Alternatives to Firezone
WireGuard-based zero trust access with self-hosted gateways. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.
The original
Firezone
WireGuard-based zero trust access with self-hosted gateways.
Replacements
Listings that take over the same core job as Firezone.
Tailscale
Builds a private network between your own devices using WireGuard, without opening ports or running a server.
Tailscale builds a WireGuard mesh between devices with central access rules and a free Personal plan for up to six users, but its coordination server is also hosted.
Twingate
An identity-based network access service meant to replace a traditional VPN for teams.
Twingate also offers identity-based access to internal resources for teams, but it is a hosted, closed-source service and its free tier is limited to small teams.
NetBird
A WireGuard-based mesh network with single sign-on, multi-factor authentication and access policies, self-hostable or managed.
NetBird provides WireGuard mesh networking with SSO, MFA and group access policies, and unlike Firezone it can be fully self-hosted under the AGPL-3.0 licence.
Netmaker
Self-hosted platform for building and managing WireGuard mesh networks.
Netmaker is a self-hosted platform automating WireGuard mesh configuration and access lists, but code under its pro directory is commercially licensed and paid tiers hold back features.
headscale
A self-hosted, open-source implementation of the Tailscale control server, so your mesh VPN does not depend on a company.
headscale is a self-hosted Tailscale control server used with standard Tailscale clients, but it targets a single tailnet and has no graphical admin interface in core.
ZeroTier One
Puts machines anywhere in the world on the same virtual Ethernet network, as if they were plugged into one switch.
ZeroTier One joins machines into a virtual Ethernet network with end-to-end encryption, working at the network level rather than per resource, with a hosted controller by default.
OpenZiti
An open-source zero trust networking platform that connects services by identity instead of IP address.
OpenZiti is a self-hostable open-source zero trust platform with hidden services and application SDKs, but it is more complex to deploy and aimed at developers.
defguard
A self-hosted WireGuard VPN platform with built-in identity management and multi-factor authentication per connection.
defguard runs fully on your own infrastructure with per-connection MFA and LDAP, Active Directory and OIDC integration, but some features sit in paid enterprise plans.
Also worth comparing
These listings name Firezone as their own alternative, so the relationship runs both ways.
Octelium
A self-hosted zero trust access platform that can act as a remote access VPN or ZTNA gateway.
Firezone offers WireGuard-based zero trust access with self-hosted gateways and identity provider policies, but its control plane is hosted by the vendor.
OpenVPN Access Server
A self-hosted business VPN server with a web admin interface, free for two simultaneous connections.
Firezone gives WireGuard zero trust access with identity-driven policies and self-hosted gateways under Apache-2.0, though its control plane is hosted by the vendor.
Pritunl
A self-hosted VPN server for OpenVPN, WireGuard and IPsec, managed through a web interface.
Firezone gives WireGuard zero trust access with identity provider policies and self-hosted gateways, but its control plane is vendor-hosted and cannot be fully self-hosted.
Similar software
Related functionality, not a direct replacement.
WireGuard
A small, fast VPN protocol and set of official clients that connect two machines by exchanging public keys.
OpenVPN Community
The VPN protocol and client that has been the default for two decades, and still runs on everything.
