# https://tunnels.io/compare/tailscale [Home](https://tunnels.io/) / [Compare](https://tunnels.io/compare) / Tailscale tunnels.io vs Tailscale # Tailscale connects your machines. We publish one of them. These are different products, and most people comparing them have not been told that. Tailscale is a private mesh VPN; its homepage calls it "The best secure connectivity platform for the AI era", and the client has to be installed and authenticated on both ends. tunnels.io gives your local server a public HTTPS URL that a Stripe webhook, a client with nothing installed, or a phone on someone else's network can reach. [Start free →](https://tunnels.io/signup) [See pricing](https://tunnels.io/pricing) ## The short answer Tailscale has one feature that overlaps with us, and it is called Funnel. Tailscale describes it as a way to route traffic from the broader internet to a local service on a device in your tailnet, for anyone to access, even if they don't use Tailscale. It works, and it is genuinely useful. It is also a single line item on a sixty row feature table, and it carries the limits of a feature rather than a product: three permitted ports, a hostname you do not own, and three prerequisites before the first request arrives. Ports you can expose Any vs 3 Tailscale documents that Funnel can only listen on ports 443, 8443 and 10000. That caps you at three concurrently exposed endpoints per node. We take whatever local port your app is already on. The public hostname Yours vs ts.net A Funnel URL is always https://..ts.net, and there is no custom domain option. tunnels.io Gold serves your own domain for $10 a month. Setup before the first URL One command Funnel wants MagicDNS enabled, HTTPS enabled with valid tailnet certificates, and a funnel node attribute in the tailnet policy file. We want you to install a binary and run one command. ## Funnel is one row in a sixty row feature table. Tailscale's pricing page lists Funnel as a single feature, available on every plan. That placement is honest, and it tells you what Funnel is. Tailscale's own words: "Tailscale Funnel lets you route traffic from the broader internet to a local service running on a device in your Tailscale network (known as a tailnet). You can use it to share a local service, like a web app, for anyone to access, even if they don't use Tailscale." The rest of the product assumes both ends are yours and both ends are running the client. That assumption is the point of a mesh VPN, and it is why Tailscale is excellent at private access. It is also why the public side stops where the feature stops: three permitted ports, a randomly generated tailnet name in every link you send, and an admin-gated policy file standing between a developer and a working URL. For us the public side is not a row in the table. It is the entire product. One binary, one command, a public HTTPS URL, and no warning page in front of your app on any plan including the free one. ## Side by side Tailscale figures, quotations and Funnel limits taken from tailscale.com, its pricing page and its Funnel documentation, verified 1 August 2026. tunnels.io figures from our live plan catalog; [/pricing](https://tunnels.io/pricing) is always authoritative. This table compares Tailscale Funnel only, because it is the one feature that does the same job. | | Tailscale Funnel | tunnels.io Basic | tunnels.io Pro | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | What the product is | A private mesh VPN, with Funnel as one feature | A localhost tunnel | A localhost tunnel | | Public URL | https://..ts.net | Random URL | Up to 3 reserved subdomains | | Custom domain | Not offered on Funnel | No | On Gold, $10/mo | | Ports you can expose publicly | 443, 8443 and 10000 only | Any local port, HTTP | Any local port, HTTP and TCP | | Concurrent public endpoints | 3 per node, one per permitted port | 1 tunnel | 5 tunnels | | Before the first public request | MagicDNS on, HTTPS on with valid certificates, funnel node attribute in the tailnet policy file | Install, run one command | Install, run one command | | Plan availability | Funnel is available on all Tailscale plans | Included | Included | | Billing unit | Per seat. Personal is $0 for up to 6 users with unlimited devices | Flat plan, $0 | Flat plan, $4/mo or $40/year | Our own ladder in full, for completeness. Basic is $0 with 1,024 requests per second, 4 GB a month and one tunnel. Pro is $4 a month with 8,192 requests per second, 128 GB and five tunnels. Gold is $10 with 16,384 requests per second, 256 GB, ten tunnels and custom domains. Premium is $20 with an unlimited request rate, 512 GB and unlimited tunnels. Those are sustained rates, not monthly request quotas. [See the live prices](https://tunnels.io/pricing). ## Why people move ### Three ports is the ceiling Funnel can only listen on ports 443, 8443 and 10000, so a node can hold three public endpoints and no more. A normal afternoon is an API, a web app, a docs preview and a webhook receiver. Pro runs five tunnels at $4 a month, Gold runs ten, and Premium is unlimited tunnels on any local port. ### The hostname is not yours Every Funnel URL sits under ts.net, tailnet names are randomly generated, and there is no custom domain option, so the link you send a client can read like cat-crocodile.ts.net. Renaming the tailnet breaks live Funnel URLs, because MagicDNS, certificates and sharing all hang off that name. A reserved subdomain on Pro, or your own domain on Gold, is yours and stays put. ### You are buying a URL, not seats Tailscale prices per seat, and its pricing FAQ says the Personal plan is for individuals and that using a custom domain counts as business use. We price a tunnel, flat, per account: $0 to start, $4 for Pro, $10 for Gold with custom domains, $20 for Premium with an unlimited request rate. ## Where Tailscale is genuinely stronger For private access to machines you own, Tailscale is best in class and we are not in the running. If the job is reaching your home server from a hotel, giving a team private access to a staging box, or wiring your own devices into one network, use Tailscale. We would tell you the same thing in person. Funnel is also strong in two specific ways. The URL is stable and persistent by default, so it survives restarts without you configuring anything. HTTPS certificates are automatic and require zero work from you. Both are real advantages, and neither is worth pretending otherwise about. The question that decides it is who is on the other end. If it is your machine, that is Tailscale. If it is a payment provider posting a webhook, a client opening a link on their phone, or an API you do not control, that is us. ## Questions ### Is Tailscale a localhost tunnel service? No. Tailscale is a private mesh VPN, described on its own homepage as "The best secure connectivity platform for the AI era", and the client has to be installed and authenticated on both ends. The one comparable feature is Tailscale Funnel, which routes traffic from the broader internet to a local service on a device in your tailnet. tunnels.io does only that job, which is why the two compare on a single feature rather than a whole product. ### Can I use a custom domain with Tailscale Funnel? No. A Funnel URL is always https://..ts.net, and there is no custom domain option. Tailscale's pricing FAQ also states that using a custom domain counts as business use, so the free Personal plan is not the place for it. tunnels.io Gold serves your own domain for $10 a month, and Pro gives you up to three reserved subdomains for $4. ### How many services can I expose at once with Funnel? Three per node. Tailscale documents that Funnel can only listen on ports 443, 8443 and 10000, so those three ports are the ceiling on concurrently exposed endpoints. tunnels.io gives you one tunnel on the free plan, five on Pro, ten on Gold and unlimited on Premium, on whatever local ports your services are using. ### What happens to my Funnel URL if I rename my tailnet? It breaks. MagicDNS, HTTPS certificates and sharing all depend on the tailnet name, so renaming the tailnet breaks live Funnel URLs. Tailnet names are also randomly generated to begin with, such as a hex string or a word pair like cat-crocodile.ts.net. A reserved subdomain or custom domain on tunnels.io belongs to you and does not move. ### Should I use Tailscale instead of tunnels.io? Yes, if the job is private access to machines you own. That is what a mesh VPN is for, Tailscale is very good at it, and its Funnel URLs are stable with automatic HTTPS. Choose tunnels.io when something with no software installed has to reach your local server, such as a Stripe webhook, a client reviewing a build, or a device on a network you do not control. ### What do I have to install to use tunnels.io? One binary on the machine running your app, with builds for macOS, Linux, Windows, FreeBSD and NetBSD. The person opening your link installs nothing. There is no interstitial or warning page on any plan, including the free one, so traffic reaches your app directly. ## Keep the VPN. Add a public URL. The free plan costs nothing and needs no credit card: four gigabytes a month, no warning page, and a public HTTPS URL in about thirty seconds. [Get started →](https://tunnels.io/get-started) [Create an account](https://tunnels.io/signup) [See pricing](https://tunnels.io/pricing) Also compare against [ngrok](https://tunnels.io/compare/ngrok), [Cloudflare Tunnel](https://tunnels.io/compare/cloudflare-tunnel), [localtunnel](https://tunnels.io/compare/localtunnel) and [Serveo](https://tunnels.io/compare/serveo), or see [all comparisons](https://tunnels.io/compare).