All comparisonsAFWall+ and NetCageA front end for the iptables firewall on rooted Android phones, choosing which apps may use Wi-Fi, mobile data, roaming, LAN and VPN.Last checked 7 November 2026Check AFWall+’s own pageYou can’t install NetCage todayIt has no store listing and no public download, so there’s no install link on this page and no price to quote. If you need something on your phone now, AFWall+ is there to install and NetCage isn’t.Better served by AFWall+Choose AFWall+ if your phone is rooted and you want iptables rules, profiles and Tasker hooks without taking Android's VPN slot.Better served by NetCageChoose NetCage if your phone is not rooted; NetCage's supported engine uses the VPN slot and asks for nothing more.Row by rowNetCage’s column comes from its code. AFWall+’s comes from the linked pages. “Not stated” means we didn’t find it there, not that it’s missing.

Feature

AFWall+

NetCage

Blocks one chosen app’s internet

Yes play.google.com

Yes

Keeps blocking while the app is in the background

Not stated on the pages we checked

Yes

Needs no root

No f-droid.org

Yes

Open source

Yes f-droid.org

Shows ads

No play.google.com

Partly. Promotions for the developer’s own apps only. No ad network.

In-app purchases

No play.google.com

What it costs

App: Free. Free install on Google Play with no ads or in-app purchase label; the GitHub README offers a separate paid unlocker key on Google Play, price not confirmed on the pages we read play.google.com

NetCage publishes no price.Where NetCage falls short

It takes Android’s one VPN slot. While NetCage is up you can’t run another VPN, and connecting one stops NetCage.

Apps that share an Android user ID are caged together, and there’s no way to separate them.

A caged app can still hand a link to a browser you haven’t caged, and that browser connects as normal.

It doesn’t work inside an app: no domain rules, no block lists, no traffic log. An app is caged or it isn’t.

AFWall+ is open source and NetCage isn’t, so you can read one app’s code and not the other’s.

Every limit, in the documentationComing from AFWall+?The documentation has a page on how the two differ and which of its guides to read first. Read it on the documentation siteIf a row here is wrong, tell us and we’ll open the page again. Contact