NetBird vs Twingate (2026): which should you pick?

Pick NetBird if

• Fits if you want a private network for a team of up to 5 for free
• Works for people who want the option of hosting it themselves

Look elsewhere if

• Tight if you pass 5 users, as the free plan stops there
• Watch out: extra machines beyond the included amount cost €0.50 each a month on Team and Business
• Watch out: prices are in euros and the page doesn't say whether they assume monthly or yearly billing
• Watch out: the self-hosted pricing couldn't be read from the page text

Pick Twingate if

• Fits if you are a small team that wants to retire a company VPN
• Works for homelabs, where the Home plan costs $15 a month for up to 7 users

Look elsewhere if

• Tight if you grow past 5 users, as the free Starter plan stops there
• Watch out: Teams is capped at 100 users and Business at 500, then it's Enterprise through sales
• Watch out: the Home plan is limited to non-commercial use
• Watch out: only one set of prices is shown, and the monthly-billing prices aren't displayed

NetBird

• Prices are in euros, and the page does not say whether they assume monthly or yearly billing.
• Machines beyond the included amount cost €0.50 each per month on Team and Business.
• Billing counts only users and machines that connected at least once in the period.
• The pricing for the Self-Hosted tab could not be read from the page text.

Twingate

• The free Starter plan stops at 5 users and 50 resources.
• Teams is capped at 100 users and Business at 500; larger accounts need Enterprise through sales.
• The Home plan is limited to non-commercial use.
• Only one set of prices is shown; the monthly-billing prices behind the yearly view are not displayed.

NetBird

Peer-to-peer WireGuard network

Devices connect directly over a WireGuard-based network, with no open ports or firewall changes needed, per the vendor.

Identity-based access policies

Resources are grouped and access is limited by policy; users and groups can be provisioned from an identity provider.

SSO and MFA

Sign-in works with Okta, Microsoft, Google and others, and the identity provider's MFA settings apply.

Posture checks

Business plan policies can require a firewall or antivirus, check geo and network location, and use MDM and EDR data.

Activity logging

Network configuration changes are logged, and the Business plan adds connection traffic events streamed to SIEM tools.

Cloud or self-hosted

The pricing page has Cloud and Self-Hosted tabs, and the homepage offers to run NetBird open source.

Twingate

VPN replacement

Staff reach office networks, cloud VPCs and other private resources through Twingate clients instead of a VPN gateway.

Least-privilege access rules

Access is granted per resource and per user or group, and the Teams plan adds automated least-privilege policies.

Device and identity checks

Conditional access is on every plan, with native device posture checks and endpoint integrations on higher plans.

Identity provider sign-in

Teams supports SSO through Google Workspace; Business adds Okta, Entra ID and automatic user provisioning from the IdP.

Privileged access to infrastructure

The Business plan lists privileged access for Kubernetes, SSH, databases and web apps, marked with an asterisk on the pricing page.

Apps for most platforms

The download page lists Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android and a Chrome client.

NetBird

• Free€0

  per user / month, up to 5 users

  100 machines, peer-to-peer connections, social SSO and MFA, access controls, private DNS and community support.

• Team€6

  per user / month (billing period not shown)

  Unlimited users, 100 machines plus 10 per user, enterprise IdP SSO, SCIM provisioning and audit logs.

• Business€12

  per user / month (billing period not shown)

  Adds device approvals, MDM and EDR controls, posture checks and traffic event logging and streaming.

• EnterpriseCustom

  Unlimited machines, custom invoicing, priority support, solutions engineer help and custom MSAs and SLAs.

Twingate

• Starter$0

  Up to 5 users and 50 resources, with peer-to-peer connections, split tunneling and conditional access.

• Home$15

  per month for up to 7 users

  For homelabs, adds service accounts, exit networks and device posture checks. Non-commercial use only.

• Teams$5

  per user / month (page's yearly view; monthly not shown)

  Up to 100 users, SSO via Google Workspace, SaaS app gating and automated least-privilege policies.

• Business$10

  per user / month (page's yearly view; monthly not shown)

  Up to 500 users, IdP provisioning, SSO via Okta or Entra ID, endpoint integrations and just-in-time access.

• EnterpriseCustom

  Custom account sizes, custom MSA and SLAs, invoice payment, geoblocking and static IPs. Sold through sales.

NetBird

No public discounts listed.

Twingate

• Annual discount

  15% off with yearly billing

  The pricing page labels yearly billing on Teams and Business as 15% off.