# NetBird

Canonical: https://inetgeek.com/ztna/netbird/

An open-source WireGuard overlay network that meters active users and active machines separately, and can be self-hosted instead.

## Who it suits

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 if 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.

## iScore

90 / 100 (80% interval 85–95), rank 1 of 3 in ztna — interval overlaps the next rank, so this is an ordering, not a finding.

inetGeek's own reading, computed from sourced facts against category peers by disclosed rules. Not a provider claim. Intervals are 80%; a provider with few documented facts is pulled toward the category middle rather than scored on what little is known.
Method: https://inetgeek.com/iscore/. Full output with every criterion's basis: https://inetgeek.com/scores.json. Every ztna peer ranked: https://inetgeek.com/ztna/netbird/alternatives/

- Price: 79 (72–85), weight 36%, 3 of 3 criteria scored
- Capabilities: 93 (69–100), weight 29%, 2 of 2 criteria scored
- Trust and compliance: 100 (94–100), weight 21%, 1 of 1 criteria scored
- Evidence: 100 (100–100), weight 14%, 4 of 4 criteria scored

## What the documentation says

### Pricing

- Free tier: Yes ([source](https://netbird.io/pricing), read 2026-09-16)
- Kind of free offer: Free tier ([source](https://netbird.io/pricing), read 2026-09-16)
- What the free plan includes: 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), read 2026-09-16)
- Entry paid plan: €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), read 2026-09-16)
- Pricing model: 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), read 2026-09-16)

### Observability

- Self-hostable: Supported ([source](https://netbird.io/pricing), read 2026-09-16)

### Auth

- SCIM provisioning: Supported ([source](https://netbird.io/pricing), read 2026-09-16)
- Multi-factor authentication: Supported ([source](https://netbird.io/pricing), read 2026-09-16)

## Compared with

- [NetBird vs Tailscale](https://inetgeek.com/compare/tailscale-vs-netbird/)
- [NetBird vs Twingate](https://inetgeek.com/compare/twingate-vs-netbird/)