head to head · open source
Tailscale vs FireZone
Tailscale has 36,587 GitHub stars, 3,218 forks, 4,569 open issues and last shipped yesterday. FireZone has 9,097 stars, 456 forks, 412 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Tailscale leads on adoption by 302% (36,587 vs 9,097 stars). Tailscale is written in Go under BSD-3-Clause; FireZone is written in Elixir under Apache-2.0. Tailscale has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, FireZone 5%. Tailscale 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
| Tailscale | FireZone | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 37K | ★ 9.1K |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Elixir |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.2K | ⑂ 456 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Tailscale if
- You weight community size — 37K stars and counting
- You want the BSD-3-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- 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 Tailscale
Tailscale is an open source implementation of a zero configuration VPN built on WireGuard, designed to simplify secure network connectivity across devices. It lives in the network security ecosystem and provides private, encrypted networks without manual firewall or IP management. The project delivers both a daemon ( tailscaled ) and CLI tool ( tailscale ) that enable peer to peer connectivity using WireGuard, augmented with identity based access controls and optional cloud managed features.
read the full Tailscale 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 Tailscale or FireZone more popular?
Tailscale has 36,587 GitHub stars and FireZone has 9,097. Tailscale has the larger community by that measure.
Are Tailscale and FireZone free?
Both are open source. Tailscale is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and FireZone under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Tailscale and FireZone?
Tailscale is written in Go 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, Tailscale or FireZone?
Choose Tailscale if you want the larger community (36,587 stars) or its BSD-3-Clause licence terms. Choose FireZone if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.