New check

Comparison

NetBird - Open Source Zero Trust Networking vs Tailscale

NetBird - Open Source Zero Trust Networking and Tailscale both land on Worth it.

NetBird - Open Source Zero Trust Networking

Worth it

Confidence: Medium

Buy if you're technical and want free, self-hosted zero-trust networking that replaces legacy VPN.

Read the full report

Tailscale

Worth it

Confidence: Medium

Buy if you need fast, secure access to servers, homelabs, or multi-cloud . the free tier makes trying it risk-free.

Read the full report

NetBird - Open Source Zero Trust Networking versus Tailscale
Compare	NetBird - Open Source Zero Trust Networking	Tailscale
Verdict	Worth it	Worth it
Best for	Self-hosters and homelab admins	Dev teams needing server access
Who it's not for	Non-technical teams with no network admin	Teams requiring a fully self-hosted control plane
Privacy	WireGuard-based and open source; one critical CVE (CVSS 9.3) disclosed with a patch available.¹⁰	No known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.
Support quality	HN commenters call the team transparent and responsive	No support evidence in sources
Public sentiment	Users praise easy setup and solid performance, with an active Reddit and Hacker News community around it.^⁵	G2 reviewers consistently praise Tailscale's ease of use and simple setup.¹⁶
Biggest gotcha	CVE-2025-10678 (CVSS 9.3) . verify you run patched releases¹⁰	Paid plan prices not published in reviewed sources . confirm before committing

Pick NetBird - Open Source Zero Trust Networking when

Self-hosters and homelab admins
SMBs replacing legacy VPN
Distributed teams needing site-to-site mesh
Open-source-first and EU-sourcing teams

When NetBird - Open Source Zero Trust Networking is not a fit

Non-technical teams with no network admin
Buyers needing vendor SLAs and 24/7 managed support
Strict compliance shops needing vendor certifications day one
Anyone who just needs one remote login . use Tailscale

Pick Tailscale when

Dev teams needing server access
Homelab & self-hosters
Multi-cloud mesh networking
IoT remote access

When Tailscale is not a fit

Teams requiring a fully self-hosted control plane
Orgs that won't route coordination via a third party
Buyers needing transparent published pricing upfront
Air-gapped or offline-only environments

Sources

NetBird - Open Source Zero Trust Networkingnetbird.io
official
NetBird Docs - Introductiondocs.netbird.io
official
NetBird on GitHubgithub.com
official
NetBird Security pagenetbird.io
official
NetBird on AlternativeToalternativeto.net
review
Open-Source Zero Trust Networking - r/selfhostedreddit.com
review
How Safe is Netbird? - r/selfhostedreddit.com
review
Netbird - Open Source Zero Trust Networking - Hacker Newsnews.ycombinator.com
review
NetBird remote access walkthrough - 51sec51sec.org
review
CVE-2025-10678: CRITICAL (CVSS 9.3)echelongraph.io
security
Top 5 Best Self-Hosted VPNs in 2026 - Pinggypinggy.io
news
NetBird review - Gigazinegigazine.net
news
Tailscale homepagetailscale.com
official
Tailscale on AWS Marketplaceaws.amazon.com
official
Tailscale product security pagetailscale.com
official
Tailscale G2 reviewsg2.com
review