{"slug": "netbird", "name": "NetBird", "category": "networking", "category_name": "Networking and VPN", "description": "Open-source WireGuard-based mesh VPN for connecting devices peer-to-peer, with self-hostable control plane.", "recommenders": 13, "commenters": 16, "warners": 1, "score": 10.978, "rising": -1.6, "first": "2026-01-11", "latest": "2026-10-20", "why": "HN commenters recommend NetBird as an open-source alternative to Tailscale that can be fully self-hosted and is easy to set up for reaching home-lab devices.", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": true, "sentiment": {"recommend": 13, "neutral": 1, "compare": 1, "warn": 1}, "spark": [0, 0, 1, 7, 1, 0, 0, 2, 0, 0, 1, 1], "listed": true, "loved": ["Tailscale alternative", "Self-hosting"], "caveat": "Client usability", "short_quote": "I recommend it the NetBird team is transparent and easy to reach. I switched from Tailscale a while ago (2y), went fully self-hosted", "icon": true, "domain": "netbird.io", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://netbird.io/", "pricing": "open source", "aliases": ["NetBird", "Netbird"], "verdict": [{"text": "HN commenters recommend NetBird as an open-source alternative to Tailscale", "cites": [{"id": 802569040, "item_id": 50160565, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50160565", "by": "joecool1029", "date": "2026-10-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I also maintain a netbird ebuild in my overlay if you want a FOSS alternative to tailscale", "excerpt": "If you're on Gentoo, I've been keeping this maintained in their main tree. Had the patched version available for users since July 15th... I also maintain a netbird ebuild in my overlay if you want a FOSS alternative to tailscale to put it behind.", "context": "Gentoo package maintainer", "use_case": "VPN behind Plex", "switched_from": "", "story": "Plex vulnerabilities being exploited in the wild to drop a cryptominer"}, {"id": 749556800, "item_id": 46847300, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46847300", "by": "xyst", "date": "2026-02-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "netbird has open sourced their _coordinator server_. This allows for self hosting to be end to end.", "excerpt": "I immediately looked at this and thought it was a tailscale clone. I looked further into it and it\u2019s essentially the same. Implementation over ease of use of wireguard setup. Peer to peer modeling. Mesh networking. \"Zero trust\". However, what I find interesting is netbird has open sourced their _coordinator server_. This allows for self hosting to be end to end. yes with tailscale there exists \"headscale\", but it\u2019s c", "context": "", "use_case": "self-hosted mesh VPN", "switched_from": "", "story": "Netbird a German Tailscale alternative (P2P WireGuard-based overlay network)"}, {"id": 745320081, "item_id": 46582505, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46582505", "by": "Imustaskforhelp", "date": "2026-01-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "there are some genuine open source software like netbird,zerotier etc. as well", "excerpt": "Hey, if tailscale is something you are worried about. There are open source alternatives to it as well but I think if your purpose is to just port forward a simple server port, wouldn't ssh in general itself be okay with you. You can even self host tailscale via headscale but I don't know how the experience goes but there are some genuine open source software like netbird,zerotier etc. as well You could also if inter", "context": "", "use_case": "Tailscale alternative", "switched_from": "", "story": "2026 is the Year of Self-hosting"}, {"id": 749696672, "item_id": 46856042, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46856042", "by": "mduett", "date": "2026-02-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Great to have a European alternative to tailscale.", "excerpt": "Met the founders in Berlin and was quite convinced of technical depth and vision. Great to have a European alternative to tailscale.", "context": "met the founders in Berlin", "use_case": "overlay networking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Netbird a German Tailscale alternative (P2P WireGuard-based overlay network)"}, {"id": 796149024, "item_id": 49759314, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49759314", "by": "drcongo", "date": "2026-09-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I switched from Tailscale to Netbird purely because of Tailscale's bizarre pricing tiers", "excerpt": "I switched from Tailscale to Netbird purely because of Tailscale's bizarre pricing tiers - I wanted just the SSH features, with multiple users, but the paid tier up from free didn't include the SSH features.", "context": "", "use_case": "SSH access with multiple users", "switched_from": "Tailscale", "story": "Cloudflare Quick Tunnels"}]}, {"text": " that can be fully self-hosted", "cites": [{"id": 749556800, "item_id": 46847300, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46847300", "by": "xyst", "date": "2026-02-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "netbird has open sourced their _coordinator server_. This allows for self hosting to be end to end.", "excerpt": "I immediately looked at this and thought it was a tailscale clone. I looked further into it and it\u2019s essentially the same. Implementation over ease of use of wireguard setup. Peer to peer modeling. Mesh networking. \"Zero trust\". However, what I find interesting is netbird has open sourced their _coordinator server_. This allows for self hosting to be end to end. yes with tailscale there exists \"headscale\", but it\u2019s c", "context": "", "use_case": "self-hosted mesh VPN", "switched_from": "", "story": "Netbird a German Tailscale alternative (P2P WireGuard-based overlay network)"}, {"id": 749531200, "item_id": 46845700, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46845700", "by": "pranaysy", "date": "2026-02-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Recently switched to NetBird (self-hosted on a Hetzner VPS) and it\u2019s been seamless so far.", "excerpt": "Long-time ZeroTier user here. Recently switched to NetBird (self-hosted on a Hetzner VPS) and it\u2019s been seamless so far. DNS functionality is excellent (something ZeroTier lacked), and the access-control model is very well designed. It\u2019s easy to understand what\u2019s going on and to grant one-off access when needed. Only real and very minor gripe is the Android app: I wish it were on F-Droid and a bit more robust, as it ", "context": "long-time ZeroTier user", "use_case": "self-hosted mesh VPN", "switched_from": "ZeroTier", "story": "Netbird a German Tailscale alternative (P2P WireGuard-based overlay network)"}, {"id": 749530880, "item_id": 46845680, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46845680", "by": "regisso", "date": "2026-02-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I recommend it the NetBird team is transparent and easy to reach. I switched from Tailscale a while ago (2y), went fully self-hosted", "excerpt": "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.", "context": "", "use_case": "self-hosted mesh VPN", "switched_from": "Tailscale", "story": "Netbird a German Tailscale alternative (P2P WireGuard-based overlay network)"}, {"id": 749568096, "item_id": 46848006, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46848006", "by": "Factor1177", "date": "2026-02-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Recently switched to self hosted netbird and its been great so far.", "excerpt": "I was previously using headscale and was finding it a bit finicky. Recently switched to self hosted netbird and its been great so far. However, if the Netbird teams sees this, please implement a built-in updater for the client apps! needing to download and install the package again is a bit annoying", "context": "", "use_case": "self-hosted mesh VPN", "switched_from": "Headscale", "story": "Netbird a German Tailscale alternative (P2P WireGuard-based overlay network)"}]}, {"text": " and is easy to set up for reaching home-lab devices.", "cites": [{"id": 779611552, "item_id": 48725722, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48725722", "by": "greenavocado", "date": "2026-06-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use netbird.io for my home lab and all my connected devices are reachable to each other without manual firewall hackery", "excerpt": "I use netbird.io for my home lab and all my connected devices are reachable to each other without manual firewall hackery", "context": "runs a home lab", "use_case": "home lab device connectivity", "switched_from": "", "story": "Announcing .self: A New Top-Level Domain Designed to Support Self-Hosting"}, {"id": 756937392, "item_id": 47308587, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47308587", "by": "succo", "date": "2026-03-09", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "For remote acces I use NetBird, I think is the best and secure option", "excerpt": "For remote acces I use NetBird, I think is the best and secure option to not expose stuff directly on the web and put all your resources under a vpn. Is super easy to setup and it supports also sso with 2fa", "context": "homelab user", "use_case": "remote access VPN", "switched_from": "", "story": "My Homelab Setup"}, {"id": 749531200, "item_id": 46845700, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46845700", "by": "pranaysy", "date": "2026-02-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Recently switched to NetBird (self-hosted on a Hetzner VPS) and it\u2019s been seamless so far.", "excerpt": "Long-time ZeroTier user here. Recently switched to NetBird (self-hosted on a Hetzner VPS) and it\u2019s been seamless so far. DNS functionality is excellent (something ZeroTier lacked), and the access-control model is very well designed. It\u2019s easy to understand what\u2019s going on and to grant one-off access when needed. Only real and very minor gripe is the Android app: I wish it were on F-Droid and a bit more robust, as it ", "context": "long-time ZeroTier user", "use_case": "self-hosted mesh VPN", "switched_from": "ZeroTier", "story": "Netbird a German Tailscale alternative (P2P WireGuard-based overlay network)"}]}, {"text": " The most common complaint is rough client apps, including a frustrating Windows client, an Android app that drops when roaming, and no built-in updater.", "cites": [{"id": 749552704, "item_id": 46847044, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46847044", "by": "winrid", "date": "2026-02-01", "stance": "warn", "quote": "One of the few pieces of software I actually despise but have to use, and I use win11.", "excerpt": "My favorite feature of netbird might be no search in the client or network names literally overlapping in the \"overlapping networks\" tab or maybe it's the need to toggle the network on and off a few times to get it to work One of the few pieces of software I actually despise but have to use, and I use win11.", "context": "Windows 11 user", "use_case": "mesh VPN", "switched_from": "", "story": "Netbird a German Tailscale alternative (P2P WireGuard-based overlay network)"}, {"id": 749531200, "item_id": 46845700, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46845700", "by": "pranaysy", "date": "2026-02-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Recently switched to NetBird (self-hosted on a Hetzner VPS) and it\u2019s been seamless so far.", "excerpt": "Long-time ZeroTier user here. Recently switched to NetBird (self-hosted on a Hetzner VPS) and it\u2019s been seamless so far. DNS functionality is excellent (something ZeroTier lacked), and the access-control model is very well designed. It\u2019s easy to understand what\u2019s going on and to grant one-off access when needed. Only real and very minor gripe is the Android app: I wish it were on F-Droid and a bit more robust, as it ", "context": "long-time ZeroTier user", "use_case": "self-hosted mesh VPN", "switched_from": "ZeroTier", "story": "Netbird a German Tailscale alternative (P2P WireGuard-based overlay network)"}, {"id": 749568096, "item_id": 46848006, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46848006", "by": "Factor1177", "date": "2026-02-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Recently switched to self hosted netbird and its been great so far.", "excerpt": "I was previously using headscale and was finding it a bit finicky. Recently switched to self hosted netbird and its been great so far. However, if the Netbird teams sees this, please implement a built-in updater for the client apps! needing to download and install the package again is a bit annoying", "context": "", "use_case": "self-hosted mesh VPN", "switched_from": "Headscale", "story": "Netbird a German Tailscale alternative (P2P WireGuard-based overlay network)"}]}], "praise": [{"label": "Tailscale alternative", "summary": "Seen as an open-source, European alternative to Tailscale, and some switched over because of Tailscale's pricing tiers.", "quotes": [{"id": 802569040, "item_id": 50160565, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50160565", "by": "joecool1029", "date": "2026-10-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I also maintain a netbird ebuild in my overlay if you want a FOSS alternative to tailscale", "excerpt": "If you're on Gentoo, I've been keeping this maintained in their main tree. Had the patched version available for users since July 15th... I also maintain a netbird ebuild in my overlay if you want a FOSS alternative to tailscale to put it behind.", "context": "Gentoo package maintainer", "use_case": "VPN behind Plex", "switched_from": "", "story": "Plex vulnerabilities being exploited in the wild to drop a cryptominer"}, {"id": 749696672, "item_id": 46856042, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46856042", "by": "mduett", "date": "2026-02-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Great to have a European alternative to tailscale.", "excerpt": "Met the founders in Berlin and was quite convinced of technical depth and vision. Great to have a European alternative to tailscale.", "context": "met the founders in Berlin", "use_case": "overlay networking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Netbird a German Tailscale alternative (P2P WireGuard-based overlay network)"}, {"id": 796149024, "item_id": 49759314, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49759314", "by": "drcongo", "date": "2026-09-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I switched from Tailscale to Netbird purely because of Tailscale's bizarre pricing tiers", "excerpt": "I switched from Tailscale to Netbird purely because of Tailscale's bizarre pricing tiers - I wanted just the SSH features, with multiple users, but the paid tier up from free didn't include the SSH features.", "context": "", "use_case": "SSH access with multiple users", "switched_from": "Tailscale", "story": "Cloudflare Quick Tunnels"}]}, {"label": "Self-hosting", "summary": "The coordinator server is open source, and self-hosted setups have run seamlessly with smooth upgrades.", "quotes": [{"id": 749556800, "item_id": 46847300, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46847300", "by": "xyst", "date": "2026-02-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "netbird has open sourced their _coordinator server_. This allows for self hosting to be end to end.", "excerpt": "I immediately looked at this and thought it was a tailscale clone. I looked further into it and it\u2019s essentially the same. Implementation over ease of use of wireguard setup. Peer to peer modeling. Mesh networking. \"Zero trust\". However, what I find interesting is netbird has open sourced their _coordinator server_. This allows for self hosting to be end to end. yes with tailscale there exists \"headscale\", but it\u2019s c", "context": "", "use_case": "self-hosted mesh VPN", "switched_from": "", "story": "Netbird a German Tailscale alternative (P2P WireGuard-based overlay network)"}, {"id": 749531200, "item_id": 46845700, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46845700", "by": "pranaysy", "date": "2026-02-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Recently switched to NetBird (self-hosted on a Hetzner VPS) and it\u2019s been seamless so far.", "excerpt": "Long-time ZeroTier user here. Recently switched to NetBird (self-hosted on a Hetzner VPS) and it\u2019s been seamless so far. DNS functionality is excellent (something ZeroTier lacked), and the access-control model is very well designed. It\u2019s easy to understand what\u2019s going on and to grant one-off access when needed. Only real and very minor gripe is the Android app: I wish it were on F-Droid and a bit more robust, as it ", "context": "long-time ZeroTier user", "use_case": "self-hosted mesh VPN", "switched_from": "ZeroTier", "story": "Netbird a German Tailscale alternative (P2P WireGuard-based overlay network)"}, {"id": 749530880, "item_id": 46845680, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46845680", "by": "regisso", "date": "2026-02-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I recommend it the NetBird team is transparent and easy to reach. I switched from Tailscale a while ago (2y), went fully self-hosted", "excerpt": "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.", "context": "", "use_case": "self-hosted mesh VPN", "switched_from": "Tailscale", "story": "Netbird a German Tailscale alternative (P2P WireGuard-based overlay network)"}]}, {"label": "Easy setup", "summary": "Users say it is easy to set up and connects devices without manual firewall work.", "quotes": [{"id": 779611552, "item_id": 48725722, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48725722", "by": "greenavocado", "date": "2026-06-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use netbird.io for my home lab and all my connected devices are reachable to each other without manual firewall hackery", "excerpt": "I use netbird.io for my home lab and all my connected devices are reachable to each other without manual firewall hackery", "context": "runs a home lab", "use_case": "home lab device connectivity", "switched_from": "", "story": "Announcing .self: A New Top-Level Domain Designed to Support Self-Hosting"}, {"id": 756937392, "item_id": 47308587, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47308587", "by": "succo", "date": "2026-03-09", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "For remote acces I use NetBird, I think is the best and secure option", "excerpt": "For remote acces I use NetBird, I think is the best and secure option to not expose stuff directly on the web and put all your resources under a vpn. Is super easy to setup and it supports also sso with 2fa", "context": "homelab user", "use_case": "remote access VPN", "switched_from": "", "story": "My Homelab Setup"}, {"id": 749531200, "item_id": 46845700, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46845700", "by": "pranaysy", "date": "2026-02-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Recently switched to NetBird (self-hosted on a Hetzner VPS) and it\u2019s been seamless so far.", "excerpt": "Long-time ZeroTier user here. Recently switched to NetBird (self-hosted on a Hetzner VPS) and it\u2019s been seamless so far. DNS functionality is excellent (something ZeroTier lacked), and the access-control model is very well designed. It\u2019s easy to understand what\u2019s going on and to grant one-off access when needed. Only real and very minor gripe is the Android app: I wish it were on F-Droid and a bit more robust, as it ", "context": "long-time ZeroTier user", "use_case": "self-hosted mesh VPN", "switched_from": "ZeroTier", "story": "Netbird a German Tailscale alternative (P2P WireGuard-based overlay network)"}]}, {"label": "Responsive team", "summary": "The team is described as transparent and easy to reach, with helpful support even for small customers.", "quotes": [{"id": 749530880, "item_id": 46845680, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46845680", "by": "regisso", "date": "2026-02-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I recommend it the NetBird team is transparent and easy to reach. I switched from Tailscale a while ago (2y), went fully self-hosted", "excerpt": "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.", "context": "", "use_case": "self-hosted mesh VPN", "switched_from": "Tailscale", "story": "Netbird a German Tailscale alternative (P2P WireGuard-based overlay network)"}, {"id": 749527920, "item_id": 46845495, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46845495", "by": "speedgoose", "date": "2026-02-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I\u2019m pleased with netbird so far.", "excerpt": "I replaced Teleport by a bunch of various tools, and I had to chose between tailscale/headscale and netbird for the network connectivity. I\u2019m pleased with netbird so far. 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.", "context": "small customer", "use_case": "network connectivity", "switched_from": "Teleport", "story": "Netbird a German Tailscale alternative (P2P WireGuard-based overlay network)"}]}, {"label": "Access control", "summary": "Its access-control model, DNS features, and SSO with 2FA get praise.", "quotes": [{"id": 749531200, "item_id": 46845700, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46845700", "by": "pranaysy", "date": "2026-02-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Recently switched to NetBird (self-hosted on a Hetzner VPS) and it\u2019s been seamless so far.", "excerpt": "Long-time ZeroTier user here. Recently switched to NetBird (self-hosted on a Hetzner VPS) and it\u2019s been seamless so far. DNS functionality is excellent (something ZeroTier lacked), and the access-control model is very well designed. It\u2019s easy to understand what\u2019s going on and to grant one-off access when needed. Only real and very minor gripe is the Android app: I wish it were on F-Droid and a bit more robust, as it ", "context": "long-time ZeroTier user", "use_case": "self-hosted mesh VPN", "switched_from": "ZeroTier", "story": "Netbird a German Tailscale alternative (P2P WireGuard-based overlay network)"}, {"id": 756937392, "item_id": 47308587, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47308587", "by": "succo", "date": "2026-03-09", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "For remote acces I use NetBird, I think is the best and secure option", "excerpt": "For remote acces I use NetBird, I think is the best and secure option to not expose stuff directly on the web and put all your resources under a vpn. Is super easy to setup and it supports also sso with 2fa", "context": "homelab user", "use_case": "remote access VPN", "switched_from": "", "story": "My Homelab Setup"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "Client usability", "summary": "One Windows 11 user describes no search, overlapping network names, and needing to toggle networks to make them work.", "quotes": [{"id": 749552704, "item_id": 46847044, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46847044", "by": "winrid", "date": "2026-02-01", "stance": "warn", "quote": "One of the few pieces of software I actually despise but have to use, and I use win11.", "excerpt": "My favorite feature of netbird might be no search in the client or network names literally overlapping in the \"overlapping networks\" tab or maybe it's the need to toggle the network on and off a few times to get it to work One of the few pieces of software I actually despise but have to use, and I use win11.", "context": "Windows 11 user", "use_case": "mesh VPN", "switched_from": "", "story": "Netbird a German Tailscale alternative (P2P WireGuard-based overlay network)"}]}, {"label": "No auto-updater", "summary": "Client apps have to be downloaded and reinstalled manually to update.", "quotes": [{"id": 749568096, "item_id": 46848006, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46848006", "by": "Factor1177", "date": "2026-02-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Recently switched to self hosted netbird and its been great so far.", "excerpt": "I was previously using headscale and was finding it a bit finicky. Recently switched to self hosted netbird and its been great so far. However, if the Netbird teams sees this, please implement a built-in updater for the client apps! needing to download and install the package again is a bit annoying", "context": "", "use_case": "self-hosted mesh VPN", "switched_from": "Headscale", "story": "Netbird a German Tailscale alternative (P2P WireGuard-based overlay network)"}]}, {"label": "Android app", "summary": "The Android app is not on F-Droid and sometimes drops when roaming.", "quotes": [{"id": 749531200, "item_id": 46845700, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46845700", "by": "pranaysy", "date": "2026-02-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Recently switched to NetBird (self-hosted on a Hetzner VPS) and it\u2019s been seamless so far.", "excerpt": "Long-time ZeroTier user here. Recently switched to NetBird (self-hosted on a Hetzner VPS) and it\u2019s been seamless so far. DNS functionality is excellent (something ZeroTier lacked), and the access-control model is very well designed. It\u2019s easy to understand what\u2019s going on and to grant one-off access when needed. Only real and very minor gripe is the Android app: I wish it were on F-Droid and a bit more robust, as it ", "context": "long-time ZeroTier user", "use_case": "self-hosted mesh VPN", "switched_from": "ZeroTier", "story": "Netbird a German Tailscale alternative (P2P WireGuard-based overlay network)"}]}, {"label": "No Apple TV", "summary": "An Apple TV client did not appear to be available yet.", "quotes": [{"id": 749549314, "item_id": 46846832, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46846832", "by": "ErneX", "date": "2026-02-01", "stance": "compare", "quote": "Netbird seems to be working on one but it\u2019s not out yet?", "excerpt": "I use Headscale with Tailscale clients, and the Apple TV is very nice to have. Netbird seems to be working on one but it\u2019s not out yet?", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Netbird a German Tailscale alternative (P2P WireGuard-based overlay network)"}]}, {"label": "Migration bugs", "summary": "One user hit odd bugs on a few old servers during the switch.", "quotes": [{"id": 749527920, "item_id": 46845495, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46845495", "by": "speedgoose", "date": "2026-02-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I\u2019m pleased with netbird so far.", "excerpt": "I replaced Teleport by a bunch of various tools, and I had to chose between tailscale/headscale and netbird for the network connectivity. I\u2019m pleased with netbird so far. 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.", "context": "small customer", "use_case": "network connectivity", "switched_from": "Teleport", "story": "Netbird a German Tailscale alternative (P2P WireGuard-based overlay network)"}]}], "who": [{"by": "joecool1029", "context": "Gentoo package maintainer", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50160565", "date": "2026-10-20"}, {"by": "greenavocado", "context": "runs a home lab", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48725722", "date": "2026-06-29"}, {"by": "succo", "context": "homelab user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47308587", "date": "2026-03-09"}, {"by": "jonas_scholz", "context": "works at Sliplane", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46857549", "date": "2026-02-02"}, {"by": "mduett", "context": "met the founders in Berlin", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46856042", "date": "2026-02-02"}, {"by": "pranaysy", "context": "long-time ZeroTier user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46845700", "date": "2026-02-01"}, {"by": "speedgoose", "context": "small customer", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46845495", "date": "2026-02-01"}], "tags": ["self-hostable", "for home labs", "for Tailscale switchers", "for remote access"], "use_cases": ["self-hosted mesh vpn", "vpn behind plex", "ssh access with multiple users", "home lab device connectivity", "vpn", "remote access vpn"], "compared": [{"slug": "tailscale", "name": "Tailscale", "co": 11, "switched_from": 2, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "headscale", "name": "Headscale", "co": 5, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "zerotier", "name": "ZeroTier", "co": 2, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46844870", "title": "Netbird a German Tailscale alternative (P2P WireGuard-based overlay network)", "mentions": 10}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50152321", "title": "Plex vulnerabilities being exploited in the wild to drop a cryptominer", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49754785", "title": "Cloudflare Quick Tunnels", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48724230", "title": "Announcing .self: A New Top-Level Domain Designed to Support Self-Hosting", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48643848", "title": "Ask HN: New clean macOS install. Must-have apps? Best browser?", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47298743", "title": "My Homelab Setup", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-02": {"neutral": 1, "recommend": 7, "compare": 1, "warn": 1}, "2026-03": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-10": {"recommend": 1}}, "quotes": [{"id": 802569040, "item_id": 50160565, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50160565", "by": "joecool1029", "date": "2026-10-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I also maintain a netbird ebuild in my overlay if you want a FOSS alternative to tailscale", "excerpt": "If you're on Gentoo, I've been keeping this maintained in their main tree. Had the patched version available for users since July 15th... I also maintain a netbird ebuild in my overlay if you want a FOSS alternative to tailscale to put it behind.", "context": "Gentoo package maintainer", "use_case": "VPN behind Plex", "switched_from": "", "story": "Plex vulnerabilities being exploited in the wild to drop a cryptominer"}, {"id": 796149024, "item_id": 49759314, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49759314", "by": "drcongo", "date": "2026-09-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I switched from Tailscale to Netbird purely because of Tailscale's bizarre pricing tiers", "excerpt": "I switched from Tailscale to Netbird purely because of Tailscale's bizarre pricing tiers - I wanted just the SSH features, with multiple users, but the paid tier up from free didn't include the SSH features.", "context": "", "use_case": "SSH access with multiple users", "switched_from": "Tailscale", "story": "Cloudflare Quick Tunnels"}, {"id": 779611552, "item_id": 48725722, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48725722", "by": "greenavocado", "date": "2026-06-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use netbird.io for my home lab and all my connected devices are reachable to each other without manual firewall hackery", "excerpt": "I use netbird.io for my home lab and all my connected devices are reachable to each other without manual firewall hackery", "context": "runs a home lab", "use_case": "home lab device connectivity", "switched_from": "", "story": "Announcing .self: A New Top-Level Domain Designed to Support Self-Hosting"}, {"id": 778308007, "item_id": 48644250, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48644250", "by": "CobaltFire", "date": "2026-06-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "NetBird (https://netbird.io/)", "excerpt": "Heres my list: Transnomino (https://www.transnomino.com/) StillColor (https://github.com/aiaf/Stillcolor) SublimeText (https://www.sublimetext.com/) Homebrew (https://brew.sh/) VLC (https://www.videolan.org/) Macs Fan Control (https://crystalidea.com/macs-fan-control) Rectangle (https://rectangleapp.com/) NetBird (https://netbird.io/) Obsidian (https://obsidian.md/) Honestly its not huge and most are probably obvious", "context": "", "use_case": "VPN", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: New clean macOS install. Must-have apps? Best browser?"}, {"id": 756937392, "item_id": 47308587, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47308587", "by": "succo", "date": "2026-03-09", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "For remote acces I use NetBird, I think is the best and secure option", "excerpt": "For remote acces I use NetBird, I think is the best and secure option to not expose stuff directly on the web and put all your resources under a vpn. Is super easy to setup and it supports also sso with 2fa", "context": "homelab user", "use_case": "remote access VPN", "switched_from": "", "story": "My Homelab Setup"}, {"id": 749720784, "item_id": 46857549, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46857549", "by": "jonas_scholz", "date": "2026-02-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "we love and support netbird at sliplane <3", "excerpt": "we love and support netbird at sliplane <3 https://docs.sliplane.io/private-networking/netbird", "context": "works at Sliplane", "use_case": "private networking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Netbird a German Tailscale alternative (P2P WireGuard-based overlay network)"}, {"id": 749696672, "item_id": 46856042, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46856042", "by": "mduett", "date": "2026-02-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Great to have a European alternative to tailscale.", "excerpt": "Met the founders in Berlin and was quite convinced of technical depth and vision. Great to have a European alternative to tailscale.", "context": "met the founders in Berlin", "use_case": "overlay networking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Netbird a German Tailscale alternative (P2P WireGuard-based overlay network)"}, {"id": 749568096, "item_id": 46848006, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46848006", "by": "Factor1177", "date": "2026-02-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Recently switched to self hosted netbird and its been great so far.", "excerpt": "I was previously using headscale and was finding it a bit finicky. Recently switched to self hosted netbird and its been great so far. However, if the Netbird teams sees this, please implement a built-in updater for the client apps! needing to download and install the package again is a bit annoying", "context": "", "use_case": "self-hosted mesh VPN", "switched_from": "Headscale", "story": "Netbird a German Tailscale alternative (P2P WireGuard-based overlay network)"}, {"id": 749556800, "item_id": 46847300, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46847300", "by": "xyst", "date": "2026-02-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "netbird has open sourced their _coordinator server_. This allows for self hosting to be end to end.", "excerpt": "I immediately looked at this and thought it was a tailscale clone. I looked further into it and it\u2019s essentially the same. Implementation over ease of use of wireguard setup. Peer to peer modeling. Mesh networking. \"Zero trust\". However, what I find interesting is netbird has open sourced their _coordinator server_. This allows for self hosting to be end to end. yes with tailscale there exists \"headscale\", but it\u2019s c", "context": "", "use_case": "self-hosted mesh VPN", "switched_from": "", "story": "Netbird a German Tailscale alternative (P2P WireGuard-based overlay network)"}, {"id": 749552704, "item_id": 46847044, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46847044", "by": "winrid", "date": "2026-02-01", "stance": "warn", "quote": "One of the few pieces of software I actually despise but have to use, and I use win11.", "excerpt": "My favorite feature of netbird might be no search in the client or network names literally overlapping in the \"overlapping networks\" tab or maybe it's the need to toggle the network on and off a few times to get it to work One of the few pieces of software I actually despise but have to use, and I use win11.", "context": "Windows 11 user", "use_case": "mesh VPN", "switched_from": "", "story": "Netbird a German Tailscale alternative (P2P WireGuard-based overlay network)"}, {"id": 749549314, "item_id": 46846832, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46846832", "by": "ErneX", "date": "2026-02-01", "stance": "compare", "quote": "Netbird seems to be working on one but it\u2019s not out yet?", "excerpt": "I use Headscale with Tailscale clients, and the Apple TV is very nice to have. Netbird seems to be working on one but it\u2019s not out yet?", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Netbird a German Tailscale alternative (P2P WireGuard-based overlay network)"}, {"id": 749531200, "item_id": 46845700, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46845700", "by": "pranaysy", "date": "2026-02-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Recently switched to NetBird (self-hosted on a Hetzner VPS) and it\u2019s been seamless so far.", "excerpt": "Long-time ZeroTier user here. Recently switched to NetBird (self-hosted on a Hetzner VPS) and it\u2019s been seamless so far. DNS functionality is excellent (something ZeroTier lacked), and the access-control model is very well designed. It\u2019s easy to understand what\u2019s going on and to grant one-off access when needed. Only real and very minor gripe is the Android app: I wish it were on F-Droid and a bit more robust, as it ", "context": "long-time ZeroTier user", "use_case": "self-hosted mesh VPN", "switched_from": "ZeroTier", "story": "Netbird a German Tailscale alternative (P2P WireGuard-based overlay network)"}, {"id": 749530880, "item_id": 46845680, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46845680", "by": "regisso", "date": "2026-02-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I recommend it the NetBird team is transparent and easy to reach. I switched from Tailscale a while ago (2y), went fully self-hosted", "excerpt": "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.", "context": "", "use_case": "self-hosted mesh VPN", "switched_from": "Tailscale", "story": "Netbird a German Tailscale alternative (P2P WireGuard-based overlay network)"}, {"id": 749527920, "item_id": 46845495, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46845495", "by": "speedgoose", "date": "2026-02-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I\u2019m pleased with netbird so far.", "excerpt": "I replaced Teleport by a bunch of various tools, and I had to chose between tailscale/headscale and netbird for the network connectivity. I\u2019m pleased with netbird so far. 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.", "context": "small customer", "use_case": "network connectivity", "switched_from": "Teleport", "story": "Netbird a German Tailscale alternative (P2P WireGuard-based overlay network)"}, {"id": 749523458, "item_id": 46845216, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46845216", "by": "edentrey", "date": "2026-02-01", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "This project looks promising as a replacement for my current setup", "excerpt": "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\u2019d rather keep them locked behind the VPN than open them up to the web. This proje", "context": "", "use_case": "self-hosted VPN", "switched_from": "", "story": "Netbird a German Tailscale alternative (P2P WireGuard-based overlay network)"}, {"id": 745320081, "item_id": 46582505, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46582505", "by": "Imustaskforhelp", "date": "2026-01-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "there are some genuine open source software like netbird,zerotier etc. as well", "excerpt": "Hey, if tailscale is something you are worried about. There are open source alternatives to it as well but I think if your purpose is to just port forward a simple server port, wouldn't ssh in general itself be okay with you. You can even self host tailscale via headscale but I don't know how the experience goes but there are some genuine open source software like netbird,zerotier etc. as well You could also if inter", "context": "", "use_case": "Tailscale alternative", "switched_from": "", "story": "2026 is the Year of Self-hosting"}]}