head to head · open source
Pangolin vs Defguard
Pangolin has 22,792 GitHub stars, 788 forks, 128 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Defguard has 2,841 stars, 115 forks, 308 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Pangolin leads on adoption by 702% (22,792 vs 2,841 stars). Pangolin is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; Defguard is written in Rust under a custom or non-standard licence. Pangolin has attracted 3% as many forks as stars, Defguard 4%. Pangolin was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (oidc), 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
| Pangolin | Defguard | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 23K | ★ 2.8K |
| License | Custom / other | Custom / other |
| Written in | TypeScript | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 788 | ⑂ 115 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Pangolin if
- You weight community size — 23K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Defguard if
- You want the Defguard feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and Defguard fits your workflow better
About Pangolin
Pangolin is an open source SASE platform written in TypeScript and built on WireGuard. It provides secure access and connectivity to applications, infrastructure, and AI workloads by combining a zero trust VPN, a zero trust reverse proxy, privileged access management, and an identity aware AI gateway under one identity and policy model. It belongs to the network security ecosystem, specifically self hosted remote access and SASE tooling.
read the full Pangolin overview →
About Defguard
Defguard is a self hosted secure remote access platform that combines WireGuard VPN, identity and access management, multi factor authentication, and network access control. It lives in the Rust based open source network security ecosystem and presents itself as zero trust access management with true WireGuard 2FA/MFA. The project uses an AGPL open source core, while Enterprise components are described as open code.
read the full Defguard overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Pangolin or Defguard more popular?
Pangolin has 22,792 GitHub stars and Defguard has 2,841. Pangolin has the larger community by that measure.
Are Pangolin and Defguard free?
Neither Pangolin nor Defguard 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 Pangolin and Defguard?
Pangolin is written in TypeScript and Defguard in Rust. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Pangolin or Defguard?
Choose Pangolin if you want the larger community (22,792 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Defguard if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.