# Twingate vs NetBird

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

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

## At a glance

| Criterion | Twingate | NetBird |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Kind of free offer | Free tier | Free tier |
| What the free plan includes | Up to 5 users, with peer-to-peer connections, split tunnelling and conditional access controls — but limited to non-commercial use, which the other two do not restrict. | 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 | $5 per user per month for Teams, capped at 100 users; Business is $10 to 500 users. A separate $15 a month Home plan covers up to 7 users for a homelab. | €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 AND capped by user count at every tier: Starter is free to 5 users, Teams is $5 to 100, Business is $10 to 500. You pay per head and the plan still runs out of heads, which is a different shape from a per-seat price with no ceiling. | 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. |
| Multi-factor authentication | Limited | Supported |

## Where they differ

### What the free plan includes

- Twingate: Up to 5 users, with peer-to-peer connections, split tunnelling and conditional access controls — but limited to non-commercial use, which the other two do not restrict. ([source](https://www.twingate.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

- Twingate: $5 per user per month for Teams, capped at 100 users; Business is $10 to 500 users. A separate $15 a month Home plan covers up to 7 users for a homelab. ([source](https://www.twingate.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

- Twingate: Per user per month AND capped by user count at every tier: Starter is free to 5 users, Teams is $5 to 100, Business is $10 to 500. You pay per head and the plan still runs out of heads, which is a different shape from a per-seat price with no ceiling. ([source](https://www.twingate.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))

### Multi-factor authentication

- Twingate: Limited ([source](https://www.twingate.com/pricing))
- NetBird: Supported ([source](https://netbird.io/pricing))

## Which should you choose?

Pick Twingate if Retiring a legacy VPN on a budget, at a known headcount. $5 a user to 100 people is the cheapest commercial seat of the three, and device posture checks and least-privilege policies arrive at that tier rather than above it.

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: Twingate — You are relying on the free plan for work, or you do not know your headcount. Starter is limited to NON-COMMERCIAL use, which neither of the others restricts, and every paid tier caps users as well as charging per user — so growth changes the plan and not just the invoice.

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

- When the free offer ends: Twingate: Paid tiers carry a 14-day trial; the free Starter plan does not expire but is licensed for non-commercial use.
- Self-hostable: NetBird: Supported
- SCIM provisioning: NetBird: Supported

## Questions this comparison answers

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

Twingate: $5 per user per month for Teams, capped at 100 users; Business is $10 to 500 users. A separate $15 a month Home plan covers up to 7 users for a homelab.
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 Twingate or NetBird?**

Pick Twingate if Retiring a legacy VPN on a budget, at a known headcount. $5 a user to 100 people is the cheapest commercial seat of the three, and device posture checks and least-privilege policies arrive at that tier rather than above it.
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.