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OpenVPN Community Edition vs Tailscale

OpenVPN Community Edition

openvpn.net

Tailscale

tailscale.com

Side by side

FigureOpenVPN Community EditionTailscale
Price fromFree$1/mo
Free planYesYes
Free trial—Yes
Open source—Yes
Web—Yes
WindowsYesYes
macOSYesYes
LinuxYesYes
iOSYesYes
AndroidYesYes
API—Yes
Self-hostedYesYes
Plans published18
Spec score · Business VPN Software8.1 (#41)9.4 (#5)
Free planYesYes
SupportCommunity support resources include IRC, a user mailing list, forums, a wiki, and GitHub issues.Tailscale provides documentation, a support request form, community channels, and plan-dependent support levels; Premium lists priority support.

Plans

OpenVPN Community Edition

  • OpenVPN Community EditionFree

OpenVPN Community Edition pricing →

Tailscale

  • PersonalFree
  • Standard$8 a month
  • Premium$18 a month
  • Additional tagged resources$1 a month
  • Add more tagged resources$1 a month
  • Mullvad$5 a month
  • Mullvad add-on$5 a month
  • EnterprisePriced on request

Tailscale pricing →

In their own words

OpenVPN Community Edition

OpenVPN Community Edition has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.

Visit openvpn.net

Tailscale

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.

Visit tailscale.com