Firezone vs Nebula
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted remote access & vpn options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Firezone
Open-source secure remote access platform
VS
Nebula
Scalable overlay networking tool from Slack
| Feature | Firezone | Nebula |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 92 · Excellent | 95 · Excellent |
| Category | Remote Access & VPN | Remote Access & VPN |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | Elixir | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | binary, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 9,103 | ★ 18,381 |
| First released | 2021 | 2019 |
| Replaces | Cisco AnyConnect, Tailscale | Tailscale |
What are Firezone and Nebula?
Firezone
Firezone is a self-hosted secure remote access platform built on WireGuard, offering zero-trust network access with policy-based controls. It replaces traditional corporate VPNs.
- Zero-trust access policies
- WireGuard under the hood
- SSO integration
- Web admin portal
Nebula
Nebula is an open-source overlay networking tool built for scalability and security, originally created at Slack. It uses a certificate-based model to connect hosts across the internet.
- Certificate-based identity
- Scales to large fleets
- Built-in firewall rules
- Cross-platform binaries
Firezone vs Nebula: key differences
Firezone is written in Elixir, while Nebula is built with Go. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Firezone versus MIT for Nebula. Nebula is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Firezone. Nebula is the more established project (first released 2019), while Firezone arrived in 2021. Nebula has the considerably larger community, at 18,381 GitHub stars versus 9,103. Firezone lists first-class Docker deployment; Nebula does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Firezone if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 9.1k GitHub stars
- Written in Elixir
Choose Nebula if…
- Proven at Slack scale
- Lightweight and fast
- Fine-grained host firewalling
Watch out for
- Manual certificate management
- No management GUI
Frequently asked questions
Is Firezone or Nebula better?
Neither is universally better. Nebula has the larger community, while Firezone is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Firezone and Nebula free and open-source?
Yes. Firezone is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Nebula under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Firezone and Nebula with Docker?
Firezone: yes. Nebula: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Firezone or Nebula?
Nebula has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Firezone. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.