head to head · open source
Pangolin vs FireZone
Pangolin has 23,299 GitHub stars, 807 forks, 128 open issues and last shipped yesterday. FireZone has 9,158 stars, 466 forks, 412 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Pangolin leads on adoption by 154% (23,299 vs 9,158 stars). Pangolin is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; FireZone is written in Elixir under Apache-2.0. Pangolin has attracted 3% as many forks as stars, FireZone 5%. FireZone was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Pangolin | FireZone | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 23K | ★ 9.2K |
| License | Custom / other | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Elixir |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 807 | ⑂ 466 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Pangolin if
- You weight community size — 23K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick FireZone if
- You want the FireZone feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Elixir
- You evaluated both and FireZone fits your workflow better
About Pangolin
Website Documentation Contact Us Get started with Pangolin Cloud at app.pangolin.net Pangolin is an open source SASE platform, built on WireGuard®, with a simple mission: connect and protect your users, wherever they are. It brings networking and security together as one system including a zero trust VPN, zero trust reverse proxy, privileged access management, and an identity aware AI gateway, all sharing one identity and policy model. It's the same idea behind platforms like Cloudflare One, Zscaler, and Prisma but open, self hostable, and built to stay light and easy to deploy. Networking and security that's…
read the full Pangolin overview →
About FireZone
Blazing fast remote access with identity based policies, attested device trust, and detailed audit logs Documentation Quickstart Download Clients Support Overview Firezone is a secure remote access platform built on WireGuard®. Connect users to private applications, databases, servers, and subnets with granular policies that define who can access each Resource and under what conditions. Combine identity based access with cryptographic device verification and detailed audit records. Gateways run in your infrastructure, and the full product source is available for inspection in this repository. Getting Started…
read the full FireZone overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Pangolin or FireZone more popular?
Pangolin has 23,299 GitHub stars and FireZone has 9,158. Pangolin has the larger community by that measure.
Are Pangolin and FireZone free?
Both are open source. Pangolin has no licence declared in this registry, and FireZone is licensed under Apache-2.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Pangolin and FireZone?
Pangolin is written in TypeScript and FireZone in Elixir. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Pangolin or FireZone?
Choose Pangolin if you want the larger community (23,299 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose FireZone if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.