NetBird
Business VPN software
Zero trust networking software
Network security software
Zero trust architecture software
- Features
- Ease of use
- Ease of management
- Quality of support
- Affordability
- Market presence
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$5 per user per month
Free TrialFree version
Small
Medium
Large
- Professional services (engineering, legal, consulting, etc.)
- Media and communications
- Real estate and property management
What is NetBird
NetBird is a WireGuard-based virtual private network and access platform used to connect users and devices across networks with identity-aware, policy-based controls. It supports managed cloud and self-hosted deployments and targets IT and security teams that need secure remote access to internal resources and peer-to-peer connectivity. The product combines device enrollment, centralized policy management, and network routing features (such as subnet routing) to implement a zero-trust-style overlay network. It also provides administrative tooling for user/device management and integrations for authentication.
WireGuard-based encrypted connectivity
NetBird uses WireGuard tunnels for device-to-device encrypted transport, which is widely adopted for modern VPN implementations. This design typically reduces reliance on legacy VPN protocols and can simplify endpoint configuration compared with traditional hub-and-spoke VPN setups. For many use cases, it enables direct peer connectivity while still allowing centralized policy control. It is suitable for connecting remote employees, contractors, and distributed endpoints.
Cloud or self-hosted control plane
NetBird offers a managed service as well as a self-hosted option, which can help organizations align deployment with compliance and data residency requirements. Self-hosting can be useful for teams that need to run the management components in their own infrastructure. Managed hosting can reduce operational overhead for smaller IT teams. This flexibility is a practical differentiator versus products that are only SaaS or only self-managed.
Centralized policy and routing
NetBird provides centralized administration for user/device enrollment and access policies, supporting a zero-trust networking approach rather than broad network-level access. It includes capabilities such as subnet routing to reach private networks without placing every resource directly on the overlay. Central policy management helps standardize access rules across endpoints. This can reduce ad-hoc VPN configurations and improve consistency for remote access.
Operational maturity varies by deployment
Running the self-hosted control plane introduces operational responsibilities such as upgrades, monitoring, backups, and high availability design. Organizations without strong platform operations may find the managed service easier to maintain. The effort to harden and scale the control plane can be non-trivial in larger environments. This can affect time-to-value compared with fully managed access platforms.
Not a full SASE stack
NetBird focuses on secure connectivity and access control for private resources rather than providing a broad secure web gateway and cloud-delivered security stack. Organizations looking for consolidated internet security controls, advanced CASB/DLP, or a unified edge security service may need additional products. This can increase architectural complexity when broader security capabilities are required. Fit depends on whether the primary need is private access versus full edge security.
Advanced enterprise controls may require validation
Enterprises often require extensive compliance reporting, granular audit trails, and deep integrations with SIEM/SOAR and device posture systems. Depending on the organization’s requirements, teams may need to validate the depth of logging, role-based administration, and policy granularity. Some environments also require complex segmentation models and large-scale device management workflows. These needs may exceed what smaller teams require and should be confirmed in a proof of concept.
Plan & Pricing
| Plan | Price | Key features & notes |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 per user/month | Up to 5 users and 100 machines; P2P connections & encryption, NetBird Networks, Social SSO & MFA, Access controls, Private DNS, Network Routes, NetBird SSH, Community support. |
| Team | $5 per active user/month | Unlimited admin & regular users; inclusive machines: 100 base + 10 per paid user; SSO & MFA with enterprise IdP, IdP provisioning (SCIM), audit events logging, ticket-based support; Additional machines billed at $0.50 per machine/month. |
| Business | $10 per active user/month | Everything in Team, plus: device approvals, MDM & EDR device controls, device posture checks, connection traffic events logging, audit & traffic events streaming, priority support; same inclusive machine allowance and $0.50/additional machine. |
| Enterprise | Custom pricing (contact sales) | Unlimited users & machines; pay by invoice, custom support/SLA, DORA compliance, on-premise installation, custom integrations. |
Notes:
- Usage-based billing: charged only for "active" users and machines (counts as active when it connects or logs in at least once during the billing period).
- Pricing page advertises a 15% annual discount for yearly billing and includes a pricing calculator on the site.
- Additional machine charge: $0.50/month per extra machine.
Seller details
NetBird
Berlin, Germany
2021
Private
https://netbird.io/
https://x.com/netbirdio
https://www.linkedin.com/company/netbirdio
