# Tailscale vs NetBird

Canonical: https://inetgeek.com/compare/tailscale-vs-netbird/

Every value below is read from Tailscale's and NetBird's own documentation. See https://inetgeek.com/methodology/ for how.

## At a glance

| Criterion | Tailscale | NetBird |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Kind of free offer | Free tier | Free tier |
| What the free plan includes | Nearly all of the product, for individuals — Tailscale's own wording — rather than a feature-stripped tier. The limit is that it is one person, not which features they get. | Up to 5 users and 100 machines, with peer-to-peer encryption, social SSO and MFA, access controls, private DNS and network routes — no commercial-use restriction stated. |
| Entry paid plan | $8 per user per month for Standard, which lifts the user cap entirely and adds SCIM provisioning. | €6 per active user per month for Team, which lifts the user cap and includes 100 machines plus 10 per user. Business is €12. Converted for comparison at the ECB reference rate of 1 EUR = 1.1539 USD (2026-09-15, api.frankfurter.dev), which puts Team at about $6.92/month and Business at about $13.85. NetBird publishes no USD price; the conversion is ours and moves with the rate. |
| Pricing model | Per user per month, $8 on Standard, with machines not counted separately — the meter is people, and a user connecting twenty devices pays the same as one connecting two. | Per active user per month in euros, with MACHINES METERED SEPARATELY — 100 included plus 10 per user, then €0.50 a month each. Both are counted only if they connected or logged in during the billing period, so an idle device is not billed. Self-hosting is offered as the alternative to any of it. |
| SCIM provisioning | Supported | Supported |

## Where they differ

### What the free plan includes

- Tailscale: Nearly all of the product, for individuals — Tailscale's own wording — rather than a feature-stripped tier. The limit is that it is one person, not which features they get. ([source](https://tailscale.com/pricing))
- NetBird: Up to 5 users and 100 machines, with peer-to-peer encryption, social SSO and MFA, access controls, private DNS and network routes — no commercial-use restriction stated. ([source](https://netbird.io/pricing))

### Entry paid plan

- Tailscale: $8 per user per month for Standard, which lifts the user cap entirely and adds SCIM provisioning. ([source](https://tailscale.com/pricing))
- NetBird: €6 per active user per month for Team, which lifts the user cap and includes 100 machines plus 10 per user. Business is €12. Converted for comparison at the ECB reference rate of 1 EUR = 1.1539 USD (2026-09-15, api.frankfurter.dev), which puts Team at about $6.92/month and Business at about $13.85. NetBird publishes no USD price; the conversion is ours and moves with the rate. ([source](https://netbird.io/pricing))

### Pricing model

- Tailscale: Per user per month, $8 on Standard, with machines not counted separately — the meter is people, and a user connecting twenty devices pays the same as one connecting two. ([source](https://tailscale.com/pricing))
- NetBird: Per active user per month in euros, with MACHINES METERED SEPARATELY — 100 included plus 10 per user, then €0.50 a month each. Both are counted only if they connected or logged in during the billing period, so an idle device is not billed. Self-hosting is offered as the alternative to any of it. ([source](https://netbird.io/pricing))

## Which should you choose?

Pick Tailscale if A small team with a lot of machines. The meter is people, not devices, so one engineer connecting twenty servers pays for one seat — and the free Personal tier is, in Tailscale's own words, nearly all of the product rather than a stripped one.

Pick NetBird if Running it yourself, or wanting idle machines not to cost anything. It is open source with a self-hosted path, and both users and machines are counted only if they actually connected during the billing period.

Consider something else: Tailscale — You need commercial use by more than one person without paying, or fine-grained group policy. Standard is $8 a user — the dearest here — and caps ACL groups at ten.

Consider something else: NetBird — Your fleet is large relative to your team. Machines are metered separately at EUR 0.50 a month beyond 100 plus ten per user, so a handful of engineers managing hundreds of devices pays for the devices — the opposite of how Tailscale counts. Prices are in euros.

## Documented by only one

- Self-hostable: NetBird: Supported
- Rate limits: Tailscale: Up to 10 ACL groups on Standard, and 1,000 minutes a month for ephemeral resources.
- Multi-factor authentication: NetBird: Supported

## Questions this comparison answers

**Entry paid plan: Tailscale or NetBird?**

Tailscale: $8 per user per month for Standard, which lifts the user cap entirely and adds SCIM provisioning.
NetBird: €6 per active user per month for Team, which lifts the user cap and includes 100 machines plus 10 per user. Business is €12. Converted for comparison at the ECB reference rate of 1 EUR = 1.1539 USD (2026-09-15, api.frankfurter.dev), which puts Team at about $6.92/month and Business at about $13.85. NetBird publishes no USD price; the conversion is ours and moves with the rate.

**Should I choose Tailscale or NetBird?**

Pick Tailscale if A small team with a lot of machines. The meter is people, not devices, so one engineer connecting twenty servers pays for one seat — and the free Personal tier is, in Tailscale's own words, nearly all of the product rather than a stripped one.
Pick NetBird if Running it yourself, or wanting idle machines not to cost anything. It is open source with a self-hosted path, and both users and machines are counted only if they actually connected during the billing period.