# Alternatives to OpenZiti 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. Teams use it to connect devices, services, and private networks with policy-based authorization and SSO/OIDC integration, and developers can embed zero-trust connectivity directly into applications via its SDKs. It's positioned as a more application-aware alternative to WireGuard-mesh tools like Tailscale and Headscale. OpenZiti ranks #6 of 11 in Mesh VPNs, with an Alt Score of 78. It is licensed under Apache-2.0, open source with paid hosting from Free and available on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS and Android. 11 of 12 checklist rows are verified against a public source. Source: https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/openziti/ Category: Mesh VPNs ## Overview - **Who it's for**: Developers, platform teams, and organizations that need to replace traditional VPN or firewall-based remote access with identity-based access to internal services, APIs, IoT devices, and non-human workloads across on-prem, multi-cloud, and hybrid environments. - **What you get**: A self-hostable, open-source (Apache-2.0) overlay network consisting of a controller, a mesh of edge routers, tunneler apps for Linux, Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android, and SDKs (Go, C, Java/Kotlin, Swift, Node.js, C#, Python) for embedding zero-trust connectivity directly into applications. NetFoundry, the project's sponsor, separately sells a managed hosted version of the same technology. - **How it works**: Every user, service, or device is issued a cryptographic (x509) identity, and connections are mutually authenticated (mTLS) and authorized against service and edge-router policies before any traffic flows. Services and private routers make only outbound connections to the mesh fabric, so they have no open listening ports ("dark" services), and authorized traffic is routed end-to-end through the overlay rather than by IP address. ## Profile - **License**: Apache-2.0 (verified 2026-07-30) - **Pricing model**: OSS + paid hosting (verified 2026-07-30) - **Starts at**: Free (verified 2026-07-30) - **Platforms**: Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android - **Status**: active (verified 2026-07-30) ## Ranked alternatives | # | App | Alt Score | Licence | Platforms | |---|-----|-----------|---------|-----------| | 1 | [NetBird](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/netbird.md) | 93 | BSD-3-Clause | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS | | 2 | [ZeroTier](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/zerotier.md) | 93 | MPL-2.0 | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS | | 3 | [Firezone](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/firezone.md) | 85 | Apache-2.0 + Elastic License 2.0 | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS | | 4 | [Headscale](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/headscale.md) | 81 | BSD-3-Clause | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS | | 5 | [Netmaker](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/netmaker.md) | 78 | Apache-2.0 | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS | | 6 | [Tailscale](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/tailscale.md) | 78 | BSD-3-Clause | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS | | 7 | [Defguard](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/defguard.md) | 70 | AGPL-3.0 (core), Proprietary (enterprise module) | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS | | 8 | [Nebula](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/nebula.md) | 70 | MIT | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS | | 9 | [innernet](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/innernet.md) | 62 | MIT | Linux, macOS | | 10 | [WireGuard](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/wireguard.md) | 40 | GPL-2.0 | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS | Alt Score = Verified coverage (90%) + Visibility (10%). See https://altcatalog.com/how-alt-score-works/ ## Feature comparison Legend: Yes / No / Partial / ? (not verified). | Mesh VPNs checklist | OpenZiti | NetBird | ZeroTier | Firezone | Headscale | Netmaker | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | Pricing model | OSS + paid hosting | OSS + paid hosting | Freemium | Freemium | Free | OSS + paid hosting | | Starts at | Free | Free | Free | $5/user/mo | Free | $2/connection/month | | License | Apache-2.0 | BSD-3-Clause | MPL-2.0 | Apache-2.0 + Elastic License 2.0 | BSD-3-Clause | Apache-2.0 | | Platforms | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android | | WireGuard-based | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Self-hostable control plane | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | | NAT traversal | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Exit nodes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | ACLs / access rules | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | | SSO integration | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Device limit (free tier) | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | | MagicDNS-style naming | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | Partial | | Subnet routing | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Open source clients | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Partial | | Audit published | Yes | ? | Yes | Partial | ? | ? | | Mobile support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ## Sources Sources for OpenZiti. Each alternative is sourced on its own page. - **License**: Apache-2.0 — (verified 2026-07-30) - Quote: “Apache License Version 2.0, January 2004” - **Starts at**: Free — (verified 2026-07-30) - Quote: “OpenZiti is a free, open-source zero trust networking platform that makes network services invisible to unauthorized users.” - **Pricing model**: OSS + paid hosting — (verified 2026-07-30) - Note: OpenZiti itself is free and open source (Apache-2.0), self-hosted. NetFoundry is the separate commercial sponsor company that additionally sells a managed hosted version — do not treat NetFoundry's pr - Quote: “NetFoundry provides a fully managed, globally distributed OpenZiti network as a service, with SLAs, enterprise support” - **Platforms**: Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android — (verified 2026-07-30) - Quote: “Windows macOS Linux iOS Android Docker Kubernetes” - **Status**: active — (verified 2026-07-30) - Note: Latest tag (v2.1.0-pre1) published 2026-07-28, two days before this research; release cadence shows continuous active development. - Quote: “v2.1.0-pre1 ... released this 28 Jul 20:51” - **WireGuard-based**: No — (verified 2026-07-30) - Note: OpenZiti's transport is mTLS plus libsodium end-to-end encryption, a separate protocol stack. The same page mentions WireGuard only as another project that also uses libsodium, not as OpenZiti's under - Quote: “Link encryption: Encryption occurs between two network routing points, such as mutual TLS (mTLS) between a client and a router in OpenZiti.” - **Self-hostable control plane**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-30) - Quote: “Fully Self-Hostable | Run the entire platform on your infrastructure. No vendor dependencies. Open source, Apache 2.0.” - **NAT traversal**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-30) - Quote: “NAT and firewall friendly: all connections are outbound, so CG-NAT, double-NAT, and restrictive firewalls are not a concern” - **Exit nodes**: No — (verified 2026-07-30) - Note: once you're in, you can reach everything" problem." — No dedicated internet exit-node / full-tunnel gateway feature is described anywhere in the docs or README; OpenZiti's model explicitly authorizes access per-service rather than routing general interne - Quote: “Each service is individually authorized. No ” - **ACLs / access rules**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-30) - Quote: “OpenZiti policies control which Identities can access or host which services via which edge routers.” - **SSO integration**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-30) - Note: Docs also include dedicated setup guides for Okta, Auth0, Keycloak, Azure Entra (msentra), Google, Authelia, Authentik, Cognito, Duo, Dex, and Zitadel as external identity providers. - Quote: “External JWT Signers allow external identity providers to facilitate authentication with an OpenZiti network.” - **MagicDNS-style naming**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-30) - Quote: “An intercepting tunneler provides a DNS nameserver that resolves authorized Ziti services' domain names.” - **Subnet routing**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-30) - Quote: “This Config has not only a Ziti domain name destination acme.ziti for which traffic is intercepted, but also a wildcard domain and an IP subnet.” - **Open source clients**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-30) - Note: Client repos ziti-tunnel-apple, desktop-edge-win, and ziti-tunnel-sdk-c are each public GitHub repositories; their LICENSE files were checked directly and are Apache-2.0, same as the core project. - Quote: “ziti-tunnel-apple | macOS and iOS edge clients” - **Audit published**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-30) - Note: Third-party penetration test letter of attestation dated 2025-04-07, commissioned by NetFoundry (project sponsor), published in OpenZiti's official security repo. Scope was the Ziti API specifically. - Quote: “NetFoundry contracted Black Hills Information Security (BHIS) to perform a security assessment of their Ziti API.” - **Mobile support**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-30) - Quote: “Ziti Mobile Edge This app provides a VPN that makes your authorized services available on mobile.” --- Ranked by verified data, never by who paid. https://altcatalog.com/trust/