Fail2ban AlternativesFirewalls and other similar apps like Fail2ban

Fail2ban is described as 'Scans log files (e.g. /var/log/apache/error_log) and bans IPs that show the malicious signs -- too many password failures, seeking for exploits, etc. Generally Fail2Ban is then used to update firewall rules to reject the IP addresses for a specified amount of time' and is a Firewall in the security & privacy category. There are more than 10 alternatives to Fail2ban for a variety of platforms, including Linux, Windows, Self-Hosted, Mac and Web-based apps. The best Fail2ban alternative is CrowdSec. It's not free, so if you're looking for a free alternative, you could try CrowdSec or SSHGuard. Other great apps like Fail2ban are HeatShield, ConfigServer Firewall, EvlWatcher and Cyberarms Intrusion Detection and Defense.

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Fail2ban alternatives page was last updated

Alternatives list

  1. CrowdSec icon

    CrowdSec

     20 likes

    CrowdSec is a security automation engine, using both local IP behavior detection & our community-driven IP reputation database.

    Cost / License

    • Free Personal
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • Self-Hosted
     
  2. SSHGuard icon

    SSHGuard

     26 likes

    SSHGuard monitors services through their logging activity. It reacts to messages about dangerous activity by blocking the source address with the local firewall. SSHGuard employs a clever parser that can transparently recognize several logging formats at once (syslog, syslog-ng...

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Linux
     
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    1
    SSHGuard vs Fail2ban Comments
    Guest
    Positive
    -3

    Easier to configure, and no errors like Fail2Ban!

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    • SSHGuard is Free and Open SourceFail2ban is also Free and Open Source
  4. IPBanPro icon

    IPBanPro

     7 likes

    IPBan is a FREE and open source application that allows auto banning ip addresses from failed login attempts. Many sources are watched such as SSH, SMTP, SQL-Server, MySQL, RDP and dropped packets.

    Cost / License

    • Paid
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux
     
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    1
    IPBanPro vs Fail2ban Comments
    Guest
    Positive
    1

    Free and works on Windows, easy to setup

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    • IPBanPro is Paid and Open SourceFail2ban is Free and Open Source
  5. HeatShield icon

    HeatShield

     1 like

    HeatShield is a network firewall management service for Linux servers. A firewall configured by HeatShield prevents unauthorized access to services running on your servers, such as SSH and MySQL. Using HeatShield, you can easily restrict access to these services so that only IP...

    Cost / License

    • Freemium
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • Online
     
  6. ConfigServer Firewall icon

    ConfigServer Firewall

     8 likes

    A Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI) firewall, Login/Intrusion Detection and Security application for Linux servers.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    ConfigServer Firewall screenshot 1
     
  7. EvlWatcher icon

    EvlWatcher

     3 likes

    Protected against RDP-Brute forcers. It installs a service which scans the event log for anomalies every 30 seconds (by default).

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    EvlWatcher screenshot 1
     
  10. W

    win2ban

     Like

    win2ban is a Fail2ban implementation for Windows systems. It is a packaging of Fail2ban, Python, Cygwin, Winlogbeat and many other related tools to make it a complete and ready-to-use solution for brute-force attack protection.

    Cost / License

    • Free Personal
    • Proprietary

    Platforms

    • Windows
     
  11. P

    Pyruse

     2 likes

    Light-weight and extra-configurable peruser of systemd journal logs: ban IP, send immediate email, daily report… all based on a single JSON configuration file.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • Self-Hosted
     
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    1
    Pyruse vs Fail2ban Comments
    altyvnet
    Positive
    0

    Customizable. Well-defined behaviour. Modern.

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    • Pyruse is Free and Open SourceFail2ban is also Free and Open Source
  12. reaction icon

    reaction

     2 likes

    Inspired by the honorable Fail2ban, it intend to provide a more lightweight (CPU wise) alternative, easy to configure and well documented.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Self-Hosted
    • Linux
    Read current ban state
     
  13. Denyhosts icon

    Denyhosts

     9 likes

    The idea of denying access to SSH servers is nothing new and I was inspired by many other scripts that I discovered. However, none of them did things the way I envisioned them to. Also, they were all shell scripts which do not offer the elegance of Python.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Linux
     
  14. AiP Defense icon

    AiP Defense

     5 likes

    Your Microsoft Windows servers are probably under constant attack and you may not even know it! Chances are if your hosting remote desktop, or other services such as Microsoft exchange, FTP, HTTP, HTTP’s or SQL. Your server is likely getting bombarded with failed login attempts.

    Cost / License

    • Paid
    • Proprietary

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Windows
     
12 of 21 Fail2ban alternatives