Firezone vs Teleport
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
Teleport
Identity-aware access for infrastructure
| Feature | Firezone | Teleport |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 92 · Excellent | 96 · Excellent |
| Category | Remote Access & VPN | Remote Access & VPN |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Elixir | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, kubernetes, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 9,103 | ★ 20,936 |
| First released | 2021 | 2016 |
| Replaces | Cisco AnyConnect, Tailscale | Cisco AnyConnect, AWS Systems Manager |
What are Firezone and Teleport?
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
Teleport
Teleport is an open-source access platform that provides secure, identity-aware connectivity to SSH servers, Kubernetes clusters, databases, and web apps. It records sessions and enforces RBAC.
- SSH, Kubernetes, and DB access
- Session recording
- Identity-based RBAC
- Certificate-based auth
Firezone vs Teleport: key differences
Firezone is written in Elixir, while Teleport is built with Go. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Firezone versus AGPL-3.0 for Teleport. Teleport is the more established project (first released 2016), while Firezone arrived in 2021. Teleport has the considerably larger community, at 20,936 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 Teleport if…
- Session recording and audit
- Covers SSH to databases
- Strong RBAC controls
Watch out for
- Complex to operate
- Some features enterprise
Frequently asked questions
Is Firezone or Teleport better?
Neither is universally better. Teleport 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 Teleport free and open-source?
Yes. Firezone is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Teleport under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Firezone and Teleport with Docker?
Firezone: yes. Teleport: yes.