Zero-trust access and business VPN · Comparison
NordLayer vs Tailscale
2 products compared side by side: what you pay for with each one first, then the five access facts, entry prices, recorded plan limits and the bottom line of each review. The evidence note under the table says how each product was checked.
Side by side
| Metric | NordLayer | Tailscale |
|---|---|---|
| What you're paying for | Built-in reachA business VPN with gateways in 40+ countries, a dedicated IP for your team, and SSO, DNS filtering and posture monitoring on one per-user plan. | Saves engineering timeA private WireGuard network for every laptop, phone and server, reached through your identity provider and one policy file instead of a VPN gateway. |
| Overall score | 6.2 | 6.8Best |
| Free option | Paid only | Free plan |
| Card to start | –Not measured | –Not measured |
| Getting access | Self-serve | Self-serve |
| Starter priceCheapest paid plan | $8/user/mo | $8/user/mo |
| Pricing model | Per seat | Per seat |
| Pricing page | Public prices | Public prices |
| Billing unit | Per user per month, 5-user minimum, plus a dedicated server on Core and Premium | Per user per month; user devices unlimited; 50 tagged resources included, then $1/mo each |
| Free option | No free plan; 14-day money-back guarantee on the first purchase | Personal: free for up to 6 users, non-commercial only; 14-day Enterprise trial for company domains |
| Reference scenario (25 users) | $315/mo on Core ($11 × 25 + $40 server, yearly), $12.60 per user, computed | $200/mo on Standard ($8 × 25), $8 per user, computed |
| Annual vs monthly price | Core $11 yearly or $14 monthly; server $40 or $50 | One price per plan with no billing term; annual plans through sales |
| Devices per user | 6 simultaneous connections | Unlimited on every plan |
| Okta / Entra ID sign-in | Every plan | Every plan (OIDC) |
| SCIM | Premium; unpriced add-on on Lite and Core | Standard and up (Okta, Entra ID, Google Workspace) |
| Device posture | Monitoring on Core, blocking on Premium; SentinelOne and CrowdStrike integrations on every plan | Built-in checks on every plan; MDM and EDR integrations from Standard |
| Network flow logs | Every plan, 60 days | Premium and up, 30 days |
| SIEM streaming | CrowdStrike Falcon Next-Gen SIEM; plan not stated | Premium and up |
| Self-hosted parts | None | DERP relays and peer relays |
| SOC 2 / ISO 27001 | SOC 2 Type 2 (Type I on the pricing page); ISO/IEC 27001:2022 | SOC 2 Type II (on request); ISO 27001 not stated |
| HIPAA BAA | Yearly subscriptions, on request | Not offered |
| EU data storage | Not stated | Not guaranteed; coordination server in Frankfurt |
| Bottom line | From its public pages, NordLayer is a managed business VPN with SSO on every plan, a fixed IP and a strong compliance file. The required server raises the per-user cost on Core, and there is no free plan, admin API or Terraform provider. | From its public pages, Tailscale gives a team identity-aware access to every device and server from the first plan, with unlimited user devices and policy as code. Flow logs and SIEM streaming start on Premium, and there is no BAA or EU residency guarantee. |
Evidence: NordLayer: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Tailscale: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run. Prices in USD as listed, excluding tax. "–" means not recorded.
When to pick each
In the words of each review, with the date its facts were checked.
From our NordLayer review
Checked Oct 16, 2026- Pick NordLayer when
- You want vendor-run gateways and a fixed IP rather than exit nodes you run.
- Pick Tailscale when
- You want unlimited devices per user, policy as code and an admin API.
Entry price
Baseline: each product's cheapest paid plan, per month. Included usage differs, so read the line under each price.
- NordLayerLite$8/user/moBilled yearly; $10 month to month; 5 users minimum
- Shared gateways in 40+ countries
- SSO with Okta, Entra ID, OneLogin, Google and JumpCloud
- Activity reports kept 60 days
- No Virtual Private Gateway
- TailscaleStandard$8/user/moOne price published, no billing term; annual plans through sales
- Unlimited users, up to 10 ACL groups
- SCIM user and group provisioning
- Posture integrations: CrowdStrike, SentinelOne, Intune, Jamf and more
- 50 tagged resources, then $1 a month each
Prices as listed on each pricing page, in USD per month, excluding tax. Observed: NordLayer 2026-10-16, Tailscale 2026-10-16.
Which one fits
- If you need to start today without a sales call
- TailscaleSelf-serve sign-up; the highest score of the 2 self-serve products here (6.8/10).
- Highest overall score
- Tailscale6.8/10 (Good). The review shows the score breakdown and the run behind it.
Picked by fixed rules from the table above, not by hand. How we score
Full reviews
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