How does XplicitTrust compare?

Side-by-side with the VPNs, ZTNA platforms, and SASE products teams typically replace. Here's what changes when you switch to XplicitTrust.

XplicitTrust vs. Cisco

Cisco Secure Client (formerly AnyConnect) is the workhorse of the legacy enterprise: ASA or Firepower at the edge, IP pools, AAA modules, SSL certificates, and a Cisco-certified engineer to keep them in line. XplicitTrust gets you connected without any of that.

  • No edge concentrator to size, license, replace, or fail over
  • Tunnels go peer-to-peer between devices, not back through a central hub
  • One product to license, no Essentials/Advantage/Premier tier dance and no AnyConnect Plus/Apex bolt-ons

XplicitTrust vs. Fortinet

Fortinet's ZTNA story is four products bolted together: FortiGate at the edge, FortiClient on the device, FortiClient EMS for management, and a separate FortiZTNA tier for the policy layer. Every component is a separate procurement and a separate quote. XplicitTrust ships as one product.

  • One WireGuard tunnel, not a FortiClient SSL VPN plus IPsec stack to debug per platform
  • Identity-based policies live in your IdP, not in a separate FortiManager or FortiClient EMS
  • One quote from one vendor, not a FortiGate plus FortiClient EMS plus FortiZTNA stack to renew on three timelines

XplicitTrust vs. WatchGuard

WatchGuard ships ZTNA inside its broader cloud platform, alongside AuthPoint, EPDR, and the Firebox lineup. XplicitTrust does ZTNA on its own, so you don't have to pay for the rest of the firewall-vendor suite to use it.

  • Buy ZTNA, not a multi-module WatchGuard Cloud subscription
  • One agent, one console, no Firebox or Endpoint products required alongside
  • Per-user pricing without bundled SKUs you don't need

XplicitTrust vs. SonicWall

SonicWall has two stories: the legacy stack of TZ/NSa firewalls, SMA appliances, and NetExtender clients, and Cloud Edge as the modern ZTNA on top, with device posture handed off to a separate Capture Client agent. XplicitTrust skips the legacy half and includes posture in the same agent.

  • One ZTNA product, no parallel SMA or NetExtender clients to maintain
  • Pay for ZTNA, not for a SonicWall portfolio that bundles hardware you don't use
  • Posture, identity, and access in one agent, not Cloud Edge plus Capture Client side by side

XplicitTrust vs. Sophos

Sophos ZTNA ships as part of the wider Sophos suite (Central, Endpoint, Secure Workplace, and so on). XplicitTrust does one thing well, on its own, so you only pay for the network access you actually need.

  • Pay for ZTNA, not for a Sophos Central bundle you don't use
  • Built ground-up for Zero Trust, not retrofitted onto a 1980s firewall line
  • SMB-friendly per-user pricing, no UTM appliance to license alongside

XplicitTrust vs. OpenVPN

OpenVPN gives you a battle-tested protocol; you provide everything else: .ovpn files, a certificate authority, an LDAP or RADIUS server for auth, syslog tailing for visibility, and a per-connection licence model that punishes growth. XplicitTrust hands you the management plane out of the box.

  • SSO, MFA, and group sync work without an LDAP or RADIUS bolt-on
  • Per-user pricing, not per-concurrent-connection like Access Server
  • Policy changes take seconds; live diagnostics replace tailing OpenVPN logs

XplicitTrust vs. Palo Alto Networks

GlobalProtect and Prisma Access ship inside the wider Strata, Prisma, and Cortex bundle, with portal, gateway, client-certificate, and IdP layers to wire together for every deployment. XplicitTrust is one product with one auth path, deployable in minutes rather than weeks of integration work.

  • Up and running in under five minutes per device, no portal-plus-gateway-plus-cert dance
  • Pay for ZTNA, not for a Prisma SASE bundle you don't need
  • SMB-friendly per-user licensing, not seven-figure renewals

XplicitTrust vs. ZeroTier

ZeroTier nails the mesh-networking primitive on a custom protocol, with a capability-based ACL model that asks engineers to think in tags. XplicitTrust uses standard WireGuard underneath and gives operations teams identity-aware policies, device posture, and an admin console built around users, not network IDs.

  • SSO, MFA, and passwordless via your existing IdP, not username/password against a controller
  • Per-application, identity-bound policies, not capability tags on network IDs
  • WireGuard under the hood, not a custom protocol you have to trust on its own

XplicitTrust vs. Cloudflare

Cloudflare Access and Tunnels broker every connection through Cloudflare's edge, where TLS terminates and traffic can be inspected. XplicitTrust tunnels are end-to-end between your devices, with the control plane in Germany rather than spread across a global network.

  • Tunnels are end-to-end encrypted between your devices; we never see your plaintext
  • Full UDP support, plus streaming and high-bandwidth traffic that Cloudflare Tunnel's terms exclude
  • SSO and policy controls in every plan, not gated to Cloudflare One Enterprise

XplicitTrust vs. Zscaler

Zscaler's SASE routes user traffic through ZIA, ZPA, and ZDX in its own cloud. Powerful, and also three product lines, a multi-month rollout, and an enterprise-only commercial motion. XplicitTrust is one product that skips the cloud detour.

  • Direct device-to-resource tunnels, no inspection cloud in the path
  • Trial in minutes, not a multi-month enterprise rollout
  • One ZTNA product, not ZPA plus ZIA plus ZDX in separate SKUs

XplicitTrust vs. Twingate

Twingate runs on TLS 1.3 with mandatory Connectors deployed in every remote network you want to reach. XplicitTrust builds end-to-end WireGuard connections directly between devices, with no Connector to deploy at each site, and the control plane lives in Germany with EU-only data flows.

  • End-to-end WireGuard connections, not TLS through per-site Connectors
  • No Connector appliance to deploy, monitor, and patch in every remote network
  • GDPR-friendly hosting, EU-only data flows, contracts under German law

XplicitTrust vs. Netbird

Netbird and XplicitTrust share an architectural shape, a WireGuard overlay network with end-to-end connections between devices, and both are German companies. The differences are commercial and editorial: XplicitTrust is sold through a partner channel, built for ops and admin teams, and Zero Trust first, with identity, posture, and granular application access at the centre rather than overlay connectivity alone.

  • Channel-first commercial model with partner-led delivery, not direct sales plus an open-source community
  • Admin console built around users, devices, and policies for ops teams, not developer and CLI workflows
  • Zero Trust at the core: identity, posture, and granular application access first, overlay connectivity second

XplicitTrust vs. WireGuard

WireGuard is a great protocol, and that's all it is. You handle key distribution, NAT traversal, peer config, key rotation, and a console of your own design, with config files that grow with every new device. XplicitTrust uses WireGuard under the hood and ships everything around it.

  • Automatic key rotation and NAT traversal, not hand-edited wg0.conf files
  • SSO, MFA, and group sync from your IdP, not local peer lists
  • Live diagnostics, audit logging, and posture enforcement built in

Why XplicitTrust

What every card on this page has in common.

Application-level access

We make applications available, not whole networks. Fine-grained, identity-based control at the application and service level, working across NAT, captive portals, and hotel Wi-Fi without IT prep.

Made & hosted in Germany

Control plane in Germany, EU-only data flows by default. Built for organisations that take data residency seriously.

Self-serve free trial

Sign up, install the agent, you're on. 30 days, no credit card, no NDA.

Channel-first

Strong partner program, on-demand or prepaid billing, generous margins. Built for the channel, not despite it.

Your traffic stays yours

Tunnels are end-to-end encrypted between your devices. Even our infrastructure can't read them.

Backed by veterans

Founded by network security industry veterans who have been building these tools for two decades.