Portmaster
Ranked 4 of 5 application firewalls by recommenders
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.
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.
10 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 8
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 80%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 8 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 4 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 6 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Long-running tool that runs on Linux
“it's been around for years and runs on Linux (and Windows if you must)”
Comment from 9 Apr 2026 in “LittleSnitch for Linux” “I use Portmaster (on Linux) and I have never seen ads”
Comment from 9 Apr 2026 in “LittleSnitch for Linux”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Local features moved behind subscription
“started locking existing local features behind the subscription”
Comment from 9 Apr 2026 in “LittleSnitch for Linux” “Especially when said features used to be free.”
Comment from 9 Apr 2026 in “LittleSnitch for Linux”
Other application firewalls people recommend
The four most recommended other application firewalls, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Little Snitch | 75 | 39 | 66% | 12 | — | — |
| OpenSnitch | 27 | 5 | 84% | 10 | — | Approved |
| NetGuard | 22 | 4 | 85% | 10 | — | Approved |
| PortmasterThis page | 8 | 2 | 80% | 6 | — | — |
| Local Privacy Firewall | 5 | 1 | 83% | 1 | — | — |
What people said
11 of the 12 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Alongside the VPN we run additional services: modDNS, Mailx and Portmaster.”
“There are also many bespoke and commercial linux games that run on these devices via portmaster”
“I was far from impressed; it looks featured, but it's much harder to use.”
“it's surprisingly powerful for an open source project”
“Especially when said features used to be free.”
“the tool i use for upgrading installed ports on freebsd since… like… olden times”
“it's been around for years and runs on Linux (and Windows if you must)”
“I use Portmaster (on Linux) and I have never seen ads”
“started locking existing local features behind the subscription”
“They turned piles of gear into clean boxes at a fraction of the heat and mess.”
“There are handhelds for less than 200$ with very good screens and controls that can play all of these.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.