Tailscale by Tailscale is a VPN service that makes devices and applications accessible anywhere in the world, securely and effortlessly. It enables encrypted point-to-point connections using the open source WireGuard protocol, allowing only devices on a private network to communicate with each other. Tailscale creates a peer-to-peer mesh network (tailnet), avoiding the higher latency and bottlenecks associated with centralized gateway servers. Each device connects directly to others, resulting in lower latency and higher throughput as traffic flows directly between machines. Tailscale simplifies network configuration, handling it on behalf of the user. Network connections between devices bypass firewalls and routers, enabling direct connections without manual port forwarding. It supports connection migration, keeping existing connections alive when switching between networks (wired, cellular, Wi-Fi). With MagicDNS, users can SSH or FTP into their device, transfer files, or access a web server or database using a memorable hostname. Tailscale integrates with identity providers for authentication and supports multi-factor authentication (MFA). It offers features like Access Control Lists (ACLs) to define user access to devices in the network, and it cannot read user traffic as all data is end-to-end encrypted. Tailscale also provides logging, streaming, and event capabilities, including configuration audit logging, network flow logs, and SSH session recording.
