Octelium is a free and open source, self-hosted zero trust access platform. A resource behind NAT is served to the Cluster over an outbound tunnel from a connected client, so it can be reached privately or published to the internet without an inbound port, on infrastructure you operate end to end.
kind: Service
metadata:
name: app
spec:
mode: HTTP
isPublic: true
config:
upstream:
url: http://localhost:3000
user: laptopkind: Service
metadata:
name: docs
spec:
mode: HTTP
isPublic: true
isAnonymous: true
config:
upstream:
container:
port: 8080
image: ghcr.io/acme/docs:2.1.0kind: Policy
metadata:
name: team
spec:
rules:
- effect: ALLOW
condition:
all:
of:
- match: ctx.user.spec.type == "HUMAN"
- match: '"team" in ctx.user.spec.groups'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 resource is protected by an identity-aware proxy that provides application-layer-aware access control, secretless access, and visibility. Where that upstream actually lives is a detail of the Service definition.
kind: Service
metadata:
name: app
spec:
mode: HTTP
isPublic: true
config:
upstream:
url: http://localhost:3000
user: laptopkind: Service
metadata:
name: nats
spec:
mode: TCP
port: 4222
config:
upstream:
url: tcp://10.0.7.11:4222kind: Service
metadata:
name: web
spec:
mode: WEB
isPublic: true
config:
upstream:
container:
port: 3000
image: ghcr.io/acme/web:1.2.0
replicas: 3Access is authorized on a per-request basis, using CEL or Open Policy Agent, against the identity behind the request and the content of the request itself rather than the network path it arrived on.
kind: Policy
metadata:
name: api-read-only
spec:
rules:
- effect: ALLOW
condition:
all:
of:
- match: ctx.request.http.method == "GET"
- match: ctx.request.http.path.startsWith("/v1/")
- match: '"partners" in ctx.user.spec.groups'kind: Service
metadata:
name: docs
spec:
mode: HTTP
isPublic: true
isAnonymous: true
config:
upstream:
url: http://10.0.6.30:8080
authorization:
enableAnonymous: true
inlinePolicies:
- spec:
rules:
- effect: ALLOW
condition:
match: ctx.request.http.method == "GET"kind: Policy
metadata:
name: sensitive
spec:
rules:
- effect: ALLOW
condition:
all:
of:
- match: ctx.user.spec.type == "HUMAN"
- match: ctx.session.status.isBrowser
- match: ctx.device.status.osType in ["MAC", "WINDOWS"]Application-layer credentials are stored in the Cluster as Secrets and injected into the upstream connection once a request is authorized. The credential a caller presents to the Cluster and the credential the Cluster presents upstream are entirely separate.
kind: Service
metadata:
name: internal-api
spec:
mode: HTTP
isPublic: true
config:
upstream:
url: https://api.internal:8443
http:
auth:
bearer:
fromSecret: api-keykind: Service
metadata:
name: pg-edge
spec:
mode: POSTGRES
port: 5432
config:
upstream:
url: postgres://pg.home.local
user: homelab
postgres:
user: app
database: app
auth:
password:
fromSecret: pg-passwordkind: Service
metadata:
name: web
spec:
mode: WEB
isPublic: true
config:
upstream:
container:
port: 3000
image: ghcr.io/acme/web:1.2.0
credentials:
usernamePassword:
username: ghcr-user
password:
fromSecret: ghcr-tokenHuman and workload Users share the same identity management, authentication, access control and visibility model. The host that serves a resource is itself an identity, with its own Session and its own audit trail.
kind: IdentityProvider
metadata:
name: github-actions
spec:
oidcIdentityToken:
issuerURL: https://token.actions.githubusercontent.com
audience: https://example.comkind: User
metadata:
name: laptop
spec:
type: WORKLOAD
groups:
- servingkind: Service
metadata:
name: tools-mcp
spec:
mode: MCP
isPublic: true
config:
upstream:
url: http://localhost:8080
user: laptop
mcp:
endpoint: /mcpOpenTelemetry-ready, application-layer aware, structured auditing and visibility emitted to your OpenTelemetry OTLP receivers, where they can be exported to your log management and SIEM tools.
A Cluster runs on Kubernetes and uses it to scale its own data plane, place Service proxies across Gateways, and run containerized applications that the Cluster itself deploys.
$ octeliumctl apply ./cluster
Secret: ghcr-token Updated
Secret: api-key Updated
IdentityProvider: github Updated
Policy: team Created
Group: team Created
Group: serving Updated
Service: app Created
Service: docs Created
Service: web Created
Namespace: public Created
Cluster Core resources successfully applied
7 resources created
3 resources updated
ClusterConfig updatedBoth products are described from the same structured capability dataset used across this site, with the same evidentiary standard applied to each. Emerging and experimental features are marked as partial regardless of vendor.
A curated view of the dataset, weighted here towards tunneling, publishing and hosting. It includes the rows where Octelium is stronger, the rows where it is not, and the rows where the two are equivalent. The complete capability matrix, with search and filters, is one click away.
Architecture
Anonymous / Public Access
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
HTTP / HTTPS
gRPC
SSH
PostgreSQL
MySQL
Kubernetes
RDP
DNS
Raw TCP / UDP
HTTP Manipulation
WireGuard Data Plane
Whether the product's own client/data plane is built on WireGuard, versus a proprietary or TLS-based transport.
QUIC Transport
Product-native QUIC transport/tunneling. Experimental or internal-only QUIC is marked partial.
IPv6 Support
NAT Traversal
OpenTelemetry-Native
L7-Aware Access Logs
SSH Session Recording
SIEM Integration
Client-Based VPN / Overlay
Clientless Browser Access
Private DNS
Dynamic Upstream Routing
GitOps / Declarative Config
Secretless SaaS API Access
Deploy Containers / PaaS
API Gateway
Kubernetes Ingress / Gateway
Reverse Proxy / Tunneling
Kubernetes-Native
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.
Publish a local service on your own domain and your own infrastructure, with identity and policy in front of it.
Read moreThe same clientless access model, with the control plane and the data plane running on infrastructure you operate.
Read moreDeploy, scale and serve containerized applications that the Cluster itself runs, with or without public access.
Read moreFree and open source. Self-hosted. No vendor lock-in.