Jan 03, 2026
New release 3.2.0
BGP dynamic unnumbered, IGP metric attribute
BIRD Internet Routing Daemon
… is one of the fastest routing daemons in the world, tirelessly recalculating best routes between connected networks.
Runs on Linux and BSD systems, supports BGP, OSPF, RIP and Babel, all with mighty filtering engine and unmatched efficiency.
BIRD is open-source, licenced by GNU GPL. The source code is published in our Git repository.
Jan 03, 2026
New release 2.18
BGP dynamic unnumbered
Dec 11, 2025
New release 3.1.5
Fix multiple crashes and BSD kernel export
Used by the leading companies worldwide
DEPLOYMENTS
Deployment Opportunities
Internet eXchange Point
BIRD is used as an IXP route server. Configurations may be several gigabytes large, policies and filters are complex. Often also a looking glass is deployed to check routing status on a website. BIRD is deployed on multiple servers with the same or similar configuration, both in multiple locations and as active-active backup.
1 TB+
RAM used
5000+
BGP connections
10M+
Prefixes in table
Deployed features:
BGP Route Server setup with BFD
BMP sending, MRT dumping
BGP Flowspec validation
RPKI loading, ROA and ASPA checking
Auxiliary tables and pipes
Multithreaded computation
BIRD is utilized by the largest IXPs worldwide.
Data Center
BIRD is used as a data center virtualization hypervisor or top-of-the-rack router, an L3VPN PE node or a route reflector. Policies are simple but the configurations may be complex. BIRD is deployed on multiple nodes with different yet similar configurations. There is also experimental EVPN/VXLAN support available.
1000+
BGP speakers
1M+
Virtualized machines
Deployed features:
BGP with VxLAN/MPLS/SRv6 and EVPN
BGP Route Reflection
Babel, OSPF, RIP
Kernel FIB management
Bridge table management
BFD, BMP sending, MRT dumping
Multithreaded computation
BIRD is utilized by the largest Data centers worldwide.
Route Analyzer
BIRD is used as a routing data storage for data analysis, ingesting often full BGP tables from many nodes across the world. There are none policies and no redistribution. This deployment is useful not only for researchers, but also e.g. for Content Delivery Networks to check the optimality of their network utilization.
1000+
Peer connections
10M+
Prefixes in table
1000+
Routes per prefix
Deployed features:
One-way BGP ingestion
BMP sending, MRT dumping
Auxiliary tables and pipes
Multiple threads
Advanced filtering techniques
Tooling integration
BIRD is utilized by the largest CDN's worldwide.
Internet Service Providers
BIRD is used to steer traffic in an ISP network, routing by protocols OSPF, RIP or Babel, or even eBGP. For commercial customer connections, L3VPN or the experimental EVPN is available, with distribution of private routes across BGP. BIRD is deployed on multiple nodes with different yet similar configurations, in the role of e.g. ASBR, PE, PCE or RR nodes.
200+
ASBR in network
5000+
BGP speakers
5000+
IGP nodes
5M+
Prefixes conveyed
Deployed features:
BGP with MPLS/SRV6 and L3VPN
BGP Route Reflection
VRF, VPN PE functionality
ASBR setup, ROA and ASPA
BFD, BMP sending, MRT dumping
Babel, OSPF, RIP
Kernel FIB management
Hardware Integration
BIRD is used as a routing stack in a stock or custom hardware, in conjunction with a Linux or BSD system. There is often a hardware acceleration of the forwarding plane, which has to be configured by BIRD. That hardware may be also sold as a product to end users, which brings additional challenges of resolving various problems in networks of third parties. Available is the full scale of BIRD implementation, with possible customizations and specific APIs.
1 TB+
RAM used
10M+
Prefixes in table
5000+
Nodes in network
Deployed features:
Most of BGP setups
Babel, OSPF, RIP
Kernel FIB management
prefix aggregation
BFD protocol
Tooling integration
BIRD is utilized by
We are ready to support your enterprise deployment or product integration along with training workshops and custom feature development.
ABOUT US
Meet the team
IANA Root Zone Cryptographic Officer, RIPE NCC Executive Board Chair, one of the original authors of BIRD.
Author of the current filter engine, multithreading expert, performance expert, BIRD 3 maintainer, writing BIRD since 2015.
Author of the current BGP and OSPF implementations, routing and networking expert, BIRD 2 maintainer, writing BIRD since 2008.
University project
BIRD was developed in years 1998 to 2000 by Ondřej Filip (now CEO of CZ.NIC and RIPE NCC Executive Board Chair), Pavel Machek and Martin Mareš. The first release of BIRD came out on Friday, June 9, 2000 and since then, the project gained its userbase as its development continued.
Adopted by CZ.NIC
In year 2008, BIRD was adopted by CZ.NIC Labs and since then, it's a part of CZ.NIC Labs portfolio together with other open-source projects with global impact such as Knot DNS. CZ.NIC provides financial, office, legal and human resource services for the BIRD Team.
Used in IXPs
BIRD has found its way to most of the internet exchange points in the world. Thanks to its powerful route filtering engine, stability and efficiency, BIRD could always be scaled up to handle hundreds of BGP peers and plenty of routes. In 2025, BIRD is the go-to routing engine for IXPs.
Feature expansion
Since 1998, the Internet has developed a lot, and many modern features needed to see both IPv6 and IPv4 at once. To facilitate further expansion, support of BGP Flowspec, VPN or EVPN, and automatic loading of ROA from RPKI, BIRD 2 was released in 2017. This opened the door for more BIRD deployments in ISP networks and data centers.
More networks and more routes need good performance. While BIRD 2 is able to handle over 1000 BGP peers in IXPs in a single thread, we scaled the multithreaded BIRD 3 over 5000 peers with ease. Released in 2024, it is a fundamental leap forward opening more future opportunities.
BIRD is developed and maintained by CZ.NIC
CZ.NIC is the Czech national domain registry, a member of many prestigious organizations, ISO 27001 certified company, headquartered in Prague.
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