Octelium
Unified Access Platform
A unified secure access platform with secretless access, CEL/OPA-style ABAC, OpenTelemetry-native real-time visibility, and both client-based and clientless access.
Best for
Tradeoffs
Octelium is a free and open source, self-hosted zero trust access platform. It runs entirely on infrastructure you operate, and provides clientless access to internal applications, client-based access over WireGuard and QUIC, layer-7 aware access control on a per-request basis, and dynamic secretless access.
Every request from a human, a browser, a CLI, a workload or an AI agent is authenticated against your identity providers, authorized per request at the application layer by the Octelium Service in front of the resource, exported to your SIEM and observability stack whether it is allowed or denied, and only then routed to the upstream HTTP API, database, SSH server, Kubernetes cluster, LLM or MCP server.
Secure humans, workloads and AI agents with one model for identity, authorization, connectivity, credentials and visibility.
One architecture for client-based zero-config VPN-like access over WireGuard and QUIC tunnels and clientless access over browsers for humans and OAuth2 access for workloads.
Read moreIdentity-based, application-layer aware ABAC access control with policy-as-code via CEL and OPA, applied on a per-request basis.
Read moreDynamic secretless access where teams and AI agents access protected infrastructure without ever holding a credential.
Read moreTeams, workloads and AI agents share the same model for identity management, access control, and auditing.
Read moreOpenTelemetry-native, real-time, application-layer-aware visibility and structured logging.
Read moreOctelium is administered like Kubernetes. Define your resources in YAML files, store them in a Git repository.
Read moreEach protected resource is represented as a Service behind an identity-aware proxy that enforces application-layer access control, credential isolation and auditing. Services support both client-based and clientless access.
Signing in once, then reaching Services with and without a client
Authorize every request from authenticated identity, request context and application-layer attributes with policy-as-code using CEL or Open Policy Agent.
Requests authorized one by one against CEL rules in the HTTP, LLM and Kubernetes modes
Store application credentials in the Cluster and inject them only after access is authorized. Users, workloads and AI agents reach protected resources without receiving the upstream API key, password, private key, certificate or other credential.
Upstream credentials injected per request by identity in the HTTP, SSH and PostgreSQL modes
Human and workload Users share the same Groups, Policies, access controls and audit model while authenticating through mechanisms appropriate to each identity type.
Signing in with a passkey and opening the Portal
Emit structured, application-layer access logs in real time and export them through OpenTelemetry OTLP to the observability, analytics and SIEM systems your organization already operates.
Run the Cluster on Kubernetes infrastructure you control, scale the data plane horizontally, manage resources declaratively, automate the platform through APIs and SDKs, and optionally deploy containerized Service upstreams with the Cluster itself.
Cluster resources applied declaratively from YAML with octeliumctl and managed programmatically with the Go, TypeScript, Python and Rust SDKs
Both products are compared from the same structured capability dataset and evaluated using the same evidentiary standard. Emerging or experimental capabilities are marked as partial regardless of vendor.
This is a curated subset of the full capability matrix, including areas where either product differs and areas where their capabilities are equivalent. Open the complete matrix for every row, source and filter.
Architecture
Native FIDO2 / Passkey
Native means implemented by the platform itself, not merely delegated to an external IdP.
Workload Identity
Anonymous / Public Access
SCIM Provisioning
Automated user/group lifecycle provisioning via SCIM, beyond just login-time IdP federation.
Policy Model
Policy-as-Code
Per-Request Authz
For L7 products, this means each HTTP/gRPC/API/K8s request can be evaluated. For overlays, session/connection policy is not counted as per-request. This modeling choice structurally favors L7 gateways over network overlays.
L7-Aware Policies
Zero Standing Privilege / JIT
Indicates strong architectural support for minimizing standing privilege; not an absolute claim that privileged access cannot exist.
Access Requests / Approvals
First-class request-and-approve / break-glass workflows (reviewers, time-bound grants), as opposed to static policy alone.
Device Posture
SSH
PostgreSQL
Kubernetes
RDP
DNS
WireGuard Data Plane
Whether the product's own client/data plane is built on WireGuard, versus a proprietary or TLS-based transport.
OpenTelemetry-Native
L7-Aware Access Logs
SSH Session Recording
Client-Based VPN / Overlay
Clientless Browser Access
Workload OAuth2 / Bearer
Private DNS
Dynamic Credential Selection
Secretless SaaS API Access
AI / LLM Gateway
MCP Gateway / MCP Access
Deploy Containers / PaaS
High Availability
Fully Self-Hosted
Server Code Open Source
No Mandatory Proprietary Cloud
Data Sovereignty
Unified Access Platform
A unified secure access platform with secretless access, CEL/OPA-style ABAC, OpenTelemetry-native real-time visibility, and both client-based and clientless access.
Best for
Tradeoffs
Edge SASE / ZTNA
Extremely strong global edge/SASE product; less comparable to Octelium where deep self-hosted L7 protocol semantics, secretless app credentials, and data sovereignty are primary requirements.
Best for
Tradeoffs
The same platform capabilities ship with every deployment, whichever way you use it.
Clientless, identity-aware access to protected applications for people in a browser and workloads using standard bearer authentication.
Read morePublish local and private Services on your own domain and infrastructure, with optional identity-aware access control in front of them.
Read moreIdentity-aware API access with per-request Policy, upstream credential isolation, rate limiting, validation and request processing.
Read moreInstall a self-hosted Cluster and start applying identity-aware access control to your Services.