Notes 
Safing Portmaster: Monitor and control all network activity
Reviewed by Gabriel Bachmann
Safing Portmaster
safing.io/portmaster 3 ratings so far*
Rate Safing Portmaster: No account needed
Threat level
Covered
A covered pick. Anyone can use it as a private drop-in, with no setup or know-how. Enough for most people. Threat levels
Our take
More ambitious than a plain firewall: it monitors and controls every app’s network activity with a friendlier interface and built-in privacy features, which lowers the bar for non-experts. The trade is that it is heavier and more opinionated than something like simplewall, and that overhead is real on lower-end machines. A strong pick if you want application-level network control with guidance built in; minimalists who want a featherweight blocker will prefer simplewall.
GitHub at a glance
safing/portmaster GPL-3.0 application-firewalldnsfirewallgogolangnetworkingprivacyprivacy-by-designprivacy-enhancing-technologiesprivacy-protectionprivacy-tools
Stars
14,020
+26 this week
Forks
608
90 watching
Last commit
5d ago
healthy
Latest release
v2.2.8
13d ago, 100+ total
Star history
Issues
96% closed
67
open
1,449
closed
+15 / -34
opened / closed, last 4 weeks
Opened vs closed, last 12 weeks
Commits, last 26 weeks
107 commits, active 16 of 26 weeks
18 contributors since Nov 2018
Languages
- Go 53.3%
- C 26.8%
- TypeScript 9%
- Other 10.9%
Updated daily from the GitHub API. Star tracking since Jun 15, 2026.
Website at a glance
safing.io
C score 50
Basic website security headers
Graded by Mozilla HTTP Observatory, tested 13d ago
Inspect this site yourself
Measures the security configuration of the tool's own website, not the privacy of the product itself. A strong tool can still score low here.
Safing Portmaster alternatives
Safing Portmaster license, in plain English
GPL-3.0 Strong copyleft
Free to use and modify, but anything you distribute that is built on it must also be open under the same license.
Permits
- Commercial use
- Modification
- Distribution
- Patent use
- Private use
Requires
- Disclose source
- Same license
- State changes
- License and copyright notice
Does not provide
- Liability cover
- Warranty
Why it matters: Strong copyleft keeps every distributed version open. A vendor cannot fold this into a closed product and ship it without releasing their changes.
Plain-language summary of the project's license, not legal advice. Read the full text for the exact terms.
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