I keep seeing Tailscale come up and I’m sure the UX is great but I’m not really sure I get the value-add compared to normal WireGuard on a cheap VPC. Like it took like 30 minutes to have a WG server and profiles for all my devices. Scanned a few QR codes and now all my devices can all mutually talk to one another.
Sure it’s not fancy P2P with lots of NAT busting tricks but the upside is that it always works. And I don’t need a fancy privacy preserving relay because I’m the relay!
Automating all that stuff I’m sure is worth the price of admission for large deployments but for personal stuff I don’t get it.
For me it’s not about a privacy preserving relay, it’s about getting back to my Windows Desktop from my iPad from anywhere with a cell connection.
I use tech in my job constantly, so at home I want the minimum number of parts that can break and things to keep updated. Tailscale authenticates with google, and allows me to check in every few months and be fine. I don’t want to have to maintain another VPC instance at home.
It’s really easy, there’s a free tier, it gives you mesh P2P, it sets up DNS on all your devices, Google/GitHub SSO, a nice little Mac menu bar widget, etc etc. It just makes life nicer. Adding a new VPS or whatever device is just “tailscale up” and clicking the auth link. I love it!
Sure it’s not fancy P2P with lots of NAT busting tricks but the upside is that it always works. And I don’t need a fancy privacy preserving relay because I’m the relay!
Automating all that stuff I’m sure is worth the price of admission for large deployments but for personal stuff I don’t get it.