Networking · alternatives
Alternatives to Tailscale
24 networking tools sit alongside Tailscale in this directory. Below is what separates each from Tailscale on the figures we hold, price, model, tier count and rating, and a direct comparison for every one.
- Alternatives listed
- 24
- With a free tier
- 16
- Cheaper to start
- 0
- Tailscale starts at
- Free
Why people look past Tailscale
Only what the record supports. Each point below is a figure on the Tailscale entry measured against the tools listed beside it.
Cost climbs steeply across the tiers
Tailscale publishes 4 tiers, from Free up to $18/month. Teams that outgrow the entry plan can find the next rung a large step, the Tailscale pricing page breaks each one down.
What each alternative does differently
Ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry. Differences are drawn from price, pricing model, tier count and rating, the fields the category listing carries. For a feature-level difference, follow the head-to-head link on each card: those pages read both full records.
Open source monitoring and alerting toolkit for cloud native environments
- Sold on a open-source model rather than freemium.
- 1 tier to Tailscale's 4.
The web performance and security company
Priced and rated the same as Tailscale on the figures we hold. The difference, if there is one, is in the feature records.
Service discovery, networking, and security
- Sold on a open-source model rather than freemium.
- 1 tier to Tailscale's 4.
Observability and Data Visualization
- Starts $19 a month dearer, at $19/month.
- Sold on a usage-based model rather than freemium.
- 3 tiers to Tailscale's 4.
Open source infrastructure monitoring, free at its core, with paid support and modules sold separately by Icinga GmbH
- Sold on a Open source core, with paid repository, module and support subscriptions sold separately model rather than freemium.
- 2 tiers to Tailscale's 4.
Free, community-driven network monitoring with commercial support sold by a third-party partner, not the project itself
- Sold on a Open source, no licence fee; commercial support sold by a third-party partner model rather than freemium.
- 1 tier to Tailscale's 4.
Every Tailscale alternative at a glance
A dash means the catalogue entry carries no figure, not that the answer is nothing.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Tiers | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tailscale (this page) | Free | Freemium | 4 | |
| PrometheusOpen source monitoring and alerting toolkit for cloud native environments | Free | Open-source | 1 | vs Tailscale |
| CloudflareThe web performance and security company | Free | Freemium | - | vs Tailscale |
| ConsulService discovery, networking, and security | Free | Open-source | 1 | vs Tailscale |
| GrafanaObservability and Data Visualization | Free, then $19/month | Usage-based | 3 | vs Tailscale |
| Icinga | Free | Open source core, with paid repository, module and support subscriptions sold separately | 2 | vs Tailscale |
| LibreNMS | Free | Open source, no licence fee; commercial support sold by a third-party partner | 1 | vs Tailscale |
| ZeroTier | Free | Free up to 10 devices and 1 network, then per additional device per month | 3 | vs Tailscale |
| pfSense | Free | Open source Community Edition, free; commercial Plus edition sold separately by Netgate | 2 | vs Tailscale |
| OpenVPN | Free | Open source core is free; Access Server billed per simultaneous connection | 3 | vs Tailscale |
| Catchpoint | Free | Free tier plus published entry tiers, enterprise quote-only | 4 | vs Tailscale |
| NetBird | Free | Per user per month | 3 | vs Tailscale |
| Nebula | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 2 | vs Tailscale |
| Headscale | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs Tailscale |
| Twingate | Free | Per user per month | 3 | vs Tailscale |
| Zabbix | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 2 | vs Tailscale |
| Netdata | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 2 | vs Tailscale |
| Domotz | On request | Per collector or per managed device per month | 2 | vs Tailscale |
| Juniper Mist | On request | Quote, hardware plus required Wi-Fi Assurance subscription | 2 | vs Tailscale |
| Auvik | On request | Quote, per managed device | 1 | vs Tailscale |
| Kentik | On request | Annual contract only, per tier | 2 | vs Tailscale |
| Cisco Meraki | On request | Quote, hardware plus mandatory recurring licence | 1 | vs Tailscale |
| PRTG Network Monitor | On request | Per sensor tier, billed monthly on an annual contract | 5 | vs Tailscale |
| ThousandEyes | On request | Quote, unit-based consumption on annual or prepaid contracts | 1 | vs Tailscale |
| MikroTik RouterOS | On request | One-time purchase, per licence level | 2 | vs Tailscale |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry; Softwr hosts no reviews of these products. How each figure is used is set out on the Tailscale badges page.
Cheaper ways to solve the same problem
Free to start (16)
These publish a tier that costs nothing, so they can be evaluated before any money changes hands.
- Prometheus , Free
- Cloudflare , Free
- Consul , Free
- Grafana , Free, then $19/month
- Icinga , Free
- LibreNMS , Free
- ZeroTier , Free
- pfSense , Free
What you would be giving up
Tailscale is most often brought in for remote team access to internal services without vpn concentrators, hybrid cloud connectivity across aws, azure, gcp, and on-premises networks, ci/cd pipeline access to internal infrastructure (databases, kubernetes clusters), zero-trust access to ssh, kubernetes, and databases without bastion hosts, mobile and iot device management in enterprise environments, temporary contractor and third-party access control. Anything replacing it has to cover the ones you actually depend on, and a cheaper tool that misses one of them is not cheaper.
Two things this page cannot settle. It compares on price, model, tier count and rating, because those are the fields the category listing carries, feature-level differences need both full records, which is what the head-to-head pages load. And the ratings are third-party aggregates imported with each entry rather than reviews written here, so a 0.2 difference between two tools is noise rather than a finding.
If Tailscale is broadly right and the question is cost, the Tailscale pricing breakdown covers every tier and what each one adds. If you want the whole field rather than a shortlist, the Networking category lists everything the directory holds, and best networking tools ranks them.
Tailscale runs on linux, macos, windows, ios, android, api, web. Platform coverage is not carried on the category listing for the alternatives, so it is one more thing to check on each head-to-head page rather than here.
Questions about Tailscale alternatives
- What are the main alternatives to Tailscale?
- 24 other networking tools are listed in this directory, led by Prometheus, Cloudflare, Consul, Grafana. They are ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry, not by any Softwr ranking.
- What is the best free alternative to Tailscale?
- 16 of the alternatives listed here can be used without paying: Prometheus, Cloudflare, Consul, Grafana, Icinga.
- Why do people look for an alternative to Tailscale?
- On the figures on record, one thing stands out: cost climbs steeply across the tiers. Each is set out with the numbers behind it above.
- What would I give up by switching from Tailscale?
- Tailscale is most often brought in for remote team access to internal services without vpn concentrators, hybrid cloud connectivity across aws, azure, gcp, and on-premises networks, ci/cd pipeline access to internal infrastructure (databases, kubernetes clusters), zero-trust access to ssh, kubernetes, and databases without bastion hosts, mobile and iot device management in enterprise environments, temporary contractor and third-party access control. Anything you replace it with has to cover the ones you actually rely on, the side-by-side comparisons linked from each alternative below put the two feature records against each other.
- Is there an open-source alternative to Tailscale?
- Prometheus, Consul are recorded with an open-source licence model.
- How were these Tailscale alternatives chosen?
- They are the tools filed in the same category, Networking, ordered by the aggregated rating on each entry. There is no editorial shortlist, and nothing on this page is paid: no sponsored placement runs on alternatives pages and the order cannot be bought. Softwr has not used these products.
- Where can I compare Tailscale against one of these directly?
- Every alternative below has a side-by-side page against Tailscale covering price, platforms, features and what each one is used for. Those pages read the full record for both products rather than the summary shown here.
- Does this list cover every networking tool?
- No. It covers what this directory holds in the Networking category, 24 tools beside Tailscale. The category page lists the rest of the catalogue as it grows.