head to head · open source
Netbird vs Werbot
Netbird has 29,318 GitHub stars, 1,684 forks, 1,512 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Werbot has 170 stars, 10 forks, 18 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. Netbird leads on adoption by 17,146% (29,318 vs 170 stars). Netbird is written in Go under a custom or non-standard licence; Werbot is written in Go under a custom or non-standard licence. Netbird has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, Werbot 6%. Netbird was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (golang), 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.
← all 8884 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Netbird | Werbot | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 29K | ★ 170 |
| License | Custom / other | Custom / other |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-08-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.7K | ⑂ 10 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Netbird if
- You weight community size — 29K 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 Werbot if
- You want the Werbot feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and Werbot fits your workflow better
About Netbird
NetBird is an open source, Go based platform that combines a configuration free peer to peer WireGuard overlay network with a centralized access control system, built for organizations and home users who need secure private networking without opening ports, writing complex firewall rules, or deploying VPN gateways.
read the full Netbird overview →
About Werbot
Werbot is a self hosted server access management platform written in Go and packaged as Docker containers that run as microservices. It gives a team a single place from which to grant, control and audit access to servers, databases, web applications, desktops, containers and clouds, using single sign on rather than shared passwords or scattered private keys. The project lives in the Go and container ecosystem, with supporting components for a web dashboard, enterprise functions, an install script, Windows and Unix agents, and a Pluggable Authentication Module for native two factor authentication on nix platforms.…
read the full Werbot overview →
More in Security & Privacy
Related comparisons
More Network Security projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Network Security field.
Frequently asked questions
Is Netbird or Werbot more popular?
Netbird has 29,318 GitHub stars and Werbot has 170. Netbird has the larger community by that measure.
Are Netbird and Werbot free?
Neither Netbird nor Werbot 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 Werbot?
Netbird is written in Go and Werbot in Go. 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 Werbot?
Choose Netbird if you want the larger community (29,318 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Werbot if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.