Pomerium review
A flexible open-source ZTNA proxy for teams that value self-hosting and policy control.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
Pomerium is an identity-aware Layer 7 reverse proxy for securing access to internal and external applications. It suits teams that need zero trust access without requiring a client for browser-based applications, while also supporting protocol-aware connections such as HTTP, SSH, TCP, UDP, WebSocket, and gRPC-related traffic. Open-source deployment, policy-as-code, SSO and OIDC integration, and self-hosted data-plane options make it particularly relevant to infrastructure, platform, and security teams that want control over deployment and access policy.
Pomerium’s plans cover both entry-level evaluation and managed control-plane use. Personal Free includes web-based secure application access, a self-hosted data plane, up to 10 users, and up to 10 routes. Business costs $7 per user per month when billed annually and adds a hosted control plane, advanced access-control criteria, and an API for programmatic management while retaining a self-hosted data plane. Enterprise is designed for fully self-hosted and on-premise deployments, with full API access and no usage limits. The structure makes the free plan suitable for smaller environments, while paid tiers address managed control and larger deployment requirements.
Its main strength is breadth within an infrastructure-focused access model: Pomerium combines browser-based access with native SSH proxying, TCP and UDP routing, device-posture and request-context evaluation, audit logging, and integrations including Grafana, Kubernetes, and Okta. The trade-off is that teams seeking broad endpoint coverage or a client-led access model may need to compare other products. Session recording is tied to Enterprise, and the free tier has explicit user and route limits. Choose Pomerium for open-source flexibility, self-hosting, and programmable policy enforcement; consider an alternative if those priorities are secondary to wider platform coverage or fewer plan boundaries.
Pomerium pros and cons
- Where it wins
- Open-source deployment with self-hosted proxy and data plane
- Clientless browser access plus SSH, TCP, UDP, and web protocols
- Policy-as-code, RBAC, SSO, and continuous context checks
- Where it doesn't
- Personal Free is limited to 10 users and 10 routes
- Session recording is available only with Enterprise
- Platform coverage centers on web, Linux, API, and self-hosted deployments
Pomerium fact sheet, pricing and score →
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