Netbird a German Tailscale alternative (P2P WireGuard-based overlay network)
by l1am0 on 2/1/2026, 9:44:01 AM
Comments
by: mittermayr
I can only recommend giving headscale a try. It's free, works extremely well, and can be used with the official Tailscale clients. Was super easy to set up.<p><a href="https://headscale.net/stable/" rel="nofollow">https://headscale.net/stable/</a>
2/1/2026, 11:49:58 AM
by: regisso
I recommend it the NetBird team is transparent and easy to reach. I switched from Tailscale a while ago (2y), went fully self-hosted, and upgrades across versions have been smooth, which tells me they care about the self-hosted, not just their cloud offering.
2/1/2026, 12:16:36 PM
by: junon
We <i>just</i> evaluated this the other day and we were pretty impressed by it. We were looking for something we could self host for wireguard config but tbh we might just pay for the managed solution.
2/1/2026, 12:13:13 PM
by: aaronds
A bit lower level than most things discussed here but on the topic of overlay networks, I’ve used nebula for years and can recommend it<p><a href="https://github.com/slackhq/nebula" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/slackhq/nebula</a>
2/1/2026, 11:23:32 AM
by: edentrey
Tailscale is the only non-self-hosted part of my setup now and this has bugged me since. I use a custom Nameserver rule to point all my subdomains to a Caddy container sitting on my Tailnet. Caddy handles the SSL and routes everything to the right containers. I skipped Tailscale Funnel on purpose; since these are just family services, I’d rather keep them locked behind the VPN than open them up to the web. This project looks promising as a replacement for my current setup and for its digital sovereignity of self hosting the server. I'm looking to manage several embedded devices remotely via Tailscale, but I've hit a major roadblock: the 90-day maximum expiration for Auth Keys. Constantly renewing these tokens is a significant maintenance burden, so I'm searching for a more permanent, 'set-and-forget' solution for my remote hardware.
2/1/2026, 10:52:43 AM
by: speedgoose
I replaced Teleport by a bunch of various tools, and I had to chose between tailscale/headscale and netbird for the network connectivity. I’m pleased with netbird so far.<p>I had some weird bugs on a few old servers during the transition, and the support was helpful even though I am a small customer. We eventually switched to user space wireguard on those servers.
2/1/2026, 11:42:46 AM
by: no_time
F-droid inclusion seems to be stalled <a href="https://gitlab.com/fdroid/rfp/-/issues/2688" rel="nofollow">https://gitlab.com/fdroid/rfp/-/issues/2688</a><p>Having it in F-droid, vetted by their policies is kind of my benchmark for "software that is guaranteed to be not crapware."<p>That being said I'm rooting for the devs, having an alternative for tailscale+headscale would be nice, because as it stands it's kind of dependant on the goodwill of a for profit company (finite).
2/1/2026, 11:30:21 AM
by: usagisushi
Netbird's flexibility with IdPs is really nice. I recently switched mine to Pocket ID. Overall, it's perfectly sufficient and lightweight for homelab use.
2/1/2026, 11:54:20 AM
by: braginini
<a href="https://github.com/netbirdio/netbird" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/netbirdio/netbird</a>
2/1/2026, 11:26:36 AM
by: shtrophic
Last time I checked it couldn't do ipv6... in 2026?
2/1/2026, 12:03:09 PM
by: RedShift1
I'm really missing something like Cisco DMVPN. A VPN mesh between different routers where all routers have a connection to each other, so that all traffic doesn't have to pass through the hub. And that runs on a router, because all these solutions only run on a regular computer with a complete OS.
2/1/2026, 11:03:39 AM
by: hollow-moe
I'm currently comparing it with pangolin and headscale for my small scale company infrastructure access. Been running headscale for my own setup for a while but maybe netbird or pangolin might be better for real production.
2/1/2026, 10:59:43 AM
by: lwde
But it's missing a tailscale funnel like feature, right? That's one of the main features that I use for some home assistant instances.
2/1/2026, 10:20:01 AM
by: FloatArtifact
If the VPN connection would stay connected despite having it set up that way in the web UI.. It would be a good product.<p>Still haven't figured out how to do Termux on Android with netbird ssh yet.
2/1/2026, 10:50:09 AM
by: Benedicht
Using it self hosted for almost a year now, no issues, just works for me.
2/1/2026, 10:44:46 AM
by: sunshine-o
For someone who want to setup a private network between host/devices, I feel the dilemma is always:<p>1. Trust a third party like Tailscale by giving them the key to your kingdom, but everything is incredibly easy and secure.<p>2. Self-host but need at least one host with a fixed IP address and an open port on the Internet. What requires a set of security skills and constant monitoring. That includes headscale, selhosted netbird, zerotier or a private yggdrasil mesh.
2/1/2026, 12:05:33 PM
by: vlovich123
How does this compare with Defguard? Also European but seems more featureful maybe?
2/1/2026, 10:59:48 AM
by: oaiey
Sweet. Alternatives are always something good.
2/1/2026, 10:14:08 AM
by: BoredPositron
Missing some technical bits to be a true contender for me but I bet they are getting there. That said I've seen so many shadcn based scam sites that my brain starts associating shadcn with scams.
2/1/2026, 11:01:57 AM
by: thenaturalist
Besides the solid product, Misha & Maycon are just great and friendly people to work with.
2/1/2026, 10:34:24 AM
by: genie3io
[dead]
2/1/2026, 11:10:10 AM
by: estsauver
There's also <a href="https://pangolin.net/">https://pangolin.net/</a> which is kind of similar, and I believe a YC company.
2/1/2026, 10:40:41 AM