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15 June 2021

Best overall: Little Snitch
Best value: Lulu
Easiest to use: Radio Silence
Most powerful: Murus
Best balance of cost and features: Vallum

Before buying a firewall for your Mac, you first have to decide whether you actually need one. Instinctively, you might think so. But macOS comes with a firewall built in - and by default, it’s turned off. Has Apple lost its mind or something?

Little Snitch 3.5 solves this problem by becoming aware of which apps on your Mac are actually run in iOS Simulator and whether they reside in one of iOS Simulator’s random container paths. For such apps, a rule’s path is automatically shortened to something like “iOS Simulator → Test.app/Test ” and it just works regardless of what.

The answer is ‘something’. Specifically the fact that Mac users generally don’t need any extra firewall software to be enabled. That’s partly due to the fact macOS doesn’t run services that listen for network connections. On top of that, your router will also have its own firewall, so in most cases you don’t need any extra protection. The combination of these factors is why Apple doesn’t make a big deal about the macOS firewall.

But there are times when a firewall app can be a handy thing to have on your Mac. One such case is when you’re connected to a public network - for example, if you hook your MacBook up to wi-fi in a hotel. In that scenario, you might be at risk of poor security or even a fake network.

NetGuard - No-root firewall. NetGuard provides simple and advanced ways to block access to the internet - no root required. Applications and addresses can individually be allowed or denied access to your Wi-Fi and/or mobile connecti. If you use something like little snitch or firewall management, you might be able to block related network activity. If it's more an issue of space, I know that these apps have supplemental system files that could be manually purged from your drive, such as the photo library (which can be a couple gigs in size). The headline new feature of Little Snitch 5 is integration of new network filter technologies introduced in macOS Big Sur. Objective Development says the app's underlying engine was rebuilt to.

Another good reason to use a firewall is to control which Mac apps can connect to the internet. That includes malware, which may try to send your data to hackers. The macOS firewall isn’t built to do this, but it is possible with PF (Packet Filter), macOS’s more advanced firewall that can only be controlled via the Terminal command line. If you want something more user friendly, you’ll need a third-party firewall.

Install Little Snitch, and whenever an app tries to connect to the internet, you’ll get a notification. You can then choose whether to allow the connection or to block it. And you can apply that decision once, or until you restart your Mac, quit the app or log out. You can also set it for a certain period of time or permanently.

When you choose to block or allow an app access to the internet, Little Snitch creates a rule. You can then edit these rules in the Little Snitch client. These rules are based not only on the app that’s trying to connect to the internet but also the domain it’s trying to connect to. So you could allow an app to connect to certain servers but not others.

Using Little Snitch’s built-in Network Monitor, you can view and analyze any processes that are showing network activity. And you want to avoid notifications, you can run Little Snitch in Silent Mode, which will allow or deny all connections. Although the focus is very much on outgoing connections, Little Snitch can also control incoming connections to a lesser degree.

The only snag is the price. It’s a little expensive but worth it if you need total control.

Little Snitch at a glance:

Pros: Lots of options that put you in control
Cons: A bit pricey and maybe too advanced for beginners
Price: From $45 for a single license
Trial: 30-day demo
Developer: Objective Development
Official website:obdev.at

Lulu works in pretty much the same way as Little Snitch. When it’s enabled, you receive notifications whenever an app tries to connect to the internet. You can then block or allow the connection, either temporarily or permanently. Lulu can either apply the rules based on processes or on the domain level.

After that, you can head into the app to edit your rules. As well as changing the block or allow status, you can delete rules altogether or add domains or ports to the rules. You also get a network monitor, so you can keep an eye on what Mac apps are doing what in real-time

Make no mistake: Lulu doesn’t offer the same level of control as in Little Snitch. But it also doesn’t cost $45. In fact, it costs nothing at all. It’s a completely free, open-source app.

Lulu is only meant to block outgoing connections, but you could pair it with the macOS firewall if you’re worried about incoming connections. It can run in a few different modes: Passive, Block and no icon. Block stops all traffic, while passive applies only existing rules.

Lulu at a glance:

Pros: Does a good job and is completely free
Cons: Not much control over temporary rule
Price: Free
Trial: N/A
Developer: Objective-See
Official website: objective-see.com

Apps Like Little Snitch Man

As its name implies, Radio Silence doesn’t make a big fuss. There are no notifications, prompting you to block or allow apps to access the internet. Instead, this stripped-back app does two things: it enables you to see what apps and processes are running on your Mac, and it lets you block them.

Once you’ve blocked an app, you go into the settings and delete the rule. But that’s pretty much it. You can’t edit the rules in any way, and you can’t apply them under set conditions. Apps are either allowed to go online or they’re not.

Although limited, Radio Silence is ideal if you only want to block one or two apps and allow everything else through. Plus it’s cheap, with a single licence costing just $9. Pay $49 for the team licence, and there’s no limit on users.

Radio Silence at a glance:

Pros: Simple and cheap
Cons: Very basic blocking features
Price: From $9
Trial: 24 hours
Developer: Juuso Salonen
Official website: radiosilenceapp.com'

Just like Little Snitch and Lulu, Vallum intercepts outgoing connections from your Mac’s various apps. But you can also set rules for inbound activity too.

When an app tries to connect to the internet, you get a notification. As with Little Snitch, you can apply rules once, forever or for preset times, like five minutes, the rest of the day or until reboot You can also configure elements of your rule, like target hostname or IP, port, protocol, and even the user. Once a rule has been created, you can edit and apply more advanced criteria. Stick to the basics, though, and it’s not difficult to use Vallum effectively.

Vallum’s interface is a little confusing, but it’s a powerful app, and it comes at a great price. Starting from $15 for a single licence, it’s much cheaper than Little Snitch, despite sharing many of the same features. It can also be bundled with its sister app, Murus, a powerful front-end for macOS’s built-in firewall and Packet filter.

Vallum at a glance:

Pros: Powerful despite the relatively low price
Cons: A bit confusing to get set up
Price: From $15
Trial: Unlimited trial, with popup reminder every four hours
Developer: Murus.it
Official website:vallumfirewall.com

Murus is much more than just a simple connection blocker. The free Lite version only deals with inbound connections, but upgrade to Murus Basic or Pro, and it’s a completely different ball game. Not only can you configure rules for inbound and outbound connections, you have access to advanced filtering, port management, bandwidth management and much more.

If anything, Murus Pro is too powerful. The number of features and settings in the pro version is dizzying. While some users may benefit from features like port knocking, adaptive firewall, NAT and so on, most ordinary uses risk being overwhelmed. The Network Filter Configuration wizard helps a bit, though. And to be fair to Murus, it’s much easier to use than typing commands into Terminal.

Provided you know what you’re doing, though, Murus Pro is definitely worth checking out - especially as it comes with Vallum bundled in with it. It’s certainly not for the light-hearted, but if you want serious control over your Mac’s inbound and outbound connections, Murus Pro could be right for you.

Before you buy either Murus Pro or Vallum, though, you should know Murus.it has also released a hybrid firewall app called Scudo. This is designed as an alternative to both Muros and Vallum. At the moment, it’s in beta, so you might want to wait for a full release before buying it.

Murus Pro at a glance:

Pros: A rich feature set at a good price
Cons: Possibly too complicated for beginners
Price: From $10
Trial: Unlimited trial, with saving disabled
Developer: Murus.it
Official website: murusfirewall.com

What to look for in a Mac firewall

When choosing a Mac firewall, one of the first things you should consider is what you need it for. Key things to think about include:

• Whether you want to control inbound, outbound, or both types of connection. The macOS firewall is focused on inbound connections, and you need to use Terminal commands or a third-party app if you want to do more.
• Ease of use. If you can set up new rules without digging through tons of different menus, that’s ideal. More advanced software is great, but if you don’t know what you’re doing, it’s only likely to confuse you.
• How much control you get over rules. Some apps only let you block apps, with no more options than that. Others enable you to see more specific rules, like particular domains that are blocked or allowed.
• Cost. If you’re happy with the features in a free or low-cost firewall for your Mac, why spend more?

Which Mac firewall is the best in 2021?

Because Mac users don’t usually need firewalls to protect them from inbound connections, application-level firewalls that stop outbound connections are generally the best choice. Little Snitch is excellent but expensive. Radio Silence, meanwhile, is cheap and easy to use but offers limited control. Vallum does a good job too, and it’s substantially cheaper than Little Snitch. For many people, however, Lulu is more than good enough, and it’s completely free.

That said, none of these Mac firewalls are overly expensive, and they’re all great in their own particular ways. They all have free trials, and we strongly recommend trying them out before making a purchase.

FAQ

Do Mac owners need to use a firewall?

Usually, no. That’s why the built-in one is turned off by default. macOS isn’t generally vulnerable to rogue incoming connections, and most people have a firewall enabled on their router anyway.

How do you enable the macOS firewall?

To turn on the macOS firewall, head to System Preferences, and select Security & Privacy. Click the Firewall tab, then click the padlock near the bottom. Enter your username and password, so you can make changes in System Preferences. Now click Turn On Firewall. You can configure it by clicking the Firewall Options and Advanced buttons. You can also control Packet Filtering using text commands in Terminal.

Little Snitch is a monitoring or firewall tool that will help you see what is really happening with your data. This tool alerts you every time an application tries to connect to the internet, giving you the possibility of allowing or not allowing the connection, so that no information is shared without your permission, and the decision you make will be remembered by the application not to having to ask you in the future.

Best Alternatives to Little Snitch

Instead of all its beautiful aspects, I am going to share the top 10 Little Snitch alternatives which will help you to keep your PC secure. These similar software to Little Snitch work with Windows and Mac, have a look:

Quick Overivew

Glasswire

GlassWire is a free firewall for Windows systems that will allow us to control all the applications that connect to the Internet, the traffic that generates and the remote servers to which it connects. It wants to function as an application control software that does not protect but allows us to know at all times the network activity of any application or process of our operating system.

Key Features

• The moment you observe that traffic increases unexpectedly, it is possible to know which application on the computer caused it.
• The GlassWire graph makes it easy to know the outgoing traffic, the loads displayed in yellow, and the incoming traffic, with the downloads displayed in pink.
• To get to know network traffic in-depth, you can zoom out on the graph to know the activity for three hours, 24 hours or a whole week.
• It has a firewall that shows all communication between applications in a table that also shows the servers that each application communicates with.

Highlights

GlassWire has a simple and attractive interface that makes it easy to know the information on your network, and best of all, it is completely free.

Download link: https://www.glasswire.com/
File size: 38.6 MB
System support: Windows and Android

LuLu

LuLu is a well known open-source firewall for macOS to block unauthorized outgoing connections, like the famous Little Snitch. The tool offers the user the possibility of establishing defined rules in which programs are authorized or not to establish connections on the network.

Key Features

App Like Little Snitch For Windows

• Prevent unauthorized connections that could be made without your knowledge through a suspicious program.
• For each connection attempt detected, LuLu displays an alert with which you can choose to allow the connection or block it.
• LuLu offers you the possibility of automatically accepting connections made by Apple applications.
• For the time being still in development, LuLu can be installed using a command line to be entered in the macOS terminal.
• You can also validate third-party applications that were present on your Mac before you installed it.
• Monitors both your Mac’s incoming and outgoing connections.

Highlights

Whenever LuLu detects that an application is trying to connect to a remote server, the application prompts you to authorize or not the requested connection.

Download link: https://github.com/objective-see/LuLu
System support: macOS

Hands Off

Hands Off have become one of the most complete Firewalls for Mac. With this tool, you can protect your computer by monitoring all internet connections in applications as well as for deciding whether or not to block each app. This application has regular updates and active support.

Key Features

• This tool specifies which applications should be trusted with specific operations.
• Prevents applications from calling home and blocks incoming and outgoing network connections.
• Protects against Trojans, worms, and parasites on the network and it supports IPv4, IPv6, and local networks.
• Can freely read, store or erase information on your computer without your knowledge.

Highlights

An application to monitor and control application access to your network and disks. Being able to monitor normally inconspicuous activities allows you to make informed decisions regarding the transfer of your private information, thus preventing the leakage of confidential information.

Download link: https://download.cnet.com/Hands-Off/3000-2144_4-75452437.html
System support: macOS
File size: 9.4 MB

NetGuard

NetGuard is an application that will allow you, application by application, to block internet access, being able to choose to block them so that they do not access the network when you are using Wi-Fi, data or both. This firewall has been available for a short time on Google Play after leaving beta.

Key Features

• NetGuard is easy to use, it is an open-source project, it does not require root and it does not spy on the user.
• In its free version, it supports IPv4 / IPv6 and TCP / UDP supports tethering, blocks system applications.
• Notifies when an application accesses the Internet and records the use of the network by application per address.
• In its Pro version (paid) is capable of records all outgoing traffic, searches and filters access attempts, exports PCAP files to analyze traffic.
• Allows or blocks individual addresses per application, among other things.
• NetGuard is capable of activating this block either on WiFi connections, on mobile networks, or both at the same time.

Highlights

Thanks to a new API available in Lollipop and higher versions of Android, NetGuard can redirect traffic from a specific application to a kind of “digital dump”, so that its connection to the Internet is interrupted.

Official link: https://www.netguard.me/
Download link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.faircode.netguard
File size: 2.5 MB

TCPBlock

TCPBlock is a free firewall (better said port filter) that can either block individual programs or work according to the whitelist principle. This tool supports UDP and TCP over UDP filtering. If a blocked program wants to be released, the notification can also be sent via Growl.

Key Features

• This wonderful firewall protects you from connections coming from outside your computer.
• This tool helps you to prevent selected applications on your computer from opening connections to the network.
• It helps to protect you from connections that come from outside of your computer.
• Implemented as a loadable kernel module that contains all the blocking logic.
• All configuration changes are made persistent in a configuration file on the hard drive.
• You can prevent selected applications on your computer from opening a connection to the network.

Highlights

The software is operated via a system setting, here you can also ban all Internet connections globally. On request, it allows only selected programs to use the Internet and the tool is only suitable for experienced users.

Download link: https://download.cnet.com/TCPBlock/3000-10435_4-75326647.html
System software: macOS
File size: 1123 KB

Murus Lite

A type of firewall widely used on Mac computers. It has tools that are already integrated into the Apple operating system, where you can create different types of rules to manage images. It is characterized by the ease and advanced options that it presents in monitoring and that can be used in real-time.

Key Features

• It has got an easy and intuitive icons-based and drag&drop-based interface.
• Its PF firewall is quite a capable tool that helps to safeguard your Mac and network.
• Full of advanced options and monitoring tools, this tool is perfect for everybody for a wide range of protection.
• Use its graphical ruleset editor design tool or write fully customized rulesets using the advanced rule editor.
• This wonderful tool is provided with full of advanced options and monitoring tools.

Highlights

There is no need to type a code or understand the PF syntax because an extended PF configuration view shows all the FP rules. It is a clear representation of the rules with icons and symbols with dynamically generated comments for each rule.

Download link: https://www.murusfirewall.com/
System software:
File size: 40.8 MB

Netiquette

The Netiquette refers to the appropriate language and format on the different platforms, good manners, the relevance of the content, respect for other opinions and privacy, among others, which are grouped as a code of conduct on the net.

Key Features

• Respecting people’s time. Avoid messages at inappropriate times in media such as WhatsApp as this can cause discomfort.
• Avoid the use of spams or content that cannot be desired by the person who will receive the email.
• It is uncomfortable for many users to receive amounts of spam messages, and even more so if they are chains in which they ask to send 10 more friends.
• Just as there are certain behaviors at parties, work meetings, circles of friends or classes at the university, the same happens in blogs, chats, social networks, discussion forums, and others.
• Share your knowledge with other people, this makes cyberspace a means to teach and learn.
• Keep debates and controversies under control, in a healthy and educational environment.

Highlights

Netiquette, as it is known in the virtual world, are simply the rules of etiquette in cyberspace. In other words, they are a set of rules for good online behavior.

NetLimiter

NetLimiter resembles a well and able firewall, as it monitors every connection on our computer, but it does not do so for security reasons, but rather to give us control over the consumption of bandwidth in each application.

Key Features

• It is a lightweight application with advanced and powerful tools and modules.
• It has a comfortable installation and one of its features is an easy to use graphical interface.
• Includes remote administration, user administration, user permissions, and a firewall.
• In addition to delimiting the Internet speed of applications, this tool will accept us to delimit the global speed.
• Provides data reports in charts and tables that help organize regular monitoring. Users can adjust transit times to access a limited amount of traffic.
• You can block network connectivity on individual programs or even restrict how much bandwidth a particular app gets.

Highlights

Apps Like Little Snitch Island

Users can configure the limited download and upload speed for programs. The entire Internet network is in your hands, control preferences, set filters and also customize them for greater stability and performance.

Download link: https://www.netlimiter.com/
System software: Windows
File size: 7.9 MB

RadioSilence

This wonderful tool is one of the best network monitor and firewall for Mac. It can prevent any application from making network connections. It provides powerful privacy for your Mac. It is also possible to block unwanted traffic with the application-level firewalls.

Key Features

• It allows you to maintain a list of applications that cannot connect. Protect your privacy.
• This tool prevents apps from calling home and you can save on bandwidth and data charges.
• Though the firewall remains invisible it is always active. You don’t have to keep any windows open.
• There are no annoying pop-ups. There is no clutter on your screen or base. No effect on the performance of your Mac.
• Able to monitor normally inconspicuous activities allows you to make informed decisions regarding the transfer of your private information.

Highlights

This tool’s network monitor provides you a display about the network connection in real-time. And, in this process, if you can figure out an app, which is misbehaving, you have every freedom to block it with a single click.

Download link: https://radiosilenceapp.com/
System software:
File size: 2.7 MB

Vallum

This tool helps you monitor application connections. It is capable of intercepting application connections and maintaining them while you decide whether to pass or block them. The interface of this application is very simple and based on icons.

Apps Like Little Snitch 2

Key Features

• To alter its attitude and level of interaction, you just have to play with the few options available.
• This tool work at both application- and network-level to gain full control of your Mac
• Configuration strategies allow you to choose from a list of predefined firewall configurations and attitudes.
• This tool is not intrusive, it runs as a menu, let in the macOS menu bar, near the clock.
• You don’t need to connect a home to verify your license, you don’t need any online activation.
• It respects your privacy, it does not phone home or leaks any kind of data on the network.

Apps Like Little Snitch

Highlights

It is default setting is non-intrusive, it does not require any interaction or specific networking knowledge or skills. Just drag an app icon from the Finder to the main Vallum window to lock it.

Apps Like Little Snitch Girl

Download link: http://www.vallum.in/
System software: macOS
File size: 31.9 MB

Apart from the above listed similar software to Little Snitch, you may consider ZoneAlarm which is a free firewall software that works with Windows 10 and older versions.