Why MurOS
MurOS is a free, open source firewall built on Debian Linux. Every service is native and tested together, managed from a single web UI, and it runs on far more hardware than the BSD-based alternatives.
It covers the firewall most companies actually need: stateful filtering, NAT, routing, VPN, high availability and clean logs. Free, open source, no subscription, no lock-in.
The state of open source firewalls
Commercial appliances like FortiGate are polished but closed: licensed per tier, tied to one vendor and one hardware line. The open source options, pfSense and OPNsense, remove the lock-in but run on FreeBSD, which narrows hardware support and leans on a catalogue of community plugins of uneven quality.
MurOS takes a third path: free and open source, built on stock Debian Linux, with every service native in a single tested product.
What makes MurOS different
Not one feature, but the combination: free, open, built on Linux, and integrated as a single tested product.
Free and open source
AGPL-3.0, no enterprise edition, no paywalled module, no per-throughput subscription. Everyone runs the same package, and it stays yours to inspect, script and keep.
Built on Linux, runs almost anywhere
Stock Debian 13 brings the full Linux driver set: mini-PCs, rack servers, VMs on Proxmox or VMware, and recent or cheap NICs that the BSD-based pfSense and OPNsense often will not drive.
One integrated core
Every service is native and tested together at each release, so the attack surface is known and upgrades are predictable. No third-party plugin matrix to break: it updates as one unit, with an automatic pre-upgrade snapshot.
Everything from one web UI
Stage in the database, click Apply, push to the kernel, with auto-rollback if reachability breaks. The same pattern on every page, no command line required.
What you get out of the box
MurOS covers what most networks actually run, natively, in the default package.
- Stateful filtering, NAT, static routing and multi-WAN failover.
- WireGuard and IPsec, with a built-in PKI for certificates.
- HA with VRRP, conntrack sync and inter-node config replication.
- DHCP, recursive validating DNS, monitoring, logs and notifications.
- Everything in the default package. No edition, no paywall.
Who it is for
MurOS targets the firewall the large majority of companies actually run. What is not in the core today is on the roadmap as a native feature, never as a third-party plugin.
A good fit
- Small and mid-size companies that need a reliable perimeter firewall.
- Admins who prefer Debian and standard Linux tooling under the hood.
- Teams that value a tested, predictable product they fully control.
- Anyone replacing an end-of-life appliance without a new subscription.
On the roadmap
- Inline IDS / IPS with Suricata.
- LDAP and Active Directory authentication for the web UI and VPNs.
- Captive portal for guest networks.
Try it on a spare box
Install on a fresh Debian 13 and reach the web UI in minutes. No account, no key, no phone-home.
curl -fsSL https://apt.muros.org/install.sh | sudo bash