Both WireGuard mesh VPNs. Different bets on session recording and self-hosting.
NetBird ships a self-hosted control plane today under AGPLv3 — a real, working option, not a promise. Here's how it compares to meshr's managed platform on pricing, SSH tooling, and access governance.
meshr vs NetBird, feature by feature.
Both are WireGuard-based mesh VPNs with SSH built in. The differences show up in self-hosting, session recording, and pricing.
| NetBird | meshr | |
|---|---|---|
| Protocol / control-plane license | WireGuard; self-hosted control plane licensed AGPLv3 (client/CLI BSD-3) | WireGuard; managed cloud (self-hosted on the roadmap) |
| Self-hosting availability | Available today, shipped | On the roadmap |
| Free plan | 5 users, 100 machines | 5 users, 50 devices |
| Entry-level paid plan | Team, $6/user/mo | Pro, $7/user/mo |
| SSH access | Built-in per-peer SSH server (JWT) + browser-based SSH/RDP client | Web SSH + session recording, included |
| Session recording | Not found in NetBird's documentation | Built-in, included |
| SSO / MFA | OIDC SSO, MFA, periodic re-auth | OIDC SSO (SAML soon) |
| User provisioning | SCIM on the Team plan and up | Not yet offered |
| Posture checks | Firewall/AV/MDM/EDR on the Business plan and up | Not yet offered |
| Audit / SIEM streaming | Activity logging + SIEM streaming on Business plan+ | Built-in audit log |
| Group-permission model | Coarse group-delegation — no separate grant for group-management vs rule-changes | Group-based least-privilege policies |
Feature details reflect NetBird's public docs and pricing pages as of July 2026. Pricing and features change — verify current specifics on their site before deciding.
Where each one actually wins.
No mesh VPN is best at everything. Here's the tradeoff, without the spin.
Where meshr wins
- Ships session recording out of the box — there's no evidence of an equivalent feature anywhere in NetBird's documentation.
- The managed cloud is the default path with no ops burden required. Self-hosting will be optional once shipped, not the only way to run it — which it currently is for NetBird.
Where NetBird wins — honestly
- NetBird's Team plan starts at $6/user/mo, a dollar cheaper than meshr's Pro at $7/user/mo.
- Self-hosting is shipped and available today — a genuine, working option, not a roadmap item like on meshr.
- The free plan allows 100 machines vs meshr's 50 devices.
- A browser-based SSH/RDP client ships today, with no install needed, alongside its per-peer SSH server.
Running NetBird already?
Test meshr's managed cloud side by side with your NetBird deployment before deciding whether to keep self-hosting or move to a managed platform.
curl -fsSL https://get.meshr.to/install.sh | sudo bash meshr login -t <setup-key> meshr up Common questions.
Is NetBird open source?
Yes — NetBird's management, signal, and relay components are licensed under AGPLv3, and its client/CLI is BSD-3. Self-hosting is available today, not a future promise.
How does NetBird's pricing compare to meshr's?
NetBird's Team plan starts at $6/user/month with a 100-machine free tier; meshr's Pro plan starts at $7/user/month with a 50-device free tier. NetBird is the cheaper entry point today.
Does NetBird support session recording for SSH?
We found no evidence of a session-recording feature in NetBird's documentation. NetBird does ship a built-in per-peer SSH server and a browser-based SSH/RDP client, but recording sessions isn't part of what's documented. meshr ships session recording as a standard, included feature.
What's the catch with NetBird's self-hosting?
Self-hosting is real and shipped, but it requires actual operational capacity — deployment, upgrades, identity integration, monitoring, and backups are on you. For a small team without ops staff, that's a genuine cost even though the software itself is free.
Does meshr support posture checks like NetBird's Business plan?
Not yet — NetBird's Business plan adds firewall, antivirus, MDM, and EDR posture checks along with traffic-event streaming to a SIEM. meshr doesn't offer posture checks today.
Ready to try meshr instead of NetBird?
Start with a free account. No credit card required. Works with any infrastructure.
# Try meshr in 3 commands
$ curl -fsSL https://get.meshr.to/install.sh | sudo bash
$ meshr login -t <setup-key>
$ meshr up
✓ Connected! IP: 10.0.0.5
✓ DNS: my-server.meshr
✓ SSH: meshr ssh my-server
✓ Tunnel: meshr tunnel http 3000