The best mesh vpns, according to hackers
12 mesh vpns recommended in Hacker News comments over the past year, ranked by how many separate people recommend each one.
- Most recommendedTailscale809 people recommend it
- Built to lastNetBirdowners report a median of 2 years
- Least regretTela10 recommend, 0 criticize
- Free and lovedHeadscale79 people recommend it
All mesh vpns
- TailscaleRecommended for reaching home servers and devices from anywhere without opening ports, thanks to WireGuard-based NAT traversal and easy setup; critics question trusting a third party and its ACL defaults.809recommend
- HeadscaleFree open source self-hosted control server compatible with Tailscale clients, giving full control over your network, though it is not a complete drop-in replacement and can be finicky to set up.79recommend
- NetBirdRecommended as an open source WireGuard mesh VPN that connects devices without manual firewall work and can be fully self-hosted. Common caveat: intermittent DNS and client connection failures.79recommend
- ZeroTierPeople recommend it as a free-tier mesh network that links devices across the internet without exposing them publicly. Critics report slow performance and occasional instability.19recommend
- Tailscale Peer RelaysLets Tailscale devices relay traffic for peers behind difficult NAT, improving speed and reliability without running separate DERP servers.15recommend
- RayfishFree peer-to-peer mesh VPN that people like for having no central server to trust; critics note it still needs a coordination server and is not production ready.11recommend
- OpenZitiOpen-source, identity-based overlay network that lets you host services without open listening ports and set granular access per client; critics cite hard-to-use UX and incomplete desktop and mobile clients.10recommend
- TelaFree userspace tool linking machines over WebDAV without TUN adapters, root or admin rights, plus hole punching for P2P speed.10recommend
- Tinc VPNPeople recommend Tinc as a free mesh VPN that is easy to use and mostly forget about once running, with support for many platforms and mesh routing. One critic says it is showing its age.6recommend
- LogMeIn HamachiOnce-popular tool that made virtual LAN networking easy for everyone; critics say it has declined and feels dated.5recommend
- Netrinos mesh VPNRecommended for simple install-and-login setup that connects devices across networks without configuration. Critics question its trust signals and marketing, including a GitHub link that doesn't exist.5recommend
- DN42People recommend DN42 as a free, safe lab for learning BGP routing and networking at ISP level, with a friendly community. It takes real effort to get value from it.5recommend