Tailscale
9.4#1 in business vpn softwareFrom $1 a monthFree planAndroidiOSWebAPI
VisitTailscale vs ZeroTier
What both publish
| Fact | Tailscale | ZeroTier |
|---|---|---|
| Company legal name | The maker identifies itself as Tailscale Inc. | Crunchbase lists the legal name as ZeroTier, Inc. |
| Compliance | Tailscale says it has completed SOC 2 Type II certification covering security, availability, and confidentiality. | ZeroTier states that it is SOC 2 Type II certified and directs customers to its Trust Center for compliance reports. |
| Documentation depth | The documentation includes technical references for ACL policy syntax, CLI, API, OAuth clients and tsnet plus production, security and integration guides. | The documentation includes getting-started guides, platform notes, API references, troubleshooting, security, SLA, glossary and developer-tool tutorials. |
| Founded | 2019 | LinkedIn lists 2013 as the founding year, matching the maker’s history of its open-source release in 2013. |
| 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 maker’s documentation includes API guides and tutorials for Docker, code-server, Terraform, webhooks, and Prometheus/Grafana monitoring. |
| Networking | Tailscale uses WireGuard to establish low-latency peer-to-peer connections. | Networks operate as secure virtual overlays spanning public clouds, private data centers, on-premises environments, remote devices, and edge systems. |
| Product | Tailscale describes itself as a zero-config VPN that works with almost anything. | ZeroTier describes its platform as secure software-defined networking that connects people, devices, and clouds worldwide. |
| Rating on Apple App Store | 4.4 out of 5 from 739 ratings | 3.8 out of 5 from 212 ratings |
| Rating on Capterra | 4.9 out of 5 from 7 reviews | 4.9 out of 5 from 12 reviews |
| Rating on G2 | 4.6 out of 5 from 31 reviews | 4.8 out of 5 from 5 reviews |
Tailscale plans
- PersonalFree
- Standard$8 a month
- Premium$18 a month
- Additional tagged resources$1 a month
- Add more tagged resources$1 a month
- Mullvad add-on$5 a month
ZeroTier plans
- Essential$18 a month
- Scale$179 a month
- QuantumPriced on request
- PersonalFree
- EnterprisePriced on request
Pick Tailscale if…
Tailscale suits individuals setting up a home VPN or homelab, as well as teams that need to control access between users and devices. The Personal plan is limited to non-commercial use.
Pick ZeroTier if…
ZeroTier suits organizations connecting devices and cloud or on-premises environments through virtual networks. Its Personal plan is specifically limited to non-commercial use.