Open-source alternatives to Innernet

Boringtun is a Rust-based library and userspace implementation of the WireGuard protocol. It provides the necessary logic to establish encrypted network tunnels and route secure traffic across different operating systems without requiring kernel-level administrative privileges. The project is designed for embedding VPN logic into other applications. It achieves this through a C-compatible binary interface and cross-platform native bindings, allowing other programming languages to incorporate tunnel operations and peer management into their own software.

Firezone is a zero trust network access platform that uses WireGuard to provide identity-based connectivity to internal network resources. It functions as a virtual private network that synchronizes authentication and user groups via OpenID Connect providers. The system implements a group-based access control engine to enforce least privilege by restricting network resources to specific user groups. It utilizes holepunching and relay protocols for NAT traversal to establish encrypted tunnels through firewalls without requiring inbound ports. The platform includes a control plane for managing

Pangolin is a zero-trust remote access platform designed to provide secure, identity-aware connectivity to private network resources. It functions as a cloud-native network controller that orchestrates encrypted tunnels, traffic routing, and access policies across distributed environments. By leveraging WireGuard for secure data transport, the platform enables authenticated access to internal web applications, terminal sessions, and remote desktops without exposing services to the public internet. The platform distinguishes itself through a declarative infrastructure model that synchronizes n

zrok is a zero trust networking service that provides a secure overlay mesh to expose local services and files through firewalls and NAT without the need for manual port forwarding. It functions as a zero trust network manager, orchestrating identities, policies, and routers to establish secure connectivity between applications and users. The project distinguishes itself through the use of identity-based routing and hardened HTTP frontends that integrate with external identity providers. These capabilities allow for the creation of identity-aware proxies and secure reverse proxies that authen

CJDNS is a peer-to-peer VPN and cryptographic network overlay that implements an encrypted IPv6 mesh network. It functions as a distributed hash table router, utilizing a non-hierarchical XOR metric to route traffic across nodes without relying on a central authority or registry. The project distinguishes itself by tying network identity to cryptographic ownership, deriving unique IPv6 addresses from public keys. It ensures secure peer connectivity across NAT boundaries using public-key authentication, end-to-end packet encryption, and a handshake protocol that provides perfect forward secrec

This project is an embedded operating system for creating decentralized peer-to-peer communication networks using long-range radio hardware. It provides an off-grid messaging protocol for transmitting text and GPS coordinates without relying on cellular or internet infrastructure. The firmware implements a secure communication framework using shared keys and high-grade encryption to protect data transmitted over the air. It includes a LoRaWAN hardware interface to manage radio parameters and an MQTT radio gateway to bridge local mesh traffic to external networks. The system covers a broad ra

i2pd is a C++ implementation of the I2P anonymous network layer, serving as a peer-to-peer overlay network and I2P network router. It functions as a decentralized communication system that masks IP addresses and encrypts data using a garlic routing protocol. This project provides a lightweight daemon that acts as a self-hosted privacy gateway, connecting local applications to the I2P network for private data transmission without the use of Java. The system covers anonymous peer communication, privacy-preserving networking, and secure client-server interactions. It implements end-to-end encry

wireguard-ui is a web-based management interface and configuration generator for WireGuard VPN servers. It provides an authenticated administrative dashboard that allows users to manage VPN tunnels and peer connections through a graphical interface instead of manually editing configuration files. The project automates the creation of cryptographic key pairs and produces connection files and QR codes for distributing network settings to clients. It includes tools for tracking client metadata, such as names and email addresses, to identify individual users associated with specific connection se

This project provides a system for configuring dual-stack connectivity, establishing local proxy ports, and managing policy-based traffic routing. It functions as a utility to add IPv4 and IPv6 network exits to servers and a tool for importing and parsing WireGuard profiles to generate compatible network configurations. The software automates the installation and management of the Cloudflare WARP client across different operating systems. It enables the deployment of secure network tunnels and the creation of local SOCKS5 proxy ports to route specific application traffic without altering glob

I2P is a decentralized anonymous network layer and peer-to-peer overlay network. It functions as a darknet infrastructure that encrypts traffic and masks user identities and locations from external observers. The system acts as an anonymous proxy gateway, enabling the hosting of hidden services and websites that are unreachable via the public internet. It provides capabilities for privacy-preserving web mirroring and private secure shell tunneling to hide the physical IP addresses of both servers and clients. The network employs garlic routing, unidirectional tunneling, and a distributed has

wireguard-go is a Go implementation of the WireGuard protocol that operates as a userspace tunneling engine. It functions as a cross-platform network interface designed to establish encrypted tunnels between peers without requiring modifications to the system kernel. By implementing the protocol in userspace, this project provides a consistent network stack that enables secure peer-to-peer communication across different operating systems. It allows for the creation and management of encrypted network interfaces and tunnels to route private traffic over public networks.

Toxcore is a peer-to-peer networking library that implements a decentralized communication protocol for secure messaging and media calls without the use of central servers. It provides a core engine for establishing direct encrypted connections between devices using a public-key identity system where unique identifiers serve as both addresses and authentication keys. The project features a decentralized network architecture that utilizes a distributed hash table for peer discovery and Kademlia-based routing to locate participants. To maintain connectivity across restrictive network environmen

This project is a blockchain node software implementation that maintains a decentralized ledger using the Ouroboros proof-of-stake consensus protocol. It provides a complete environment for operating a distributed record, including a cryptocurrency wallet backend and a peer-to-peer network layer. The system is distinguished by its use of a UTXO-based ledger model and a diffusion-based state synchronization layer for node communication. It integrates a Public Key Infrastructure with TLS-authenticated communication to secure inter-node traffic and employs hierarchical deterministic key derivati

Lnd is a full implementation of the Lightning Network protocol, functioning as a Bitcoin Layer 2 daemon that manages payment channels and settles transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain. It serves as an off-chain payment processor and a cryptographic wallet manager, enabling the execution of instant, scalable transactions through a network node. The project distinguishes itself through a focus on secure node networking and programmatic control. It provides gRPC and REST API servers for automating payment workflows and utilizes macaroon-based authorization to delegate granular permissions via c

JimsGarage is a collection of shell scripts and automation tools designed to help individuals deploy and manage a wide range of self-hosted services on their own hardware. It provides a structured approach to setting up containerized applications, from media servers and document management systems to VPNs and monitoring stacks, all through automated Docker-based configurations. The project distinguishes itself by offering a comprehensive library of deployment recipes that cover the full lifecycle of a home server environment. This includes not just the services themselves, but also the suppor

IPFS is a peer-to-peer hypermedia protocol and content-addressed storage system that identifies data by cryptographic hashes rather than network locations. It enables the creation of a decentralized web by organizing files and directories as directed acyclic graphs of linked content identifiers. The project differentiates itself through the use of a distributed hash table for locating peers and a system of signed records to map human-readable names to changing content. It also provides HTTP gateways that translate standard web requests into peer-to-peer queries, allowing decentralized data to

Petals is a decentralized framework and inference engine for running large language models across a peer-to-peer network. It enables the execution of models that exceed the memory of any single machine by splitting computations and model layers across a collaborative swarm of GPUs. The system functions as a collaborative compute network where participants share local GPU resources and host model weights. It supports distributed prompt-tuning to adapt massive models to specific tasks and allows for the establishment of private compute swarms to process sensitive data within restricted, trusted

rippled is a peer-to-peer node implementation for the XRP Ledger. It serves as a distributed ledger consensus engine and a blockchain API gateway, allowing servers to validate transactions and maintain a shared, immutable sequence of ledger state. The project features a built-in decentralized exchange engine capable of executing atomic cross-currency payments and managing order books. It includes an on-chain asset management system for issuing and controlling fungible tokens and NFTs, as well as a Byzantine Fault Tolerant system for coordinating validators. The platform provides comprehensiv

Shadowbroker is an open-source intelligence geospatial platform designed for global telemetry aggregation and real-time asset tracking. It integrates aircraft, maritime vessel, and orbital satellite data into a unified map interface to monitor geopolitical events and critical infrastructure. The system utilizes automated analysis agents to perform data correlation and identify hidden patterns within intelligence datasets. It features a synthetic aperture radar analyzer for detecting ground deformations and a node-link relationship mapping system that resolves entities into structured graphs u

Awesome Tunneling is a curated directory of technologies designed to facilitate secure connectivity between distributed devices and local services. It serves as a comprehensive resource for identifying tools that enable remote access, private network creation, and the exposure of local environments to the public internet. The collection focuses on solutions that bypass network address translation and firewall restrictions through techniques such as reverse proxy tunneling, overlay network infrastructure, and peer-to-peer connectivity. It categorizes resources based on their ability to establi

n2n is a peer-to-peer VPN that creates an encrypted mesh network by establishing layer 2 overlay networks. It uses UDP tunneling to connect remote computers into a shared virtual local area network, allowing devices to communicate as if they were on the same physical Ethernet switch. The system utilizes a centralized signaling registry and federated coordination nodes to facilitate peer discovery and node registration. It implements NAT traversal through UDP hole punching and UPnP port mapping, while using supernode relay routing to ensure connectivity when symmetric NATs prevent direct peer-

EasyTier is a decentralized peer-to-peer virtual private network and mesh networking tool. It functions as a layer 3 network overlay that establishes secure tunnels between devices without requiring a centralized server or coordinator. It also serves as a WireGuard-compatible VPN, capable of acting as a server for standard WireGuard clients. The project distinguishes itself through multipath latency-based routing and the use of KCP or QUIC proxies to mitigate packet loss and stabilize connections in high-loss environments. It provides a virtual networking manager featuring a web management co

Ziti is a zero-trust network overlay and identity-based mesh network. It provides a software-defined perimeter that replaces traditional IP-based routing and VPNs by mapping network services to cryptographically verified identities, effectively cloaking applications from the public internet. The project distinguishes itself through an outbound-only connection model that eliminates open listening ports and a Zero Trust SDK that allows developers to embed encryption and identity-based access control directly into application source code. It also provides transparent tunneling proxies to extend

This project is a comprehensive computer networking textbook and instructional resource. It serves as a technical guide for the design and implementation of network layers, protocols, and hardware architecture, covering the spectrum from physical links to application-layer protocols. The content provides a detailed study of standards for congestion control, reliable data delivery, and internetwork routing. It includes specialized technical material on network security, public-key infrastructure, and the operation of modern cloud infrastructure and data centers. The material covers a broad ra

Octelium is a zero-trust network access platform and identity-aware proxy designed to secure private HTTP, SSH, and SQL resources. It functions as a secure gateway that validates human and workload identities using OIDC, SAML, and FIDO2 passkeys before granting access to internal applications and SaaS APIs. The system is distinguished by its secretless access broker, which injects credentials—such as API keys, passwords, and AWS Sigv4 signatures—at the gateway level so users can access databases and cloud resources without managing secrets. It further specializes in AI gateway administration,

Iroh is a peer-to-peer networking stack and distributed system designed for secure direct connections, content-addressed storage, and synchronized data sharing. It provides a foundation for decentralized applications by combining a QUIC-based networking layer with primitives for distributed state and data transfer. The project distinguishes itself through a comprehensive suite of decentralized capabilities, including a distributed data store using conflict-free replicated data types for collaborative synchronization and a content-addressed storage system for verifiable, resumable transfers of

Pritunl is an enterprise VPN gateway and server manager used to deploy and configure OpenVPN and WireGuard servers through a centralized web interface. It functions as a VPN access control system and an SSH certificate authority, issuing short-lived signed certificates to manage secure shell access and network entry without manual public key distribution. The platform acts as an SSO integrated VPN controller, synchronizing user access and organization mapping with third-party identity providers via OAuth, OIDC, and SAML. It supports high-availability deployments by using database-backed clust