Teleport review (2026): is the free plan enough?
Identity-based access to servers, databases and Kubernetes
Black Friday: is there a Teleport sale?
Teleport report card
Fair · out of 4.0 · graded Nov 13, 2026
Best for secure access to servers and infrastructure
Teleport controls access to servers, databases and clusters, with a free Community Edition you deploy yourself. Enterprise pricing is a form away, FIPS and strict-compliance features need a paid licence, and it isn't for controlling employee desktops.
Who Teleport is for
- Fits if you run servers and clusters and want audited, short-lived access to them
- Works for engineering teams happy to self-host the Community Edition
Who Teleport is not for
- Skip it if you want to remotely control desktops, as it targets infrastructure access
- Watch out: Enterprise pricing isn't published and the pricing page asks for a form
- Watch out: FIPS support and strict-compliance features need a paid Enterprise licence
- Tight if you lack ops staff, as the Community Edition must be deployed and maintained by you
Why Teleport gets a 2.2
Five grades, each with its reason. The GPA is their average: an A is 4 points, an F is none.
- CValue for moneyEnterprise has no published price, so value can't be judged and sits at C. Community Edition is free but you run it yourself, which needs a server.
- CFree plan and trialCommunity Edition is free and open source, but you deploy and maintain it. Enterprise has a 14-day trial.
- BFeaturesInfrastructure access, just-in-time access, machine identity, audit and governance and a desktop client cover the core of the job.
- DEase of useNo store rating on record. You deploy and operate the cluster and wire it to your identity provider.
- BPlatforms and integrationsWeb, Windows, Mac and Linux with the Teleport Connect desktop client, plus GitHub, Slack and Kubernetes. No phone apps are listed.
What these grades rest on. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Teleport's own pages on 13 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. How we review and grade.
Make Teleport? Put this grade on your site
Paste this where you want the badge. It links here and follows the grade if it changes. About badges
<a href="https://toolgpa.com/tools/teleport#review"><img src="https://toolgpa.com/badge/teleport.svg" alt="Teleport: 2.2 GPA on ToolGPA" width="196" height="56"></a>Where Teleport stands among remote desktop apps
Teleport's GPA of 2.2 is higher than 21 of the 85 other remote desktop apps we grade, and level with 13.
It stands best on features (B, above 55 of 85) and worst on ease of use (D, above 0).
Each grade against the category
Every bar is all 86 remote desktop apps we grade, cut by the letter each got. Teleport’s own letter is outlined.
- CValue for moneyAbove 7 of 85, level with 46
- CFree plan and trialAbove 19 of 85, level with 28
- BFeaturesAbove 55 of 85, level with 30
- DEase of useAbove 0 of 85, level with 9
- BPlatforms and integrationsAbove 28 of 85, level with 50
Keep Teleport, or make your own?
Keep it
Nothing Teleport does is plain enough to make in a weekend. The 2 things listed below take a company.
That makes this kind of software worth paying for, not this one in particular: 51 of the 85 other remote desktop apps grade higher. Teleport is open source, so there is a third way: take its code and run it yourself.
What you could not
- Apps for macOS, Windows and Linux that stay in step with each other.
- The depth: we grade its features B, which means it covers the whole job.
What this rests on. Teleport’s listing: what it does, where it runs, what it plugs into and what it costs. It is a judgement about the kind of software this is. We have not built a replacement for it, and making your own means looking after it too. How we decide, and every tool’s verdict.
What is Teleport?
Teleport is an infrastructure access platform that gives people, machines and AI agents short-lived, identity-based access to SSH and Windows servers, Kubernetes clusters, databases and internal apps. It is offered as a free open-source Community Edition and as paid Enterprise Cloud or Self-Hosted editions.
Worth knowing
- Enterprise pricing is not published; the pricing page asks for a form to get a quote.
- FIPS support and strict-compliance features need a paid Enterprise license.
- Community Edition must be deployed and maintained by you.
- It is aimed at infrastructure access, not remote control of employee desktops.
Key features
- Access to infrastructure
- Connects to SSH and Windows servers, Kubernetes clusters, databases and internal apps through one access layer.
- Just-in-time access
- Privileges are ephemeral and expire, with access requests used to grant them, instead of standing credentials.
- Machine and workload identity
- Automated services can connect to protected resources using certificate-based identity instead of long-lived secrets.
- Agent and MCP access control
- The vendor says identity and access control extend to AI agents and MCP tooling.
- Audit and governance
- The platform lists access governance and compliance, with policies and audits managed in one place.
- Teleport Connect desktop client
- The docs describe a desktop client for macOS, Linux and Windows, alongside a web UI and the tsh command line.
Teleport pricing
As of Nov 13, 2026, Teleport has a free plan.
- Starts at
- Not published
- Free plan
- Community Edition is free and open source; you deploy and run it yourself.
- Free trial
- 14-day trial of Teleport Enterprise
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Community Edition | $0 | Free and open source, self-hosted. The docs say editions differ in features, deployment options and support. |
| Enterprise | Custom | Cloud or self-hosted. Price on request from sales; the site says it is based on active users and protected resources. |
Read from goteleport.com on Nov 13, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Teleport before you buy.
Works with
Teleport alternatives
- Teleport vs Twingate
Free plan · from $5/mo
- Teleport vs NetBird
Free plan · from €6/mo
- Teleport vs Tailscale
Free plan · from $8/mo
- Teleport vs Pritunl
Free plan · from $10/mo
Common questions
Does Teleport have an Android app?
No Android app was listed when its pages were read on Nov 13, 2026. Teleport is listed for Web, macOS, Linux and Windows.
Does Teleport have an iPhone app?
No iPhone app was listed when its pages were read on Nov 13, 2026. Teleport is listed for Web, macOS, Linux and Windows.
Is Teleport open source?
Yes. Teleport is open source, according to its own site. It can also be run on a server of your own.
Sources for this page
The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 13, 2026.