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Tailscale vs tinc: catalog facts
Tailscale	tinc
Freemium The Personal plan is free forever with unlimited devices for up to 6 users. Paid plans…	Free Free software under GPL version 2 or later.
Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, Command line	Linux, Command line
Devices reach each other through NAT and firewalls without port forwarding or a public IP Free Personal plan with unlimited user devices for up to 6 users	Automatic full mesh routing with direct peer traffic Appears as a normal network device to existing software
Sign-in goes through an identity provider, so an account is required The coordination server is a hosted service; running your own means using a separate project such as Headscale	The 1.1 branch has been in prerelease for a long time Configured by hand with config files
Downloadable app, Hosted service	Downloadable app
Open source	Open source
License: BSD-3-Clause	License: GPL-2.0-or-later
Account needed	No account needed
Needs internet	Not stated if it works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 20, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 23, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.