About Firezone
Firezone is a zero trust access platform that uses WireGuard and is published as open source. It is positioned as a replacement for a traditional VPN, connecting users to internal apps, services and networks through access policies rather than broad network-level rules.
Administrators define policies for resources and can restrict access by conditions such as device location and time of day, with every authorized connection visible by user, resource or policy. Users and groups sync from an identity provider, which simplifies onboarding and offboarding. Lightweight Gateways run as Linux binaries wherever access is needed, and using two or more Gateways gives automatic load balancing and failover. Hole-punching keeps protected resources hidden from the public internet.
Client apps are available for macOS, Windows, Linux, Android, ChromeOS and iOS. The codebase is licensed under Apache-2.0 and written largely in Elixir, with Rust used for networking components. The vendor offers a hosted admin portal, a free way to get started and a separate pricing page.
Key features
- WireGuard-based VPN replacement
- Access policies per resource and group
- Identity provider directory sync
- Conditional access by location and time
- Gateways with load balancing and failover
- Clients for desktop and mobile platforms
Good fit for
- →Replacing a legacy VPN
- →Securing access to internal apps and servers
- →Syncing access with an identity provider
- Built with
- Elixir
- Tags
- vpn
- zero-trust
- wireguard
- network-security
- remote-access
- open-source
- elixir
- rust
Firezone: questions and answers
- What is Firezone used for?
- Firezone is a zero trust access platform based on WireGuard, released as open source, that replaces traditional VPNs with policy-based access to apps and networks. It is a good fit for replacing a legacy VPN, securing access to internal apps and servers, and syncing access with an identity provider.
- Is Firezone open source?
- Yes. Firezone is open source under the Apache-2.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at firezone/firezone and is written mainly in Elixir.
- Is Firezone free?
- Yes. Firezone is open source, so the software itself is free to use. A managed cloud version is also available, with paid plans from $5 per seat per month.
- Can I self-host Firezone?
- Yes. Firezone can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
- What is Firezone an alternative to?
- Firezone is an open-source alternative to Tailscale, Twingate, NordLayer and Zscaler. Other open-source alternatives to Tailscale include Octelium, OpenZiti and Pangolin.
- Is Firezone actively maintained?
- Yes. The most recent commit to Firezone was on 2 October 2026. The project has 9.1k stars on GitHub.
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