Best open-source alternatives to Tailscale

WireGuard Easy is a self-hosted web application for setting up and administering WireGuard on Linux hosts. It is aimed at people who want a simpler way to deploy a VPN server while still being able to manage clients through a browser-based interface. The project combines the WireGuard VPN service with a web UI that lets administrators create, edit, enable, disable, and inspect clients. It also surfaces operational details such as client connection status, traffic charts, QR codes, downloadable configuration files, and Prometheus metrics. The README emphasizes Docker-based deployment, with Docker Compose as the recommended path, plus support for docker run and Podman. Authentication-related capabilities include OIDC and 2FA, and the documentation is hosted on a separate project site.

NetBird is a self-hostable and cloud-hosted networking platform that creates encrypted WireGuard overlays for connecting machines without exposing ports or configuring complex firewall rules. It is aimed at organizations and homelab users who want centralized access control, peer discovery, and secure remote access across mixed infrastructure. The project combines an agent on each machine with management, signal, and relay services to establish peer-to-peer tunnels when possible and fall back to relayed connectivity when NAT traversal fails. It also includes admin UI management, access policies, DNS routing, device posture checks, SSH/RDP access in the browser, automation integrations, and identity-provider support for team-based administration.

EasyTier is a decentralized virtual private network project designed to connect devices directly without relying on centralized coordination services. It targets users who need a secure, cross-platform mesh-style VPN for ad hoc connectivity, subnet sharing, and remote access across mixed environments such as desktop, mobile, and embedded systems. The project provides multiple ways to operate and manage networks, including a web console, command-line tools, and client applications. It supports NAT traversal, routing optimization, subnet proxying, and WireGuard integration, and it can be deployed with prebuilt binaries, package-based installation, Docker, or source builds. The README also highlights a self-hosted public shared-node model for discovery and relay when direct peer-to-peer connectivity is not available.

OpenZiti is a zero-trust networking platform designed to hide services from unauthorized access while securing every connection with authenticated identity and end-to-end encryption. It is aimed at teams that need to connect users, services, devices, and workloads across networks without exposing open ports or relying on traditional VPNs. The project supports several deployment styles, including network-level access, host-based tunneling, and application-embedded SDK integration. That makes it suitable for both existing brownfield services and new greenfield applications, as well as environments spanning cloud, on-premises, Kubernetes, IoT, and hybrid infrastructure. Its controller provides identity management, policy enforcement, a REST API, and a web admin console, while edge routers carry encrypted traffic through the overlay network.

Firezone is an open source platform for managing secure remote access across organizations. It is designed as a zero-trust alternative to traditional VPNs, using group-based policies to grant access to individual applications, subnets, or broader network resources. The README positions it as suitable for teams and organizations that need centralized, least-privileged access control with encrypted connectivity. The project is a monorepo containing the full product stack, including an admin portal and control plane, WireGuard-based gateways, a relay for hole punching, and cross-platform clients for desktop and mobile. It supports managed cloud usage as well as self-hosted experimentation, and it integrates with identity providers such as Google Workspace, Okta, Entra ID, and OIDC for user and group synchronization. The README also highlights audit logging, scalable gateway deployment, and a snappy admin UI for configuration.

Pangolin is an open-source remote access platform aimed at teams and organizations that need secure, zero-trust connectivity to internal services. It is positioned as a way to expose web apps and private resources without opening public ports, using identity-aware access controls and tunneled connectivity built on WireGuard. The project supports both browser-based access to web applications and client-based access to resources such as SSH, databases, RDP, and entire network ranges. It also includes site connectors for NAT traversal, routing and load balancing, health checking, automatic SSL certificate handling, and role-based access control. The README indicates options for cloud use, self-hosting, and an enterprise edition, with clients available for major desktop and mobile platforms.