Bowtie Private Access vs Pomerium
Bowtie Private Access
bowtie.security
Pomerium
pomerium.comSide by side
| Figure | Bowtie Private Access | Pomerium |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $11/mo | $7/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | — |
| API | — | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 3 | 9 |
| Spec score · Zero Trust Network Access Software | 8.7 (#8) | 8.8 (#7) |
| Encryption | The product comparison identifies WireGuard as Bowtie's encryption technology. | Sensitive databroker data, including session, user, directory, and service-secret data, is encrypted at rest. |
| Founded | 2022 | Pomerium's company history records its founding in 2019 by Bobby, who wrote the original code. |
| Product | Bowtie Private Access establishes encrypted connections directly from devices to private resources, without routing traffic through middleman networks. | Pomerium is an open-source identity-aware proxy built around BeyondCorp and zero-trust principles. |
| Support | Essentials includes email and site chat support plus access to a public Slack community; Enterprise includes priority support with an SLA and shared Slack channel. | The pricing page lists community forum, email support, dedicated Slack channel, phone support, and dedicated customer success manager options. |
Plans
Bowtie Private Access
- BasicFree
- Essentials$11 a month
- EnterprisePriced on request
Pomerium
- Personal FreeFree
- Business$7 a month
- Zero PersonalFree
- Zero PersonalFree
- Zero Business$7 a month
- Zero Business (annual)$7 a month
- Zero Business (monthly)$9 a month
- EnterprisePriced on request
- EnterprisePriced on request
In their own words
Bowtie Private Access
Bowtie Private Access creates encrypted connections from devices to private resources without routing traffic through intermediary networks. Its Zero Trust policies grant authenticated access according to user or device characteristics. Bowtie Internet Access adds web filtering enforced on the device rather than through a centralized gateway, while its policy engine can unify overlapping networks and segment access. The product uses WireGuard encryption; Bowtie says keys are generated and stored in the customer's environment and traffic does not pass through its cloud. Basic is free for up to 3 users, 2 devices per user, and 2 controllers. Essentials costs $11 a month per user and supports up to 1000 users, 3 devices per user, and 4 controllers. Enterprise pricing is custom. SSO options include Okta and Entra ID, with configurations also described for GitHub, GitLab, SAML, AWS Identity Center, and Google IDP. Essentials includes API access and a Terraform provider; Enterprise adds MDM deployment and SIEM integration. Bowtie supports iOS, Linux, macOS, web, and Windows, with client downloads for Mac, Windows, and Linux.
Pomerium
Pomerium is an open-source identity-aware proxy for controlling access to internal applications, servers, services, and workloads without requiring VPN client software. It checks identity, device state, and request context before granting access, and authenticates through identity providers that support OpenID Connect. Listed access scenarios include HTTP, MCP, SSH, gRPC, TCP, and UDP; supported app protocols also include HTTPS, HTTP/2, HTTP/3, and WebSocket. Pomerium removes its authentication cookies before forwarding requests upstream, and sensitive databroker data is encrypted at rest. Downstream TLS has a minimum of TLS 1.2. Deployment options include Linux and macOS binaries, packages, Docker images, source builds, and desktop clients for Windows, macOS, and Linux. The free Personal plan lists 10 users, 10 routes, five policies, and two service accounts. Business costs $7.00 per month, billed annually, and lists limits of 1,000 users, 100 routes, 100 policies, and 20 service accounts. A free trial is also listed.