head to head · open source
FireZone vs WireGuard
FireZone has 9,097 GitHub stars, 456 forks, 412 open issues and last shipped yesterday. WireGuard has 717 stars, 312 forks, 20 open issues and last shipped 5 months ago. FireZone leads on adoption by 1,169% (9,097 vs 717 stars). FireZone is written in Elixir under Apache-2.0; WireGuard is written in C under GPL-2.0. FireZone has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, WireGuard 44%. 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
| FireZone | WireGuard | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 9.1K | ★ 717 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | Elixir | C |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-05-06 |
| Forks | ⑂ 456 | ⑂ 312 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick FireZone if
- You weight community size — 9.1K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Elixir
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick WireGuard if
- You want the WireGuard feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and WireGuard fits your workflow better
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 →
About WireGuard
WireGuard's userspace tooling, packaged as wireguard tools, is the command line layer that configures WireGuard VPN tunnels, aimed at system administrators, distribution packagers and anyone who needs to bring a WireGuard interface up and down from a shell or an init system.
read the full WireGuard overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is FireZone or WireGuard more popular?
FireZone has 9,097 GitHub stars and WireGuard has 717. FireZone has the larger community by that measure.
Are FireZone and WireGuard free?
Both are open source. FireZone is licensed under Apache-2.0 and WireGuard under GPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between FireZone and WireGuard?
FireZone is written in Elixir and WireGuard in C. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, FireZone or WireGuard?
Choose FireZone if you want the larger community (9,097 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose WireGuard if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.