from individuals and small teams (free Starter plan) up to enterprises with SSO/directory-sync and compliance requirements (Enterprise plan).
Firezone provides zero trust network access built on the WireGuard protocol: an admin portal for defining Resources (DNS names, IPs, or CIDR subnets) and Policies that control which user groups can reach them, OIDC/SSO authentication, NAT traversal and Split DNS, audit logging, and native Clients for Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android.
Firezone-managed components (the admin portal and a WebSocket-based control plane API) run as Firezone's hosted SaaS and coordinate configuration and WireGuard key distribution; you deploy lightweight Gateway binaries on your own infrastructure (Docker, systemd, or standalone) to broker connections, and Clients connect through Gateways to reach only the specific Resources a Policy allows.
Why people leave Firezone
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Ranked alternatives
Ordered by Alt Score. Click any score to see the breakdown.
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.
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.
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
Rows come from the Mesh VPNs checklist (16 rows). Human-verified cells only. ? means the value has not been verified.
| Mesh VPNs checklist | Firezone | NetBird | ZeroTier | Headscale | Netmaker | OpenZiti |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 Firezone is verified against its own pages. Each alternative is sourced on its own page.
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Pricing model Freemium verified 2026-07-30
Starter is free; Team ($/user/mo) and Enterprise (custom) are paid tiers.
The Starter plan is free to use without limitation. No credit card is required to get started.
https://www.firezone.dev/pricing -
Starts at $5/user/mo verified 2026-07-30
Team plan pricing card shows $5/user/month (list, shown struck through) next to $4.16/user/month (discounted annual-billing rate), both labeled 'per user/month'. Enterprise is custom/contact sales.
$5
https://www.firezone.dev/pricing -
Status active verified 2026-07-30
Actively releasing; security-advisories page also shows advisories dated as recently as June 2026.
Latest Gateway version Version: 1.5.2 Released: April 27, 2026
https://www.firezone.dev/changelog -
License Apache-2.0 + Elastic License 2.0 verified 2026-07-30
Split license: clients/gateway (rust/, kotlin/, swift/, root) are Apache-2.0. The portal/control-plane code in elixir/LICENSE is Elastic License 2.0, which states: 'You may not provide the software to
Apache License Version 2.0, January 2004
https://github.com/firezone/firezone/blob/main/LICENSE -
Platforms Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android verified 2026-07-30
Confirmed individually via kb/install/ios, kb/install/android, kb/install/windows, kb/install/macos, kb/install/linux. No web client or browser extension found; the admin portal is a management consol
The official Firezone Client applications are hosted from the following locations
https://www.firezone.dev/kb/architecture/core-components -
WireGuard-based Yes verified 2026-07-30
Firezone is built on WireGuard ®, a fast, provably-secure VPN protocol.
https://www.firezone.dev/kb/architecture -
Self-hostable control plane No verified 2026-07-30
Current architecture (v1.x) splits components: only Gateways and Clients are user-managed/self-hosted; the admin portal and Control plane API ('Firezone-managed components') are Firezone's hosted SaaS
The admin portal is delivered as a managed SaaS application that's load-balanced globally for high availability.
https://www.firezone.dev/kb/architecture/core-components -
NAT traversal Yes verified 2026-07-30
Firezone Gateways perform secure NAT traversal for you.
https://www.firezone.dev/kb/common-workflows/private-network -
Exit nodes Yes verified 2026-07-30
Firezone doesn't use the term 'exit node' but documents this exact pattern as a 'NAT Gateway configuration' for routing all outbound traffic through one Gateway's public IP.
your team's traffic will be routed to a Firezone Gateway and then out to the internet using its public IP address.
https://www.firezone.dev/kb/common-workflows/nat-gateway -
ACLs / access rules Yes verified 2026-07-30
Listed as 'Resource-level access policies', available on every plan including the free Starter tier.
Control access to Resources based on user identity and group
https://www.firezone.dev/pricing -
SSO integration Yes verified 2026-07-30
OpenID Connect authentication is available on all plans (including free Starter). Directory sync with Google Workspace/Entra/Okta is gated to Team/Enterprise.
Authenticate users with any OIDC-compatible provider
https://www.firezone.dev/pricing -
Device limit (free tier) Yes verified 2026-07-30
Starter (free) is capped at 3 connected clients per user. Pricing table 'Connected Clients' row: Starter (free) allows 3 per user, Team allows 5 per user, Enterprise is unlimited.
Any device or machine that the Firezone Client connects from
https://www.firezone.dev/pricing -
MagicDNS-style naming Partial verified 2026-07-30
Firezone lets admins define DNS-name Resources (with wildcard matching) that clients resolve/route through Firezone, i.e. Split DNS. It does not auto-assign a short hostname to every connected device
Firezone includes a sophisticated DNS routing system available on all plans that provides Split DNS and fallback resolver configuration for each Firezone Client.
https://www.firezone.dev/kb/maintain/dns -
Subnet routing Yes verified 2026-07-30
we'll be using Firezone to secure access to a private subnet behind a firewall
https://www.firezone.dev/kb/common-workflows/private-network -
Open source clients Yes verified 2026-07-30
Confirmed in the GitHub repo: root LICENSE (covering rust/, kotlin/, swift/ client and gateway code) is Apache-2.0; only elixir/ (the hosted portal) carries the separate Elastic License 2.0.
Open source : All source code is available for anyone to audit on GitHub .
https://www.firezone.dev/kb/architecture -
Audit published Partial verified 2026-07-30
Resolved vulnerabilities are publicly listed on the security-advisories page, but the formal pentest and SOC 2 compliance reports themselves are gated to the Enterprise plan per the pricing page ('Fir
an independent third party performs penetration testing at least annually
https://www.firezone.dev/kb/legal/vulnerability-disclosure -
Mobile support Yes verified 2026-07-30
Firezone supports iOS with a native client available in the iOS App Store.
https://www.firezone.dev/kb/install/ios
FAQ
Yes. ZeroTier, Headscale and Tailscale have a free tier or are fully free. Free-tier limits in the comparison table are verified and dated.
NetBird, ZeroTier and Headscale — every license claim links its source.