China-Built SafeLine WAF Gains Global Popularity Among Startups & Homelabs

Beijing, China, July 14th, 2025, CyberNewsWire

Founded in 2014 by members of Tsinghua University’s legendary Blue Lotus CTF team, Chaitin Tech has announced the availability of SafeLine WAF — a self-hosted web application firewall that has emerged as the most starred WAF project on GitHub in 2025, accumulating over 17,000 stars. It is making waves across the global homelab enthusiasts and startups alike, offering powerful protection with a clean user experience and generous free features.

Context-Aware Threat Detection

SafeLine is powered by a semantic analysis engine that evaluates the intent and context of incoming HTTP requests, distinguishing it from conventional WAFs that rely primarily on signature-based detection. This design contributes to a significant reduction in false positives and false negatives while maintaining uninterrupted application traffic.

Streamlined Deployment Without Registration

SafeLine is designed to function without requiring user accounts, subscriptions, or billing information. Installation is supported through a single-command setup that enables full local hosting. The user interface is structured to be accessible for individuals with varying levels of technical expertise, allowing configuration without unnecessary friction. SafeLine is positioned to serve homelabs and businesses seeking effective web protection without compromising simplicity or privacy.

Comprehensive Feature Set in the Free Edition

SafeLine’s free tier includes many features typically reserved for paid plans. It includes:

The same semantic detection engine as the paid Pro edition
Full identity authentication support
Open RESTful API access
Advanced bot protection with challenge-response mechanisms
Rate Limiting and Waiting Room features
Unlimited custom rules to tailor security based on application logic

The Free Edition supports protection for up to 10 applications, suitable for small-scale deployments and personal projects. The Lite Edition extends this to 20 applications and incorporates IP geolocation blocking, real-time alerting, and access to curated threat intelligence data.

Optional Pro Features for Scaling Teams

SafeLine Pro introduces functionality designed for larger environments. These include:

High availability (HA) deployment options
Upstream load balancing
Advanced traffic analytics and dashboards
Interface customization options, such as configurable block pages
Unlimited number of protected domains

Ongoing Development and Community Engagement

SafeLine follows an agile release cycle, pushing updates every 2 to 3 weeks. Its development is closely aligned with user feedback, and many community suggestions are reflected in each release. As a result, the project enjoys high engagement and trust from its international user base.

Originally launched in China, SafeLine has now spread to users across Southeast Asia, South America, Europe, North America, and Africa, with a global install base nearing 400,000. It has become a favorite in both personal and production environments, especially where self-hosted, privacy-respecting infrastructure is a priority.

About Chaitin Tech

SafeLine is developed by Chaitin Tech, one of China’s most prominent cybersecurity companies. Founded by members of Tsinghua University’s Blue Lotus CTF team — widely recognized for their world-class security expertise — Chaitin has delivered innovative solutions and contributed to critical security research for over a decade.