head to head · open source
Pangolin vs FireZone
Pangolin has 22,792 GitHub stars, 788 forks, 128 open issues and last shipped yesterday. FireZone has 9,097 stars, 456 forks, 412 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Pangolin leads on adoption by 151% (22,792 vs 9,097 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%. Pangolin 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 | ★ 9.1K |
| License | Custom / other | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Elixir |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 788 | ⑂ 456 |
| 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
Pangolin is an open source SASE platform written in TypeScript and built on WireGuard. It provides secure access and connectivity to applications, infrastructure, and AI workloads by combining a zero trust VPN, a zero trust reverse proxy, privileged access management, and an identity aware AI gateway under one identity and policy model. It belongs to the network security ecosystem, specifically self hosted remote access and SASE tooling.
read the full Pangolin overview →
About FireZone
FireZone is an enterprise ready zero trust access platform built on WireGuard. It connects users to private applications, databases, servers, and subnets through granular policies that define who can reach each Resource and under what conditions. It lives in the Security & Privacy / Network Security ecosystem, with Elixir, Phoenix LiveView, and Rust components indicated by repository topics and language metadata.
read the full FireZone overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Pangolin or FireZone more popular?
Pangolin has 22,792 GitHub stars and FireZone has 9,097. 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 (22,792 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.