head to head · open source
Netbird vs FireZone
Netbird has 30,565 GitHub stars, 1,819 forks, 1,512 open issues and last shipped yesterday. FireZone has 9,158 stars, 466 forks, 412 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Netbird leads on adoption by 234% (30,565 vs 9,158 stars). Netbird is written in Go under a custom or non-standard licence; FireZone is written in Elixir under Apache-2.0. Netbird has attracted 6% 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
| Netbird | FireZone | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 31K | ★ 9.2K |
| License | Custom / other | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Elixir |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.8K | ⑂ 466 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Netbird if
- You weight community size — 31K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other 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 Netbird
Start using NetBird at netbird.io See Documentation Join our Slack channel or our Community forum 🚀 We are hiring! Join us at 🤖 NetBird Agent Network (Beta) Identity aware access control for AI agents — keyless access to LLM APIs and private resources over the encrypted NetBird tunnel. See agent network/ or read the docs at netbird.ai . NetBird combines a configuration free peer to peer private network and a centralized access control system in a single platform, making it easy to create secure private networks for your organization or home. Connect. NetBird creates a WireGuard based overlay network that…
read the full Netbird 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 Netbird or FireZone more popular?
Netbird has 30,565 GitHub stars and FireZone has 9,158. Netbird has the larger community by that measure.
Are Netbird and FireZone free?
Both are open source. Netbird 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 Netbird and FireZone?
Netbird 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, Netbird or FireZone?
Choose Netbird if you want the larger community (30,565 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.