What is BunkerWeb used for?

BunkerWeb is an open-source web application firewall built on NGINX that acts as a reverse proxy with a web UI and a plugin system. It is a good fit for shielding self-hosted web apps from attacks and adding a WAF in front of Kubernetes services.

Is BunkerWeb open source?

Yes. BunkerWeb is open source under the AGPL-3.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at bunkerity/bunkerweb and is written mainly in Python.

Yes. BunkerWeb is open source, so the software itself is free to use. Paid plans are also available, starting at €49 per month.

Can I self-host BunkerWeb?

Yes. BunkerWeb can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.

What is BunkerWeb an alternative to?

BunkerWeb is an open-source alternative to Cloudflare, Akamai, Fortinet and Fastly. Other open-source alternatives to Cloudflare include SafeLine, ModSecurity and CrowdSec.

Is BunkerWeb actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to BunkerWeb was on 2 October 2026, and the latest release is v1.6.15, published on 21 September 2026. The project has 11k stars on GitHub.

BunkerWeb: open-source alternative to Cloudflare, Akamai

About BunkerWeb

BunkerWeb is an open-source web application firewall that protects web services and aims to make them secure by default. It is a complete web server based on NGINX that sits in front of your applications as a reverse proxy, filtering traffic before it reaches them.

It can be deployed in Linux, Docker, Swarm and Kubernetes environments and is configurable through a command line or a web user interface. Core security features ship in the box, and additional ones can be added with a plugin system. Related topics in the repository include ModSecurity, anti-bot protection, DNS blocklists and Let's Encrypt certificate handling.

The software is written mainly in Python and released under the AGPL-3.0 license. The project provides documentation, a demo, community templates, examples and a forum. Its goal is for administrators to get a reasonable level of protection with minimal configuration while keeping room to tune individual settings for their own use cases.

Key features

NGINX-based reverse proxy and WAF
Secure-by-default configuration
Web UI for managing settings
Plugin system for extra protections
Deploys on Linux, Docker, Swarm and Kubernetes
Anti-bot and DNS blocklist options

Good fit for

→Shielding self-hosted web apps from attacks
→Adding a WAF in front of Kubernetes services

Built with: Python; Docker; Kubernetes
Tags: waf; web-security; nginx; reverse-proxy; modsecurity; devsecops; self-hosted; docker

BunkerWeb: questions and answers

What is BunkerWeb used for?: BunkerWeb is an open-source web application firewall built on NGINX that acts as a reverse proxy with a web UI and a plugin system. It is a good fit for shielding self-hosted web apps from attacks and adding a WAF in front of Kubernetes services.
Is BunkerWeb open source?: Yes. BunkerWeb is open source under the AGPL-3.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at bunkerity/bunkerweb and is written mainly in Python.
Is BunkerWeb free?: Yes. BunkerWeb is open source, so the software itself is free to use. Paid plans are also available, starting at €49 per month.
Can I self-host BunkerWeb?: Yes. BunkerWeb can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
What is BunkerWeb an alternative to?: BunkerWeb is an open-source alternative to Cloudflare, Akamai, Fortinet and Fastly. Other open-source alternatives to Cloudflare include SafeLine, ModSecurity and CrowdSec.
Is BunkerWeb actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to BunkerWeb was on 2 October 2026, and the latest release is v1.6.15, published on 21 September 2026. The project has 11k stars on GitHub.