I use Tailscale to securely access remote Linux servers for tasks like SSH and system management without exposing services to the public internet. I also access a Linux server with the help of the RDP protocol.
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Secure remote access for SSH and RDP has simplified private server management across networks
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
I mainly use Tailscale to securely connect device to device, and it provides authentication and access control between multiple machines, which I found very helpful.
When I mention authentication and access control, it allowed me to access servers from anywhere without worrying about network restrictions and reduced the time spent on setup and troubleshooting.
The biggest benefit of Tailscale is simplicity; it is quick to set up and provides a stable and secure connection. I can set it up with only one command without any manual configuration, which is where I think it is very helpful.
Tailscale has improved remote access efficiency and reduced the complexity of managing secure connections across systems, which is the main point from my perspective.
What needs improvement?
The only drawback I found is that the subnet routing option in Tailscale is too advanced and sometimes requires advanced networking concepts. A person needs to fully understand it to configure it properly.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Tailscale for several months from a different account to access remote servers and to test connectivity between systems.
What other advice do I have?
I chose Tailscale because it simplifies VPN setup, and I did not have to deal with port forwarding or complex firewall configurations, which saved a lot of time for me.
When I needed to access a remote Linux server from a different network, instead of configuring port forwarding or a traditional VPN, I used Tailscale to connect securely and directly. It allowed me to perform tasks like SSH access and system checks without exposing the server publicly. I would rate this product a 10 out of 10.
Remote access to my home network has become seamless and now simplifies daily management
What is our primary use case?
My main use case for Tailscale is accessing my home network when I'm outside. Essentially, it functions as a VPN.
I use Tailscale to access my home network by connecting to a main machine that runs Tailscale, which is separate from my home server. This allows me to connect to it even when my home server goes down, and it serves as a subnet router so I can access my home network through that single machine instead of connecting every single virtual machine to the same Tailscale network.
What is most valuable?
In my opinion, the best features Tailscale offers are its ease of use and quick setup. You essentially just need to run a command and you're connected to Tailscale network, and I love MagicDNS as well. Ease of use, MagicDNS, and the subnet router capabilities are very good.
I appreciate that MagicDNS helps me avoid memorizing IP addresses, and the subnet router allows me to use one device to connect to the entire network. For example, if I have a smart TV that cannot install Tailscale, I can access it through my subnet router machine. I set it up this way because I only have Tailscale installed on that entry point machine, which serves as the gateway to my network.
Tailscale has made managing and accessing my home network easier compared to using OpenVPN before. Previously, I had to manage everything myself, run the server, and keep it operational. If the server ever went down, I couldn't access my home network. With Tailscale, the situation is similar, but I don't have to expose any ports; I just connect a device to Tailscale servers. The main difference is that I don't have to run the VPN server since Tailscale does it for me, connecting my devices through their service. It's really great that I don't have to worry about all the setups.
I appreciate how their login system works. Tailscale services are fast, and since processing is done on the clients rather than the servers, they can focus on providing a good, reliable service. I don't think I've ever faced downtimes or connection issues from another country.
What needs improvement?
Tailscale does a great job for free-tier users, and the 100 device limit is very fair. However, I think improvements could be made in the support for UI clients, especially on Linux machines. In Windows and macOS, the UI support is good, but Linux is more customizable and has a unique setup, and I feel like I never have a good UI to interact with when using Linux desktops, which is unfortunate.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been working in my current field for about four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Tailscale is stable for me.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I feel Tailscale would handle adding more devices or users in the future easily, and I am confident of it. As a free-tier user, I have tested my limits, connecting the maximum amount of devices, and everything performed great. After that, I switched to subnet routing, allowing one device to forward traffic into my home network, which also circumvented device limits.
How are customer service and support?
I never interacted with Tailscale's customer support because I never needed to. Tailscale is that reliable, and their documentation answers any questions I have.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I previously used OpenVPN before switching to Tailscale. I liked OpenVPN, but setting it up in a production environment was more of a learning experience rather than a complete permanent solution. You always find yourself wondering what improvements could be made. While OpenVPN is fine for production use, I'd say a managed service is more professional because it provides guarantees and reduces concerns. I switched to Tailscale out of curiosity, wanting to try WireGuard, and I was sold after just one to two minutes of setup.
Before choosing Tailscale, I evaluated other options, including OpenVPN. I was familiar with running my own VPN solution and considered using WireGuard directly on my home network or opting for Tailscale, which uses WireGuard in the background. I wanted something that worked correctly the first time, so I chose Tailscale while planning to tinker with WireGuard later.
How was the initial setup?
My advice for others looking into using Tailscale is simple: just do it. Spin up a virtual machine, run the one-line command that Tailscale provides, and see how it works because it's so intuitive that nobody can mess it up.
What was our ROI?
I've seen a return on investment with Tailscale in terms of time saved and less maintenance required. I learned a lot from installing and maintaining OpenVPN, which sometimes required extensive hands-on configuration and problem-solving. With Tailscale, I set it up and forget it because it just works, allowing me to avoid worrying about the whole VPN aspect of my home network architecture. Every return on investment with Tailscale is time saved and reliability from the managed service.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I wouldn't say I have an experience with pricing, setup costs, or licensing because I use the free tier. My needs have never exceeded the free tier as I am the single maintainer of my home network and server, which is beneficial.
What other advice do I have?
I think Tailscale is an awesome product; I use it every day and have it implemented in my home network. As long as the free tier stays the same, I don't see myself switching from it.
Simplifies Global Device Connectivity with Ease
What do you like best about the product?
I really like Tailscale's ability to connect devices peer-to-peer using the WireGuard protocol, regardless of the network situation or device status. It's great that the device doesn't need a public IP for others to connect to it. I use Tailscale with PFSENSE and a few other servers, especially AWS, and it works great in terms of security and ease of use. Its ability to support multi-platforms like Apple TV is a really great feature. The initial setup of Tailscale is very straightforward, and the manual and documentation contain everything that's needed. If I find anything confusing, I can easily refer to YouTube videos to walk me through the setup.
What do you dislike about the product?
I think the thing that Tailscale doesn't work well is the authentication. A lot of times, almost always, you would have to sign in your Google account to authenticate a device. And sometimes if you have not used Tailscale for a long time, it'll prompt you for re-signing in your Google account to log in to your Tailscale account. In some cases where the device is sitting behind a network with strict regulations preventing Google access, like in China, you wouldn't be able to authenticate yourself and thus can't use Tailscale effectively.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
I use Tailscale to connect my network stations globally, solving NAT traversal issues and enabling peer-to-peer device connectivity without needing a public IP.
Easier to use and easier to set up
What do you like best about the product?
It's fast, straightforward, and lightweight. Easy to implement as well.
What do you dislike about the product?
Nothing comes to mind. It's very smooth so far in my team.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Replacing our previous implementation which is OpenVPN
It is just perfect a few clicks an you have your VPN network
What do you like best about the product?
Very easy to setup.
It is secure.
Works fast.
Is robust and secure
Service is lightning fast and resultive!
It is secure.
Works fast.
Is robust and secure
Service is lightning fast and resultive!
What do you dislike about the product?
Nothing I can think about. Everything is great.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
It integrated my networks
Stupidly Simple Setup!
What do you like best about the product?
I thought that a WordPress installation was Stupidly Simple. I was ready to spend a few hours learning the TS (TailScale) dashboard and it's implementations. I think that I'm all of 15 minutes in and have 4 devices already connected.
For the devices such as my managed switch that don't have a way to add the TS client it's ridiculously east to sub net to it through one of my NAS's or PC. I can't seem to find anything negative to say about my experience so for. I'll be curious as time goes by to see if I'm ever connected to the DERP server. Great job TailScale team!
For the devices such as my managed switch that don't have a way to add the TS client it's ridiculously east to sub net to it through one of my NAS's or PC. I can't seem to find anything negative to say about my experience so for. I'll be curious as time goes by to see if I'm ever connected to the DERP server. Great job TailScale team!
What do you dislike about the product?
I can't seem to find any at this time to report.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Protecting my whole network from bad actors.
Easy to use VPN for humans and machines
What do you like best about the product?
Tailscale is incredibly easy to set up and in almost all cases just works. The ACLs allow fine grained control between users and devices, regardless of where they live on the network, which massively reduces the admin burden of maintaining IP lists and allows security teams audit who has access to what and apply the principle of least privilege.
The staff at Tailscale are very friendly and it's clear they want to build what their users want. The calls we have had with their teams have been very productive and it really feels like they value our feedback when deciding how to build features.
The staff at Tailscale are very friendly and it's clear they want to build what their users want. The calls we have had with their teams have been very productive and it really feels like they value our feedback when deciding how to build features.
What do you dislike about the product?
A lot of Tailscale's features (e.g. magic DNS) are inherently tied to the tailnet DNS name, which can make integration with existing services more difficult. We'd love it if Tailscale integrated with our own domain name as this would make everything work transparently!
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Securely allowing access to our network from staff members, and between machines.
Granting access based on identity, rather than needing to trust based on location or IP address.
Granting access based on identity, rather than needing to trust based on location or IP address.
Perfect software, nice people
What do you like best about the product?
I can ssh into my raspberry PIs, or any other server, from any of my devices, and it's safe and simple.
What do you dislike about the product?
Minor nit: I wish they would alias admin.tailscale.com to https://login.tailscale.com/admin/machines
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Connectivity. Access control. Safety.
Best Tools for Multi-Cloud Network Integration
What do you like best about the product?
It scales effortlessly as your team or infrastructure grows. I also appreciate how powerful and flexible the access control policies are—you can define very granular permissions to suit almost any security need.
What do you dislike about the product?
Should improve a multi tailnet option to split environments.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Tailscale solves the complexity of building and maintaining a secure, fault-tolerant VPN mesh. It makes it easy to connect devices across different networks without relying on traditional VPN infrastructure. This has been a big benefit by improving reliability, simplifying setup, and reducing the need for manual configuration or public IPs.
Absolutely wonderful
What do you like best about the product?
The best part about Tailsacle is being able to have devices talk to each other regardless of how they get their internet is indispensible.
What do you dislike about the product?
Tailscale doesn't allow for arbitrary WireGuard exit nodes. It would be useful to allow clients to connect to a WireGuard server while still being able to ping each other.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
When working in different environments, IP address might change. Tailscale gives each device a static IP and hostname so that programs like reverse proxies and whatnot don't have to be reconfigured every time.
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