# Portmaster

8 Hacker News commenters recommended Portmaster and 2 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 6 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Free open source application firewall that shows and controls each app's network connections; people call it powerful for open source. Critics say some local features moved behind a subscription.

## Why people recommend it

- Long-running tool that runs on Linux (2 comments): "it's been around for years and runs on Linux (and Windows if you must)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47699649)) "I use Portmaster (on Linux) and I have never seen ads" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47699634))

## What people warn about

- Local features moved behind subscription (2 comments): "started locking existing local features behind the subscription" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47699030)) "Especially when said features used to be free." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47704503))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Little Snitch](https://hackerapproved.com/p/little-snitch.md): 75 recommend
- [OpenSnitch](https://hackerapproved.com/p/opensnitch.md): 27 recommend
- [NetGuard](https://hackerapproved.com/p/netguard.md): 22 recommend
- [Local Privacy Firewall](https://hackerapproved.com/p/local-privacy-firewall.md): 5 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Portmaster", https://hackerapproved.com/p/portmaster/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).