IP Fire Project
IPFire is an open-source Linux-based firewall distribution maintained by Lightning Wire Labs GmbH in Germany, serving individuals, businesses, and governments worldwide with intrusion prevention, VPN, and content filtering on commodity hardware.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2010
- HeadquartersDatteln, Germany
- Headcount101–250
- GTM typeB2B and B2C
- OfferingSoftware
What IP Fire Project does
IPFire is an open-source Linux-based firewall distribution launched in 2010 and maintained by Lightning Wire Labs GmbH, headquartered in Datteln, Germany. It targets individuals, businesses, and governments with a free, self-hostable network-security stack that combines stateful firewalling, intrusion detection and prevention via Suricata, web proxy and content filtering via Squid, and VPN capabilities spanning IPsec and WireGuard. The platform is administered through a web-based interface, supports a package manager for extensions, and runs on commodity hardware, lowering total cost of ownership relative to commercial firewall appliances.
The technology stack has been incrementally matured over 200+ core updates and includes a custom intrusion-prevention engine, an IPFire Location database (also used externally by the Tor anonymity network and the F-Droid app store), and post-quantum cryptography implementations for IPsec. Recent product surface extensions include IPFire DBL, a curated domain blocklist launched in February 2026, and DNS Firewall, a standalone DNS-layer security product released in April 2026. Distribution is supported by 27 mirrors across 18 countries, and the project integrates with adjacent ecosystems including OpenWrt, OPNsense, pfSense, and Pi-hole.
The business model is freemium at the software level with monetization concentrated in hardware appliances and professional support services sold via Lightning Wire Labs. IPFire as an open-source project discloses no revenue, employee count for the project, or external funding rounds; the commercial entity is small and privately held. Growth is driven by community contributions, recurring core-update cadence, and selective product-line extensions rather than by aggressive sales-led GTM.
IP Fire Project firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- IP Fire Project
- Legal name
- IPFire Project
- Website
- https://ipfire.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2010
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 101–250 employees
- Short description
- IPFire is an open-source Linux-based firewall distribution maintained by Lightning Wire Labs GmbH in Germany, serving individuals, businesses, and governments worldwide with intrusion prevention, VPN, and content filtering on commodity hardware.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
IP Fire Project industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Network Security Software
- NAICS
- Security Systems Services (except Locksmiths) (561621), Security Systems Services (56162)
- SIC
- Services-Computer Integrated Systems Design (7373)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Next-Gen Firewalls (NGFW) & UTM (HDADABAA)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Intrusion Prevention/Detection Systems (IPS/IDS) (HDADABAH), Network Security Managed Services (Firewall/IDS/IPS/SASE) (BPAEADAG), Cloud Network Security (Microsegmentation, Cloud Firewall) (HDADADAH), Intrusion Detection & Prevention Systems (IDS/IPS) (HDAFAFAD)
Keywords
Where IP Fire Project is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Datteln
- HQ country
- Germany
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
IP Fire Project business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B and B2C
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain
Revenue model
- Hardware Appliances: Pre-configured, high-performance firewall appliances optimized for IPFire capabilities, sold through the Lightning Wire Labs store to businesses and home users seeking plug-and-play security solutions.
- Professional Support Services: Paid support packages ensuring continuous network security and smooth system operation, provided by Lightning Wire Labs as the commercial arm of the IPFire project.
- Core Software (Free): The IPFire firewall distribution, IPFire DBL blocklist, and IPFire Location database are provided entirely free of charge as open-source software, supported by community contributions and donations.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Others | IPFire DBL - Free Tier |
| Freemium | Others | IPFire Software - Free |
| Other | Others | Hardware Appliances - Contact for Pricing |
| Subscription | Others | Professional Support - Contact for Pricing |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels9 records
IP Fire Project product offering
Product offeringCore offering
IPFire is an open-source Linux-based firewall distribution built on Linux Netfilter that delivers stateful packet inspection, deep packet inspection, intrusion detection and prevention via Suricata, and multi-protocol VPN (WireGuard, OpenVPN, IPsec) with network segmentation, advanced routing, and Quality of Service. The project supplements the core firewall with IPFire DBL (a community-powered domain blocklist of 1.8M+ domains across 14 categories) and IPFire Location (a cryptographically-signed IP geolocation database), while Lightning Wire Labs GmbH monetizes the ecosystem through hardware appliances and professional support services.
Product overview
IPFire is an advanced open-source firewall distribution built on Linux Netfilter, offering enterprise-grade network security through stateful packet inspection, intrusion detection/prevention with Suricata, multi-protocol VPN support (WireGuard, OpenVPN, IPsec), and advanced routing with QoS. The core product is supplemented by IPFire DBL (Domain Blocklist), a community-powered security intelligence service providing categorized domain blocking across 14 threat categories with 1.8M+ domains. IPFire Location offers free, open-source IP geolocation with ASN and proxy detection. Supporting utilities include Pakfire (package management), Fireinfo (hardware reporting), libloc (geolocation library), Suricata Reporter (IDS reporting), and various network tools. The ecosystem spans firewall appliances, professional support through Lightning Wire Labs, and community resources including documentation, mailing lists, and mirrors across 27 countries.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- IPFire DBL: Community-powered domain blocklist service protecting networks from malware, phishing, and unwanted content through DNS filtering and Suricata integration
- IPFire Location
- Pakfire
Products and services
- IPFire Firewall Distribution Open-source Linux-based firewall distribution built on Linux Netfilter providing stateful packet inspection, deep packet inspection, Suricata-based intrusion detection/prevention, multi-protocol VPN (WireGuard, OpenVPN, IPsec with post-quantum cryptography), advanced routing, Quality of Service, proxy with content filtering, network segmentation with DMZ creation, and secure update infrastructure for enterprises, SMBs, educational institutions, home users, and governments.
- IPFire DBL (Domain Blocklist) Community-maintained domain blocklist service providing 14 categorized lists with 1,801,135 domains across malware, phishing, pornography, advertising, gambling, piracy, smart TV, social networks, streaming, violence, and other categories, delivered via DNS Response Policy Zones (RPZ) with IXFR incremental updates, plus Suricata rulesets for deep packet inspection that catches threats bypassing DNS-only solutions.
- IPFire Location Free, open-source, cryptographically-signed IP geolocation database shipping with ASN data, proxy flags, and anycast detection, designed for nanosecond lookups and used by Tor, F-Droid, and hundreds of other open-source projects to block threats by country or autonomous system.
- IPFire Hardware Appliances Pre-configured, high-performance firewall appliances optimized for IPFire capabilities, sold through the Lightning Wire Labs store to businesses and home users seeking plug-and-play security solutions with commodity hardware compatibility.
- Professional Support Services Paid professional support packages for organizations requiring continuous network security, smooth system operation, deployment assistance, configuration help, and ongoing maintenance for IPFire firewall deployments.
- IPFire DNS Firewall IPFire DNS Firewall feature release that replaced the URL filter and Pi-hole integration with a native DNS-level firewall capability for blocking malicious, ad, and tracking domains.
Quantifiable outcome
- 1,801,135 malicious, ad, and tracking domains blocked across 14 categories
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use IP Fire Project
Customer profileNamed customers1 record
Segments6 records
Ideal customer profiles5 records
IP Fire Project technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration11 records
Feature8 records
IP Fire Project partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- Lightning Wire Labs GmbHcoreLightning Wire Labs GmbH is the commercial entity maintaining the IPFire project. They maintain official mirrors (mirror1.ipfire.org), operate the official store for IPFire appliances and support services, and serve as the legal contact for the IPFire Project (registered c/o Lightning Wire Labs in Datteln, Germany). The company provides the primary monetization layer for the open-source project through hardware sales and professional support.
Scale indicators7 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
IP Fire Project competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- OPNsense: OPNsense is a community-driven open-source firewall forked from pfSense, focused on usability, security, and extensibility. Competes head-to-head with IPFire for free, self-hosted network security in SMB and home segments.
- Netgate (pfSense): Netgate sells pfSense, the leading open-source firewall distribution. Directly competes with IPFire for the same SMB, education, and prosumer buyers seeking commercial-grade open-source network security with optional paid appliances and support.
- Deciso (OPNsense commercial sponsor): Deciso manufactures OPNsense-based hardware appliances and provides commercial support — directly analogous to Lightning Wire Labs' role for IPFire. Both pairs (Deciso/OPNsense and Lightning Wire Labs/IPFire) pursue the same open-source-plus-commercial-appliance-plus-support model.
Broad incumbents
- Fortinet (FortiGate): Fortinet FortiGate dominates the NGFW market with integrated SD-WAN, sandboxing, and a broad security fabric. Anchors the high end of the commercial firewall category that IPFire's free distribution is positioned against at the lower-cost SMB entry point.
- Check Point Software: Check Point provides enterprise firewalls and unified threat management. While positioned at a different price point, it competes with IPFire in digital-sovereignty-conscious European accounts seeking alternative network security vendors.
- Untangle (Arista Networks): Untangle NG Firewall, now part of Arista, is a commercial Linux-based UTM targeting SMBs and education. Targets a similar audience to IPFire — small organizations seeking affordable network security — but as a paid subscription product.
- Palo Alto Networks: Palo Alto Networks is the enterprise NGFW leader with advanced threat prevention and Prisma cloud security. Represents the upper-bound incumbent in the firewall category — relevant for understanding IPFire's competitive positioning against the full commercial spectrum.
- Sophos (XG / XGS Firewall): Sophos offers a commercial UTM/NGFW product line with synchronized security, central management, and strong SMB channel presence. Represents the commercial incumbent IPFire competes against when buyers require vendor-backed support SLAs and managed services.
Emerging players
- ClearOS: ClearOS is a Linux-based server/network gateway distribution with gateway, content filtering, and VPN features. Comparable in scale and target market to IPFire — SMBs seeking an all-in-one open-source network appliance — though with less security-feature depth.
- OpenWrt: OpenWrt is an open-source Linux-based router OS targeting embedded devices and home routers. Operates in an adjacent niche to IPFire (consumer/SMB network edge), and IPFire DBL explicitly integrates with OpenWrt — making it a complementary rather than direct competitor.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
IP Fire Project social profiles
Digital presenceIP Fire Project compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance1 record
IP Fire Project financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
IP Fire Project leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
IP Fire Project subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries3 records
IP Fire Project funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
IP Fire Project M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about IP Fire Project
What does IP Fire Project do?
IPFire is an open-source Linux-based firewall distribution built on Linux Netfilter that delivers stateful packet inspection, deep packet inspection, intrusion detection and prevention via Suricata, and multi-protocol VPN (WireGuard, OpenVPN, IPsec) with network segmentation, advanced routing, and Quality of Service. The project supplements the core firewall with IPFire DBL (a community-powered domain blocklist of 1.8M+ domains across 14 categories) and IPFire Location (a cryptographically-signed IP geolocation database), while Lightning Wire Labs GmbH monetizes the ecosystem through hardware appliances and professional support services.
Is IP Fire Project a public or private company?
IP Fire Project is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently operating.
When was IP Fire Project founded?
IP Fire Project was founded in 2010. It employs 101 to 250 people.
Where is IP Fire Project based?
IP Fire Project is headquartered in Datteln, Germany, in the Europe region.
How does IP Fire Project make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Hardware Appliances are the primary driver. The others are professional Support Services and core Software (Free).
Who are IP Fire Project's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are OPNsense, Netgate (pfSense) and Deciso (OPNsense commercial sponsor). Broad incumbents are Fortinet (FortiGate), Check Point Software, Untangle (Arista Networks), Palo Alto Networks and Sophos (XG / XGS Firewall). Emerging players are ClearOS and OpenWrt.
Does IP Fire Project have an API?
No public API is recorded for IP Fire Project.
What industry is IP Fire Project in?
IP Fire Project's product category is Network Security Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDADABAA, Next-Gen Firewalls (NGFW) & UTM, with a secondary code of HDADABAH, Intrusion Prevention/Detection Systems (IPS/IDS). Its NAICS code is 561621 and its SIC code is 7373.