Pomerium vs strongSwan
Pomerium
pomerium.comstrongSwan
strongswan.orgSide by side
| Figure | Pomerium | strongSwan |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $7/mo | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Web | Yes | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | — | Yes |
| Android | — | Yes |
| API | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 9 | 2 |
| Spec score · Business VPN Software | 9.0 (#11) | 8.4 (#32) |
| Access model | It provides clientless access to internal applications, servers, services, and workloads without requiring VPN client software. | vpn |
| Founded | Pomerium's company history records its founding in 2019 by Bobby, who wrote the original code. | 2005 |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Integrations | Listed integrations include Grafana, Kubernetes, Okta, Cloud Run, Docker, Google Kubernetes Engine, FleetDM, BambooHR, Auth0, Azure Active Directory, GitHub, GitLab, Google Workspace, OneLogin, OpenID Connect, and Ping Identity. | A NetworkManager plugin integrates strongSwan with Linux desktops, and an Android app is available. |
| Support | The pricing page lists community forum, email support, dedicated Slack channel, phone support, and dedicated customer success manager options. | Free support includes documentation, GitHub Discussions, and an IRC channel; commercial support is also available from listed providers. |
Plans
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
strongSwan
- GPLv2 open-source licenseFree
- Commercial license and supportPriced on request
In their own words
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.
strongSwan
strongSwan has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.