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Automation Integration · head to head

Nango vs Nebula

Nango logo

Nango

Automation Integration

Open source unified API and OAuth infrastructure for product integrations, licensed under Elastic License 2.0

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Nebula logo

Nebula

Networking

Certificate based overlay network from Slack, with identity and firewall rules carried in the certificate

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Nango the licence is Elastic License 2.0, which is source available rather than OSI open source, and it forbids offering Nango to third parties as a managed service, so anyone planning to resell or embed it in a platform for their own customers has a genuine legal problem.; Nebula the open source project has no user interface, no enrolment workflow and no revocation service, so certificate issuing, distribution and expiry become scripts you write and then have to keep working.
  • They diverge on capability: Nango covers Managed OAuth, Nebula covers Certificate carried identity.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Nango and Nebula actually diverge.

Attributes where Nango and Nebula differ
AttributeNangoNebula
Pricing modelPer connection per monthOpen source, no licence fee
PlatformsWeb, Linux, DockerLinux, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android, FreeBSD
CategoryAutomation IntegrationNetworking

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Nango

  • Managed OAuth
  • Pre-built integrations
  • Custom syncs and actions
  • Incremental sync
  • Rate limit and retry handling
  • Webhooks
  • Self-hosting
  • Unified models

Only in Nebula

  • Certificate carried identity
  • Group based host firewall
  • Lighthouse discovery
  • Noise protocol encryption
  • Unsafe routes
  • Managed option

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Nango

  • A SaaS product that needs to ship twenty customer-facing integrations without hiring a team to maintain OAuth and token refresh for eachnot Nebula
  • A team that needs a niche or internal API integrated, which closed unified API vendors will not build for themnot Nebula
  • A company with data residency or security constraints that must self-host the integration layer rather than send customer tokens to a vendornot Nebula
  • An engineering team replacing a homegrown integration service whose main cost is silent token expiry and rate limit failures in productionnot Nebula

Nebula

  • Flattening a network across several clouds and datacentres without VPC peering or route tablesnot Nango
  • Very large fleets where a central policy service on the connection path is unacceptablenot Nango
  • Environments that already run an internal certificate authority and want the network to use itnot Nango
  • Replacing per host iptables rules with policy written against roles that follow the hostnot Nango

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Nango

  • The licence is Elastic License 2.0, which is source available rather than OSI open source, and it forbids offering Nango to third parties as a managed service, so anyone planning to resell or embed it in a platform for their own customers has a genuine legal problem.
  • Pricing is per connection where a connection is one authorised end-user account, so cost scales linearly with your customer base and a product where each user links several services multiplies quickly beyond what a headline plan price suggests.
  • Pre-built integrations vary in depth, and a connection that exists is not the same as a connection that covers the endpoints and objects your feature needs, so each one must be verified before it is designed into a roadmap.
  • Custom syncs are written in TypeScript and run in Nango model, which means integration logic lives in a vendor runtime and migrating away later requires rewriting it rather than lifting it out.
  • Self-hosting removes the vendor from the data path but transfers operational responsibility for a component that holds customer OAuth tokens, and few teams appreciate the security burden that comes with running that themselves.

Nebula

  • The open source project has no user interface, no enrolment workflow and no revocation service, so certificate issuing, distribution and expiry become scripts you write and then have to keep working.
  • Revoking a compromised host means distributing a blocklist entry to every other host and reloading them, which is a fleet wide operation rather than a click, and easy to get wrong under pressure.
  • Changing a host group membership means reissuing and redeploying its certificate, so policy changes are a deployment rather than a configuration edit.
  • There is no identity provider integration or single sign on in the open source version, so it maps well to servers and badly to a fleet of user laptops.
  • NAT traversal is best effort and hosts behind symmetric NAT need a relay configured deliberately, so connectivity failures show up as intermittent rather than immediate and are awkward to diagnose.

Pricing, plan by plan

Nango

Free
  • FreeFree
    • 10 connections
    • Pre-built integrations
    • Managed OAuth
  • Starter$50/month
    • 20 connections included
    • 1 USD per additional connection
    • Custom syncs and actions
  • Growth$500/month
    • 100 connections included
    • 1 USD per additional connection
    • Higher limits
  • Enterprise$undefined/month
    • Quoted
    • Custom connection volumes
    • Security review and SLA

Nebula

Free
  • NebulaFree
    • Full functionality under the MIT licence
    • No host limit
    • You operate the certificate authority and lighthouses
  • Defined Networking$undefined/month
    • Hosted control plane and enrolment
    • Managed certificate lifecycle and revocation
    • Policy and DNS interface

Which should you pick?

Choose Nango if

  • You need managed oauth.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Linux, Docker.
  • You also want pre-built integrations.
Nango review

Choose Nebula if

  • You need certificate carried identity.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android, FreeBSD.
  • You also want group based host firewall.
Nebula review

Questions people ask

Is Nango or Nebula better?
Neither clearly leads. Nango starts at Free and Nebula at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Nango or Nebula?
Nango starts at Free and Nebula at Free.
Does Nango or Nebula run on more platforms?
Nango runs on Web, Linux, Docker. Nebula runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android, FreeBSD.
Can I use Nango for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Nango best used for?
Nango is most often used for a saas product that needs to ship twenty customer-facing integrations without hiring a team to maintain oauth and token refresh for each, a team that needs a niche or internal api integrated, which closed unified api vendors will not build for them, a company with data residency or security constraints that must self-host the integration layer rather than send customer tokens to a vendor, an engineering team replacing a homegrown integration service whose main cost is silent token expiry and rate limit failures in production. Of those, a saas product that needs to ship twenty customer-facing integrations without hiring a team to maintain oauth and token refresh for each and a team that needs a niche or internal api integrated, which closed unified api vendors will not build for them are not what Nebula is typically brought in for.
What can Nango do that Nebula cannot?
Nango covers Managed OAuth, Pre-built integrations, Custom syncs and actions, Incremental sync. Nebula covers Certificate carried identity, Group based host firewall, Lighthouse discovery, Noise protocol encryption.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Nango: Is Nango open source?

It is source available under Elastic License 2.0. You can read, modify and self-host it, but you cannot offer it to third parties as a managed service. That is not the same as an OSI approved open source licence.

Nebula: Does it use WireGuard?

No. Nebula predates the common WireGuard mesh tools and uses the Noise protocol framework with its own certificate format.

Nango: How is it priced?

Per connection per month, where a connection is one authorised end-user account. Free to 10 connections, 50 dollars a month for Starter with 20, 500 for Growth with 100, and one dollar per additional connection.

Nebula: Can I run it without Defined Networking?

Yes, entirely. Defined Networking sells the control plane conveniences, not the network itself.

Nango: Can we integrate an API Nango does not support?

Yes. Custom syncs and actions in TypeScript cover any API including internal ones, which is the main advantage over closed unified API products.

Nebula: How do I revoke a host?

Add its certificate fingerprint to the blocklist in the configuration of the other hosts and reload them. There is no online revocation check.

Nango: Can we self-host it?

Yes, under the Elastic License 2.0 terms, which permit self-hosting for your own use but not resale as a service.

Nebula: Is it a good fit for laptops?

Less so than the identity provider based tools. There is no single sign on, so every laptop needs a certificate issued and renewed by whatever process you build.

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