head to head · open source
Netbird vs Pangolin
Netbird has 30,565 GitHub stars, 1,819 forks, 1,512 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Pangolin has 23,299 stars, 807 forks, 128 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Netbird leads on adoption by 31% (30,565 vs 23,299 stars). Netbird is written in Go under a custom or non-standard licence; Pangolin is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence. Netbird has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, Pangolin 3%. Pangolin was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (nat-traversal), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
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 | Pangolin | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 31K | ★ 23K |
| License | Custom / other | Custom / other |
| Written in | Go | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.8K | ⑂ 807 |
| 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 Pangolin if
- You want the Pangolin feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Pangolin 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 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 →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Netbird or Pangolin more popular?
Netbird has 30,565 GitHub stars and Pangolin has 23,299. Netbird has the larger community by that measure.
Are Netbird and Pangolin free?
Neither Netbird nor Pangolin declares a licence in this registry, so check each project's own repository before relying on either for a commercial use. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Netbird and Pangolin?
Netbird is written in Go and Pangolin in TypeScript. 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 Pangolin?
Choose Netbird if you want the larger community (30,565 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Pangolin if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.