> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.notatechguy.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Pangolin: open-source Cloudflare One rival hits 23,500 stars - URL: https://www.notatechguy.com/pangolin-open-source-cloudflare-one-rival-hits-23-500-stars/ - Published: 2026-11-12T09:44:18.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-12T09:44:18.000Z - Description: An open-source security platform built on WireGuard promises zero-trust access and an AI gateway, with 23,577 stars on GitHub. - Author: Marcello Babbili - Tags: Technology & AI, Google Fossorial saw its open-source security platform Pangolin climb onto GitHub's daily trending list with 23,577 stars, up 108 in a single day [S¹](https://github.com/fosrl/pangolin?ref=notatechguy.com). The star count is a platform-reported figure with no independent verification, and every feature and security claim comes from the maintainers' own README [S¹](https://github.com/fosrl/pangolin?ref=notatechguy.com). **My read:** The star count and trending placement tell you developers are paying attention, but they say nothing about whether the security claims hold. The positioning against Cloudflare One and Zscaler is promotional, not benchmarked. The detail I would watch is whether a third-party security audit surfaces, because a zero-trust platform with no independent validation is a hard sell for any team handling regulated data. The project, built primarily in TypeScript [S¹](https://github.com/fosrl/pangolin?ref=notatechguy.com), packages four pieces: a VPN with zero-trust access controls, a reverse proxy using the same model, privileged access management, and what the maintainers describe as an identity-aware AI gateway [S¹](https://github.com/fosrl/pangolin?ref=notatechguy.com). The tunnel protocol is WireGuard® [S¹](https://github.com/fosrl/pangolin?ref=notatechguy.com) — this is per the maintainers' README, not independently tested. Site connectors handle remote network access and NAT traversal, the technical hurdle that stops many self-hosted tools from working behind office or home routers [S¹](https://github.com/fosrl/pangolin?ref=notatechguy.com). The Fossorial organisation on GitHub, created on 27 September 2024, lists 20 public repositories and 611 followers [P⁴](https://github.com/orgs/fosrl/repositories?ref=notatechguy.com). The main Pangolin repository shows 23,612 stars and 831 forks, with 122 open issues [P²](https://github.com/fosrl/pangolin/?ref=notatechguy.com). The star counts differ slightly between the trending snapshot and the repository page, which is expected as the figure moves in real time. The identity-aware AI gateway is the component that connects to a wider shift in how infrastructure is built for AI agents. As agents increasingly make calls to external services on their own, the question of who authorised the call has moved from theoretical to urgent. The gap between what agents can do and what safeguards they actually carry is real: Tencent found AI coding agents hit security safeguards in only 27-36% of runs earlier this month. Pangolin's gateway is the maintainers' answer to that gap, though no one outside the project has tested it. ### Dual licensing splits community and enterprise use Pangolin ships in two editions. The Community Edition is AGPL-3 licensed, meaning anyone offering it as a hosted service must release their source modifications [S¹](https://github.com/fosrl/pangolin?ref=notatechguy.com). The Enterprise Edition runs under Fossorial's own commercial licence, but costs nothing for personal use, hobbyists, and businesses below $100K USD in annual gross revenue [S¹](https://github.com/fosrl/pangolin?ref=notatechguy.com). Above that revenue threshold, a paid commercial licence kicks in. Fossorial also offers Pangolin Cloud as a managed hosting option for teams that do not want to run their own infrastructure [S¹](https://github.com/fosrl/pangolin?ref=notatechguy.com). Self-hosters can deploy using prebuilt Amazon Machine Images for x86 and Graviton processors, or through the DigitalOcean marketplace [S¹](https://github.com/fosrl/pangolin?ref=notatechguy.com). ### No audit, no benchmark, no deployment numbers No independent security audit exists. No benchmark against Cloudflare One or Zscaler has been published. No funding, revenue, or production deployment counts have been disclosed. The comparisons to established commercial platforms are the maintainers' positioning, not tested facts [S¹](https://github.com/fosrl/pangolin?ref=notatechguy.com). A team evaluating Pangolin for production access to internal infrastructure would need to run their own security review first. For a small engineering team, the practical first step is to deploy the Community Edition on a DigitalOcean droplet, connect one internal service through the reverse proxy, and test whether the identity controls actually block an unauthenticated request — an afternoon's work that answers the one question the README cannot. A network administrator currently managing site-to-site VPNs would need to weigh whether Pangolin's WireGuard-based connectors replace their existing tunnel setup or sit alongside it, since the project has no documented migration path from commercial VPN products. The next checkpoint is whether a third-party security firm publishes an audit, or whether the project's 122 open issues reveal access-control bugs as adoption widens. --- *Sources: [S1 — fosrl/pangolin: Modern networking and security platform providing secu](https://github.com/fosrl/pangolin?ref=notatechguy.com) · [P2 — fosrl/pangolin](https://github.com/fosrl/pangolin/?ref=notatechguy.com) · [P3 — README.md](https://github.com/FunnymeowwooV0/star-observatory/blob/main/README.md?ref=notatechguy.com) · [P4 — Pangolin](https://github.com/orgs/fosrl/repositories?ref=notatechguy.com) · [P5 — skills/skills/cloudflare-one at main · cloudflare/skills · GitHub](https://github.com/cloudflare/skills/tree/main/skills/cloudflare-one?ref=notatechguy.com)* --- *Written from 5 sourced items, 4 of them primary.* ![Pangolin GitHub stars: trending snapshot vs repository page](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6e/89/6e896869-22ef-4281-a213-b4c462c17cff/content/images/2026/11/chart_2c12e759cde89d0e680f.png) ## More from Not A Tech Guy - [AlphaGenome 2 maps DNA variants across hundreds of cell types](https://www.notatechguy.com/alphagenome-2-maps-dna-variants-across-hundreds-of-cell-types/) - [BotPsy 0.8B agent model beats Qwen 2B on five benchmarks](https://www.notatechguy.com/botpsy-0-8b-agent-model-beats-qwen-2b-on-five-benchmarks/) - [Google Gemini Decisions API: 150ms choices at $0.10 per million](https://www.notatechguy.com/google-gemini-decisions-api-150ms-choices-at-0-10-per-million/)