NetBird vs strongSwan
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted remote access & vpn options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
NetBird
Connect devices into a secure WireGuard-based overlay network
VS
strongSwan
Modern IPsec-based VPN implementation
| Feature | NetBird | strongSwan |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Remote Access & VPN | Remote Access & VPN |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | Go | C |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, binary | bare-metal, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 28,139 | ★ 2,934 |
| First released | 2021 | 2005 |
| Replaces | Tailscale, ZeroTier | Cisco AnyConnect |
Why pick each one
Choose NetBird if…
- Released under the BSD-3-Clause license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
- Mature project with 28.1k GitHub stars
Choose strongSwan if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- Active community (2.9k GitHub stars)
- Written in C
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is NetBird or strongSwan better?
NetBird is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider strongSwan if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are NetBird and strongSwan free and open-source?
Yes. NetBird is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and strongSwan under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run NetBird and strongSwan with Docker?
NetBird: yes. strongSwan: check the project docs for container support.