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NetBird-Signal

NetBird is an open-source VPN management platform built on top of WireGuard® making it easy to create secure private networks for your organization or home.

Network Services
Tools & Utilities

NetBird is an open-source VPN management platform built on top of WireGuard® making it easy to create secure private networks for your organization or home. The Signal Service or simply Signal is a lightweight piece of software that helps peers to negotiate direct connections. It does not store any data and no traffic passes through it. Look at the "Additional Requirements" for the other two parts of the server stack.

Platform availability

Available on 2 of 6 install platforms

Unraid
TrueNAS (not listed)
Umbrel (not listed)
ZimaOS (not listed)
Proxmox
Helm (not listed)

Also on Docker Hub and GitHub

Health score

78/100 Good

Maintained: 100last commit 1 day ago
Popular: 8929,812 GitHub stars
Easy to install: 351 install platform, install notes, Docker image
Light to run: 602 GB minimum RAM, runs on ARM

How is this calculated?

A 0-100 score computed nightly from four factors: maintained (40%: recent commits and steady activity), popular (25%: GitHub stars, log scale), easy to install (20%: platforms, install notes, setup guides, Docker image) and light to run (15%: minimum RAM, ARM support). Factors without data are left out and the rest are rescaled.

Availability: platform listings confirmed today, links checked 9 days ago

GitHub stars: 29,812
Open issues: 962
Last commit: 2026-10-08
Latest release: v0.80.0
Activity: steady

Checked yesterday - source: GitHub (netbirdio/netbird)

Resources & Compatibility

Minimum requirements: 2 GB RAM, 1 CPU core(s). ARM (e.g. Raspberry Pi) is supported.

Checked 10 days ago - source: Docker Hub image tags and published docs

First-install notes

Set your domain and certificate email Put NETBIRD_DOMAIN and NETBIRD_LETSENCRYPT_EMAIL in setup.env before starting NetBird. These set the web address and the email Let's Encrypt (the free HTTPS certificate service) uses, so missing or wrong values can prevent secure logins. source
Create the owner account on first run After the service starts, use the first-run setup or POST /api/setup to create the owner account with your email and a password. Without that first account, you cannot sign in, manage devices, or create setup keys. source
Use a setup key to add devices Create a setup key in NetBird and run netbird up --setup-key <SETUP KEY> on a device that should join. This code automatically registers the device, so skipping it means the device will not connect to your secure network. source

Fetched 10 days ago - each note links to its source

Alternatives (9)

Fossorial Pangolin - Open-source identity-based remote access platform using WireGuard, offering unified management, tunneled connections, granular access contr…
LogMeIn Hamachi - Seamlessly connects devices and networks, extending LAN-like connectivity to mobile users and teams with a secure, hosted VPN service.
OpenVPN Connect - OpenVPN Connect provides flexible VPN solutions to secure your data communications, whether it's for Internet privacy, remote access for em…
Outline VPN - Journalists need safe access to information to research issues, communicate with sources, and report the news.
Rayfish - A peer-to-peer mesh VPN with zero infrastructure.
SoftEther VPN - SoftEther VPN ("SoftEther" means "Software Ethernet") is one of the world's most powerful and easy-to-use multi-protoco…
Tailscale - Private networks made easy.
ZeroTier - Zerotier is an open source, cross-platform virtual LAN / VPN
ngrok - All-in-one API gateway, Kubernetes Ingress, DDoS protection, firewall, and global load balancing as a service.

Checked 7 days ago - source: AlternativeTo

Common questions

Does NetBird send all peer traffic through the self-hosted server?

No, there is no centralized VPN server with NetBird. Devices connect directly to each other over an encrypted tunnel in a point-to-point WireGuard overlay.

Which setup variables should I configure before starting self-hosted NetBird?

Set NETBIRD_DOMAIN and NETBIRD_LETSENCRYPT_EMAIL in setup.env before starting NetBird. They set the web address and the email used by Let's Encrypt, so missing or wrong values can prevent secure logins.

How do I create the owner account in a fresh self-hosted install?

After the service starts, use the first-run setup to create the owner account with an email and password. Without that account you cannot sign in, manage devices, or create setup keys.

How do I join a Windows machine to my NetBird network?

Create a setup key in NetBird and run netbird up --setup-key on the device with that key. It automatically registers the device, and skipping it means the device will not connect.

Answers sourced from docs.netbird.io, docs.netbird.io, docs.netbird.io, docs.netbird.io

Community

Collected 5 days ago - public community threads