this post was submitted on 09 Jun 2025
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Corporate VPN startup Tailscale secures $230 million CAD Series C on back of “surprising” growth

Pennarun confirmed the company had been approached by potential acquirers, but told BetaKit that the company intends to grow as a private company and work towards an initial public offering (IPO).

“Tailscale intends to remain independent and we are on a likely IPO track, although any IPO is several years out,” Pennarun said. “Meanwhile, we have an extremely efficient business model, rapid revenue acceleration, and a long runway that allows us to become profitable when needed, which means we can weather all kinds of economic storms.”

Keep that in mind as you ponder whether and when to switch to self-hosting Headscale.

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[–] fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.com 50 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago) (3 children)

Join our Discord server for a chat and community support.

Sigh...

And even worse:

Everything in Tailscale is Open Source, except the GUI clients for proprietary OS (Windows and macOS/iOS), and the control server.

[–] drmoose@lemmy.world 45 points 22 hours ago

everything is open source except half of all things.

Lol

[–] heals@discuss.tchncs.de 12 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

To be fair, anything the GUI clients do can be done with the CLI which is still open source and on all desktop platforms and headscale is literally their open source control server.

[–] fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.com 3 points 14 hours ago (2 children)
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[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 4 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

Huh, I actually didn't know this because I don't use Windows/macOS/iOS. Somehow completely missed this.

[–] fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.com 4 points 14 hours ago

Granted this is not Headscale's fault, they're just using Tailscale clients. Either way I'm glad I use a roll-your-own Wireguard.

I and my partner also don't use those OSs, but it's more the point of using FOSS when we can.

[–] Vanilla_PuddinFudge@infosec.pub 28 points 22 hours ago (5 children)

I just replaced my entire setup with base wireguard as a challenge, easier than I expected it to be, and not hard to mimic tailscale.

[–] SupremeDonut@lemmy.ml 2 points 17 hours ago

Any helpful guids or links you feel like sharing for interested parties?

[–] jagfirerwalker@lemmy.world 1 points 15 hours ago (1 children)
[–] Vanilla_PuddinFudge@infosec.pub 4 points 15 hours ago

Pihole and pivpn get along like peas and carrots.

Make the "available ips" your pivpn subnet and ta-da, the mesh functionality of tailscale without the entire connection.

Want to exit node from the server? Just change the value back to 0.0.0.0/0.

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[–] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 14 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago) (1 children)

I'm not that worried as there are alternatives like Netbird. The underlying tech really isn't hard to replicate since Wireguard is pretty standard.

I think it would be cool if Tailscale made it into the enterprise arena.

[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 5 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago)

I think it would be cool if Tailscale made it into the enterprise arena.

I think they already have started. Telus is on their list of clients.

[–] httperror418@lemmy.world 72 points 1 day ago (3 children)

I'm unsure if it has been mentioned, but a similar tool which is open source (you can run the backend unlike tailscale), netbird

https://netbird.io/

[–] couch1potato@lemmy.dbzer0.com 13 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

Headscale is the tailscale backend server

[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 12 points 20 hours ago

Well not "the" backend server but "a" different backend server. As far as I know Headscale is a separate implementation from what Tailscale run themselves.

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[–] HelloRoot@lemy.lol 149 points 1 day ago (4 children)

a long runway that allows us to become profitable when needed

Switch to self-hosting headscale when they enshittify in an attempt to become profitable, duh

[–] kratoz29@lemm.ee 21 points 1 day ago (13 children)

I mainly use Tailscale (and Zerotier) to access my CGNATED LAN, headscale will require me to pay a subscription for a VPS wouldn't it?

I really envy the guys who say only use them because they're lazy to open ports or want a more secure approach, I use them because I NEED them lol.

If (when?) Tailscale enshitify I'll stick with ZT a bit until it goes the same way lol, I started using it 1st, I don't know if ZT came before Tailscale though.

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[–] three@lemmy.zip 45 points 1 day ago

Been meaning to do this. Tailscale was just there and easy to implement when I set my stuff up. Is it relatively simple to transition?

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[–] cooopsspace@infosec.pub 25 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

Friendly reminder that Tailscale is VC-funded and driving towards IPO

You know what's to come.

The answer to the question is immediately. Or switch to OpenZiti or Pangolin even.

[–] quant@leminal.space 4 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago)

I spent an afternoon doing precisely that. Bought a domain, a vps, and setup pangolin. Can't believe how smooth it went.

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[–] lka1988@lemmy.dbzer0.com 78 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

Tailscale never sat right with me. The convenience was nice, but - like other VC-funded projects - it followed that ever-familiar pattern of an "easy" service popping up out of nowhere and gaining massive popularity seemingly overnight. 🚩🚩🚩

I can't say I'm surprised by any of this.

[–] fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.dbzer0.com 35 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Would you rather a difficult and hard to use program?

Easy to use means people will want to adopt it, and that's what VC companies want. Nobody wants to pay millions of dollars to make a program that nobody wants to use.

[–] lka1988@lemmy.dbzer0.com 48 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

My problem isn't directly with the programs - my problem lies with VC funding in general. Because they will come back for their money, and the project will inevitably enshittify and shove out enthusiasts in the never-ending search for infinite money.

The solution is getting rid of VC bullshit entirely. But we all know that will never happen.

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[–] potustheplant@feddit.nl 14 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Maybe this is a pet peeve but it's a vpn tool that forces you to log in with an "identity provider". Yeah, no thanks.

[–] iggy@lemmy.world 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)

That's a basic requirement for almost any company. If you're into hard coding credentials just use wireguard directly.

[–] potustheplant@feddit.nl 4 points 21 hours ago

There are tons and tons of websites where you can create an account with just your email. I wouldn't expect a third party account to be mandatory. Specially from a product like this one.

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[–] qjkxbmwvz@startrek.website 12 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I think a lot of companies view their free plan as recruiting/advertising


if you use TailScale personally and have a great experience then you'll bring in business by advocating for it at work.

Of course it could go either way, and I don't rely on TailScale (it's my "backup" VPN to my home network)... we'll see, I guess.

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[–] dabe@lemmy.zip 16 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

Am I totally off-base in thinking that MagicDNS and pluggable DNS nameserver overrides are a huge feature of tailscale?

I love that I can refer to my tailnet devices just via their machine name. I use it everywhere. And also that I can just slot in my NextDNS ID so that any device running tailscale now automatically uses that, and I don’t have to mess with my shared router settings or per device settings. Is all that actually really easy to set up outside of tailscale? Cuz if it is and I just somehow missed that when doing all my research, I’ll happily give plain wireguard or other mesh orchestrators like NetBird a go.

And I already know that mDNS is not the answer. That protocol is simply not reliable enough.

[–] null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I use wireguard and have public DNS refer to private IPs.

For example if my server is accessible at 10.0.0.1 via wireguard then I point *.myserver.mydomain.com to that IP.

Sorry if I've misunderstood your question.

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[–] milicent_bystandr@lemm.ee 29 points 1 day ago (7 children)

Tailscale is great. The principle concern to me is that your super easy mesh network depends on Tailscale so if they want it they have control, and if they change their pricing or options you depend on them, and though they can't see the data you send they can see the topology of your network and where all your computers/devices are.

I use Nebula, which is more work to set up and doesn't have some of the features, not But if you slap the 'lighthouse' (administrating node) on a cheap VPS it works great. And it has some advantages. But Nebula also troubles me: though it's fully open source and fully in your control, the documentation isn't great. Instead, you can now get "managed nebula", which puts you in the same problem as Tailscale: the company sees and controls your network topology. I fear the company (Defined Networking) is trying to push things that way. Even their android app you can't fully configure unless you use their 'managed' service.

For now, Nebula is great, and my preferred mesh network (I looked into all the main ones). And for Tailscale you can run the administration server yourself with Headscale and be fully in your control.


Actually I wish Tailscale the best as a profitable business. They've created a fantastic service and system. But for me, I'd rather my network be in my own hands and for my own eyes. And, as is OP's main point, once they have enough dependent users, the service might turn much worse.

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[–] Wahots@pawb.social 44 points 1 day ago (10 children)

Are there better alternatives? I was planning on using tailscale until now. :P

[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 51 points 1 day ago (2 children)

For me personally, the next step is using Headscale - a FOSS replacement of the Tailscale control server. The Tailscale clients are already open source and can be used with Headscale.

Someone else could give other suggestions.

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[–] exu@feditown.com 21 points 1 day ago (2 children)

A bunch really, Headscale with Tailscale client, Nebula VPN, Netmaker, Zerotier.

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[–] MangoPenguin@piefed.social 26 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

Wireguard if you're just using it yourself. Many various ways to manage it, and it's built in to most routers already.

Otherwise Headscale with one of the webUIs would be the closest replacement.

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[–] lefixxx@lemmy.world 2 points 18 hours ago (4 children)

Yeah and steam is closed source DRM platform. Great software sometimes is worth the trade off.

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