{"slug": "zerotier", "name": "ZeroTier", "category": "networking", "category_name": "Networking and VPN", "description": "", "recommenders": 1, "commenters": 4, "warners": 1, "score": 0.571, "rising": -0.33, "first": "2025-12-08", "latest": "2026-10-29", "why": "there are some genuine open source software like netbird,zerotier etc. as well", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 2, "neutral": 2, "compare": 0, "warn": 1}, "spark": [0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0], "listed": false, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "there are some genuine open source software like netbird,zerotier etc. as well", "icon": false, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["ZeroTier"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 745320082, "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": 739132352, "item_id": 46195772, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46195772", "by": "Imustaskforhelp", "date": "2025-12-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "zerotier is really good software", "excerpt": "Offtopic but zerotier is really good software that I used but I am in India and its pings were high which is when I started to look around at free vps's in the form of jupyter notebooks like intel tiber and others using things like pinggy and trying to find a non rooted version of ssh (dropbear) etc. Technically it was one of my \"first\" achievements that I can do a lot of things if I devote the time to tinkering. I t", "context": "user in India", "use_case": "private networking", "switched_from": "", "story": "I wasted years of my life in crypto"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 749531201, "item_id": 46845700, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46845700", "by": "pranaysy", "date": "2026-02-01", "stance": "warn", "quote": "DNS functionality is excellent (something ZeroTier lacked)", "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": "", "use_case": "mesh VPN", "switched_from": "", "story": "Netbird a German Tailscale alternative (P2P WireGuard-based overlay network)"}]}], "who": [{"by": "orangeboats", "context": "on CGNATed residential internet in South East Asia", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50288937", "date": "2026-10-29"}, {"by": "Imustaskforhelp", "context": "user in India", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46195772", "date": "2025-12-08"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["workaround for cgnat", "virtual uplinks", "mesh vpn", "tailscale alternative", "private networking"], "compared": [{"slug": "netbird", "name": "NetBird", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 1}, {"slug": "tailscale", "name": "Tailscale", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "wireguard", "name": "WireGuard", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50287775", "title": "If IPv4 were land", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49060339", "title": "Authoritative Dnsmasq in a MikroTik Container", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46844870", "title": "Netbird a German Tailscale alternative (P2P WireGuard-based overlay network)", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46580326", "title": "2026 is the Year of Self-hosting", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46181371", "title": "I wasted years of my life in crypto", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-01": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-02": {"warn": 1}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {"neutral": 1}}, "quotes": [{"id": 804622992, "item_id": 50288937, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50288937", "by": "orangeboats", "date": "2026-10-29", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "relying on a centralized service like Zerotier and Tailscale", "excerpt": "That explains a lot of the sentiments I've seen on HN then... I, unfortunately, have been on CGNATed residential internet since 2016, though I used to still get a public IP on request (they stopped doing that though.) I live in South East Asia, for context. Without IPv6 my only choice would have been relying on a centralized service like Zerotier and Tailscale.", "context": "on CGNATed residential internet in South East Asia", "use_case": "workaround for CGNAT", "switched_from": "", "story": "If IPv4 were land"}, {"id": 785041733, "item_id": 49065108, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49065108", "by": "fastandfearless", "date": "2026-07-26", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "treat things like WireGuard or ZeroTier as virtual uplinks", "excerpt": "Nice work! I ran into that exact same MikroTik limitation when trying to set up segment-based DNS resolvers and forwarders for per-region routing. After a lot of procrastination, I ended up taking a different path to solve it: https://github.com/mabels/unified-dns-dhcp-chart It runs Technitium per segment inside Kubernetes via Multus CNI (though K8s isn't strictly required and could be stripped out). I'm currently pl", "context": "", "use_case": "virtual uplinks", "switched_from": "", "story": "Authoritative Dnsmasq in a MikroTik Container"}, {"id": 749531201, "item_id": 46845700, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46845700", "by": "pranaysy", "date": "2026-02-01", "stance": "warn", "quote": "DNS functionality is excellent (something ZeroTier lacked)", "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": "", "use_case": "mesh VPN", "switched_from": "", "story": "Netbird a German Tailscale alternative (P2P WireGuard-based overlay network)"}, {"id": 745320082, "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": 739132352, "item_id": 46195772, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46195772", "by": "Imustaskforhelp", "date": "2025-12-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "zerotier is really good software", "excerpt": "Offtopic but zerotier is really good software that I used but I am in India and its pings were high which is when I started to look around at free vps's in the form of jupyter notebooks like intel tiber and others using things like pinggy and trying to find a non rooted version of ssh (dropbear) etc. Technically it was one of my \"first\" achievements that I can do a lot of things if I devote the time to tinkering. I t", "context": "user in India", "use_case": "private networking", "switched_from": "", "story": "I wasted years of my life in crypto"}]}