Netbird Review 2026: WireGuard Mesh VPN Tested (Updated)

So you love what Tailscale does — the zero-config mesh VPN that connects everything. But that control plane? But closed source. And your network routing, ACLs, and device inventory all live on someone else’s servers. And for a homelab or client infrastructure you own, that’s a hard no. Here’s the short answer: Netbird fixes that. And it’s an open-source WireGuard® mesh VPN where the full stack — client, management API, dashboard, relay servers — is yours to run. Still, the project sits at 25.9K★ on GitHub with 2,946 commits, and it shipped two new versions over 72 hours (v0.72.3 and v0.72.4). So this is the most complete self-hosted alternative to Tailscale today. ...

June 13, 2026 · 6 min · PrivacyGuard