# Teleport review (2026): is the free plan enough? > Identity-based access to servers, databases and Kubernetes Checked Nov 13, 2026 ยท graded Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA. 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. - **Category:** Remote Desktop - **Made by:** Gravitational Inc. - **Website:** https://goteleport.com - **Runs on:** Web, macOS, Linux, Windows - **Who should skip it:** Skip it if you want to remotely control desktops, as it targets infrastructure access. - **Facts last checked:** Nov 13, 2026 ## Pricing As of Nov 13, 2026, Teleport has a free plan. - **Pricing model:** Free plan - **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 https://goteleport.com/pricing/ on Nov 13, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Teleport before buying. ## 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. ## Good for - Engineering teams replacing bastion hosts and shared credentials - Teams that want a free open-source edition to self-host - Regulated organizations needing audit trails and FIPS support ## 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. ## ToolGPA grades **GPA: 2.2 out of 4**, graded Nov 13, 2026. 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. - **Value for money: C.** Enterprise 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. - **Free plan and trial: C.** Community Edition is free and open source, but you deploy and maintain it. Enterprise has a 14-day trial. - **Features: B.** Infrastructure access, just-in-time access, machine identity, audit and governance and a desktop client cover the core of the job. - **Ease of use: D.** No store rating on record. You deploy and operate the cluster and wire it to your identity provider. - **Platforms and integrations: B.** Web, Windows, Mac and Linux with the Teleport Connect desktop client, plus GitHub, Slack and Kubernetes. No phone apps are listed. These are ToolGPA's own grades. 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. ## Where it 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). The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/remote-access ## Keep it, 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. - You could not: Apps for macOS, Windows and Linux that stay in step with each other. - You could not: The depth: we grade its features B, which means it covers the whole job. A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it. ## Works with GitHub, Slack, Kubernetes **Tags:** Open source, Self-hostable ## Alternatives - [Twingate](https://toolgpa.com/tools/twingate): Zero trust network access to replace a company VPN. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/teleport-vs-twingate) - [NetBird](https://toolgpa.com/tools/netbird): Open-source zero trust networking built on WireGuard. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/netbird-vs-teleport) - [Zscaler Private Access](https://toolgpa.com/tools/zscaler-private-access): Zero trust access to private apps without a VPN. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/teleport-vs-zscaler-private-access) - [Tailscale](https://toolgpa.com/tools/tailscale): Private network that links your devices, servers and teams. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/tailscale-vs-teleport) - [Pritunl](https://toolgpa.com/tools/pritunl): Self-hosted open-source VPN server for OpenVPN and WireGuard. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/pritunl-vs-teleport) ## Sources The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 13, 2026: - https://goteleport.com/pricing/ - https://goteleport.com - https://goteleport.com/signup/ - https://goteleport.com/docs/get-started/ - https://goteleport.com/docs/connect-your-client/teleport-connect/ - https://goteleport.com/platform/ Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/teleport Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).