Best Self-hosted Network Security (VPN, Firewall, WAF) tools in 2026

Pi-hole is a network-wide DNS sinkhole that blocks ads and trackers for all devices on your network, with a web dashboard, query logs, and optional DHCP server.

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AdGuard+7

Headscale is an open source, self-hosted implementation of the Tailscale control server for managing a private tailnet, nodes, keys, IPs, and routes.

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Tailscale+9

Open-source DNS-based ad & tracker blocking server for networks. Offers per-device rules, parental controls, encrypted upstream DNS (DoH/DoT/DNSCrypt), web UI and API.

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AdGuard+5

Comprehensive on-demand OSINT to analyze a website's security, architecture, and tech stack.

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Shodan+8

Run a WireGuard VPN server with an easy web admin UI to manage clients, generate configs and QR codes, and monitor connections and traffic.

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Tailscale+14

Open-source zero-trust networking platform delivering a WireGuard-based private network with centralized access control, SSO/MFA, and cross-platform clients.

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Tailscale+17

SafeLine is a self-hosted Web Application Firewall (WAF) and reverse proxy that defends web apps from SQL injection, XSS, bot abuse, and DDoS using ML-powered threat dete...

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Cloudflare Web Application Firewall (WAF)+7

Open-source identity-based remote access platform combining WireGuard VPN and tunneled reverse proxy access with granular zero-trust controls.

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Cloudflare Access+16

Anubis is a lightweight web AI firewall that protects sites from AI crawlers and scraping bots using configurable request challenges and bot policies.

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Cloudflare Web Application Firewall (WAF)+10

Fail2Ban monitors service logs for repeated failures and automatically bans abusive IP addresses by updating firewall rules for a configurable time.

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CrowdSec

OpenVPN is a widely used open-source VPN daemon providing TLS/SSL-based secure tunneling, flexible client-server and site-to-site modes, and cross-platform support.

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OpenVPN CloudConnexa+18

CLI tool to create Cloudflare Tunnels and route traffic through Cloudflare’s edge.

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ngrok+10

CrowdSec is an open-source security engine that detects attacks from logs and blocks malicious IPs using bouncers and community-curated threat intelligence.

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Fail2Ban+10

Open-source VPN client for desktop and mobile that can automatically set up a private VPN server and connect using WireGuard, OpenVPN, IKEv2, and obfuscated modes.

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NordVPN+15

BunkerWeb is an open-source WAF and NGINX-based reverse proxy to protect web apps and APIs with HTTPS automation, security policies, and extensible plugins.

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Cloudflare Web Application Firewall (WAF)+10

MyIP (IPCheck.ing) is an open-source web IP toolbox that detects local/public IPs, runs DNS leak and WebRTC checks, speed/latency/MTR tests, availability and whois lookup...

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WhatIsMyIPAddress.com+10

Firezone is a zero-trust VPN replacement built on WireGuard, providing identity-aware access policies, peer-to-peer encrypted tunnels, and lightweight gateways.

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Tailscale+11

iodine is a DNS tunneling tool that forwards IPv4 traffic through DNS queries and replies, providing a TUN interface to route IP traffic when only DNS is allowed.

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Cloudflare Tunnel+15

Self-hosted lightweight LAN IP/ARP scanner with web dashboard, new-host notifications, online/offline history, and metrics export to Prometheus or InfluxDB for Grafana.

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Fing+9

Self-hosted transparent bastion host and PAM for SSH, HTTPS, MySQL and Postgres with RBAC, session recording, and SSO/2FA—no client-side software required.

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Teleport+7

ClamAV is an open-source antivirus toolkit providing a multi-threaded daemon, command-line scanners, and automatic signature updates for mail gateways and file scanning.

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McAfee+8

Lightweight, self-hostable CAPTCHA alternative using SHA-256 proof-of-work challenges to protect forms and APIs from bots without tracking or visual puzzles.

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Google reCAPTCHA+8

OPNsense is an open source FreeBSD-based firewall and routing platform with a web GUI, API, VPN, traffic shaping, and security features for networks and homelabs.

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Fortinet FortiGate+12

OpenZiti is an open-source zero trust networking platform that builds an identity-based overlay mesh with SDKs, tunnelers, and policy-based access controls.

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Zscaler Private Access+14

Self-hosted web dashboard for WireGuard and AmneziaWG to manage configs, peers, and access with a simple UI and optional 2FA.

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Tailscale+15

Enterprise-grade zero-trust access management platform providing WireGuard VPN with true protocol-level 2FA/MFA, plus integrated OpenID Connect SSO and user/device contro...

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Defguard Cloud+19

Centralized SSH gateway to remotely manage Linux servers, containers and IoT devices via web or native SSH; offers key auth, firewall rules, audit logging and session rec...

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Teleport+14

Simple local ad blocker that updates your system hosts or dnsmasq rules to block ad and tracking domains across any browser or application.

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AdGuard+5

High-performance web application firewall and API security gateway with semantic detection, rule management, and reverse-proxy deployment for protecting websites and APIs...

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Cloudflare Web Application Firewall (WAF)+9

Self-hosted ingress platform that exposes internal HTTP/TCP services to the internet through reverse WireGuard tunnels, with NGINX routing and automatic TLS certificates.

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ngrok+13