Equinix Fabric vs Tailscale

Equinix Fabric is a software-defined interconnection service for linking distributed infrastructure with cloud and network providers, Equinix customers and partners, and a customer’s own deployments. Connections are managed through the Equinix Customer Portal, REST APIs, or Terraform. Local connection speeds range from 10 Mbps to 50 Gbps, while regional and global connections reach 25 Gbps. Physical ports come in 1 Gbps, 10 Gbps, and 100 Gbps configurations, subject to data-center availability. Monthly charges can include ports, virtual connections, Fabric Cloud Routers, and IP blocks; a private network can be created without charge before connections are added. Cloud examples include Azure ExpressRoute, Google Cloud Router, and Oracle FastConnect. Java, Go, and Python SDKs, Terraform tools, and a Pulumi provider support development. Equinix states 99.9% availability for a single point-to-point connection and 99.999% for redundant connections. Pricing is on request, with a 7-day trial listed.

Tailscale is a zero-config VPN for connecting users and devices across a network. It uses WireGuard to form low-latency peer-to-peer connections, which Tailscale says are end-to-end encrypted so it cannot read users’ traffic. Administrators can use access control lists to specify which users may connect to which devices. Supported identity providers handle authentication, and SCIM supports user and group provisioning. Monitoring features include configuration audit logs, network flow logs, webhooks, and log streaming to SIEM partners. Device posture information can be used in connectivity rules. Taildrop transfers files between devices, while node sharing lets users share a node without exposing it to the public internet. The service runs on Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, web, and Windows. Personal is free forever for non-commercial use and supports up to six users; Standard costs $8 per user per month. Premium costs $18 per user per month and includes priority support.