GlassWire vs NetBird
Side-by-side comparison of features, pricing, ratings, and alternatives.
GlassWire is a network monitoring and personal firewall application for Windows and Android that visualizes current and past network activity to help users spot malware, bandwidth hogs, and unfamiliar devices on their network. Its firewall includes an ask-to-connect mode that lets users approve or deny individual apps' network access, alongside a network time machine for reviewing historical connections. GlassWire also tracks data usage across devices and can alert users before they exceed set data limits, while its network scanner flags new or unknown devices joining a WiFi network. Over 53 million downloads have been recorded for the Windows and Android apps combined.
NetBird is an open-source zero trust networking platform that replaces traditional VPN gateways with a WireGuard-based peer-to-peer mesh network, letting devices connect directly to each other instead of routing through a central bottleneck. It enforces least-privilege network segmentation with granular policies and integrates with identity providers like Okta, Google, and Microsoft for SSO and MFA. It checks device security posture such as firewall status, antivirus, geolocation, and MDM/EDR before granting access, logs all configuration changes and connection events with real-time SIEM streaming, and can be deployed as a free managed cloud service or fully self-hosted under its BSD-3 open-source license.
- Combines network monitoring and firewall in one lightweight app
- Very affordable premium pricing at $2.99/month
- Visual, easy-to-understand traffic graphs
- Available on both Windows and Android
- Open source under BSD-3 with both free cloud and self-hosted deployment options
- WireGuard-based peer-to-peer connections keep latency low versus hub-and-spoke VPNs
- Strong zero trust feature set: SSO, MFA, device posture checks, granular policies
- Compliance-ready with GDPR, ISO 27001, and DORA support for business use
- Free tier limits network history to just 24 hours
- Windows and Android only, no Mac or Linux support
- Advanced threat detection features require Premium
- Full zero trust feature set has more setup complexity than a simple point-to-point VPN
- Self-hosting the management, signal, and relay stack requires ongoing maintenance
- Advanced enterprise features like SIEM streaming and custom SSO may need a paid or enterprise plan
More alternatives & similar tools
Alternatives to GlassWire
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