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NetBird

SaaS alternative

WireGuard mesh from a Berlin startup, with fully open-source clients and server and an optional managed control plane.

Category
Network · SaaS alternative
Cost
Freemium
Country
Germany
Licensing
FOSS
Platforms
Linux · macOS · Windows · iOS · Android · CLI
Self-hostable
Yes

Pros and cons

+ what works
  • +Both clients and server components are FOSS (BSD-3 + AGPL-3.0)
  • +Self-host the management, signal, and relay services and keep nothing in vendor hands
  • +Hosted plan is free for up to 5 users and 100 machines, then $5 per user per month
  • +Berlin-based with German jurisdiction on the SaaS plane
watch out for
  • Smaller community and ecosystem than Tailscale
  • Self-hosting requires a public domain plus TCP 80 / 443 and UDP 3478 reachability
  • The control plane is mandatory; pure peer-to-peer without a coordinator is not supported
  • ACL syntax and management UX still maturing compared to Tailscale's

Privacy notes

NetBird builds a peer-to-peer WireGuard mesh between your devices. The clients are BSD-3-Clause while the control-plane components (management, signal, relay) are AGPL-3.0, so the whole stack can be audited or self-hosted. The hosted NetBird Cloud routes connection setup metadata through Berlin-hosted infrastructure; your traffic itself stays peer-to-peer whenever NAT allows. Account data and team configuration sit in Germany under GDPR. Wiretrustee UG is the legal entity, headquartered in Berlin.

Tags

#foss · #wireguard · #mesh-vpn · #berlin · #gdpr

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