Firezone vs NetBird
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
NetBird
Connect devices into a secure WireGuard-based overlay network
| Feature | Firezone | NetBird |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 92 · Excellent | 98 · Excellent |
| Category | Remote Access & VPN | Remote Access & VPN |
| License | Apache-2.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | Elixir | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, kubernetes, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 9,103 | ★ 29,473 |
| First released | 2021 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Cisco AnyConnect, Tailscale | Tailscale, ZeroTier |
What are Firezone and NetBird?
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
NetBird
NetBird is an open-source platform that creates secure private networks over WireGuard with peer-to-peer connectivity and centralized access control. The full stack can be self-hosted.
- WireGuard mesh overlay
- Self-hostable management
- SSO and access policies
- NAT traversal
Firezone vs NetBird: key differences
Firezone is written in Elixir, while NetBird is built with Go. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Firezone versus BSD-3-Clause for NetBird. NetBird is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Firezone. NetBird has the considerably larger community, at 29,473 GitHub stars versus 9,103.
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 NetBird if…
- WireGuard performance
- SSO integration
- Full stack self-hostable
Watch out for
- Involved self-host setup
- Younger than Tailscale
Frequently asked questions
Is Firezone or NetBird better?
Neither is universally better. NetBird has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Firezone and NetBird free and open-source?
Yes. Firezone is licensed under Apache-2.0 and NetBird under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Firezone and NetBird with Docker?
Firezone: yes. NetBird: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Firezone or NetBird?
NetBird has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Firezone. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.