Tailscale vs WireGuard
Tailscale
tailscale.comWireGuard
wireguard.comSide by side
| Figure | Tailscale | WireGuard |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $1/mo | — |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Web | Yes | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | Yes |
| Android | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 8 | 0 |
| Spec score · Business VPN Software | 9.4 (#5) | 7.4 (#75) |
| Spec score · Vpn Client | 8.8 (#5) | 7.3 (#21) |
| Spec score · Virtual Private Network Software | 8.8 (#11) | 7.3 (#36) |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Integrations | Official integration documentation covers cloud servers, containers and virtual machines, serverless apps, databases, code environments, firewalls, web servers, NAS devices and MDM. | The project describes using WireGuard with Docker network namespaces and lists packages or installation instructions for many Linux distributions and BSD systems. |
| Support | Tailscale provides documentation, a support request form, community channels, and plan-dependent support levels; Premium lists priority support. | The project recommends its #wireguard IRC channel for setup and usage help, and directs development discussion to its mailing list. |
| What it does | Tailscale is an identity-based secure-connectivity platform built on WireGuard that links teams, clouds, CI/CD, IoT, Kubernetes, AI workloads and personal devices. | WireGuard is a VPN that securely encapsulates IP packets over UDP. |
Plans
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
In their own words
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.