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Best Productivity ResourcesBy Shushant LakhyaniVerified creator

Desktop App

NetBird

A private network that connects your devices without opening ports.

Visit NetBird4.6

  • Rating

    4.6 / 5

  • Pricing

    Free

  • Difficulty

    Advanced

  • Works on

    macOS, Windows, Linux

Built with love by Shushant Lakhyani. Building bestproductivityresources.com

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What is NetBird?

NetBird creates a WireGuard-based private network between your machines, so they connect over an encrypted tunnel without opening ports or setting up VPN gateways. Its README lists access rules by group, single sign-on, an admin web interface, private DNS and clients for Linux, macOS, Windows, Android and iOS. You can use NetBird's hosted service or follow the self-hosting quickstart.

Third-party open-source projects. We are not affiliated with their authors; repositories are provided as-is by their maintainers. Review each project's license, code and security before installing. See our Disclaimer.

Pros: what NetBird does well

  • Connect devices without opening ports
  • Control who can reach what
  • Self-host it or use the hosted service

Cons: where it falls short

  • Self-hosting needs a Linux server and a domain
  • Network concepts take time to learn

Who NetBird is for

Remote teams who need safe access to shared machines and files.

Who can skip it

People who only need a quick consumer VPN.

NetBird alternatives

Not sold on NetBird? These do a similar job, and each card says what it has in common.

All Remote Work resources

croc

Focus: file transfer, encryption and command line. Shares open source and github with NetBird. Rated 4.7 (NetBird: 4.6).

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Windows
4.7Visit

RustDesk

Focus: remote desktop, remote support and self-hosted. Shares open source and github with NetBird. Same 4.6 rating.

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Windows
4.6Visit

Zulip

Focus: team chat, threads and self-hosted. Shares open source with NetBird. A web app, not a desktop app. Freemium (NetBird: Free). Adds Web. Rated 4.5 (NetBird: 4.6).

Web AppFree planWeb, macOS
4.5Visit

Mattermost

Focus: team chat, self-hosted and devops. Shares open source with NetBird. A web app, not a desktop app. Freemium (NetBird: Free). Adds Web. Rated 4.4 (NetBird: 4.6).

Web AppFree planWeb, Windows
4.4Visit

Mumble

Focus: voice chat, audio and self-hosted. Shares open source and github with NetBird. Rated 4.4 (NetBird: 4.6).

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Windows
4.4Visit

Syncplay

Focus: watch together, video sync and chat. Shares open source and github with NetBird. Rated 4.4 (NetBird: 4.6).

Desktop AppFreeCross-Platform
4.4Visit

Free alternatives to NetBird

Want to spend nothing? These free picks cover similar ground.

Docmost

Focus: wiki, documentation and confluence alternative. Shares open source and github with NetBird. A web app, not a desktop app. Adds Web. Rated 4.7 (NetBird: 4.6).

Web AppFreeWeb, Cross-Platform
4.7Visit

Grafana

Focus: dashboards, monitoring and metrics. Shares open source and github with NetBird. A web app, not a desktop app. Adds Web. Rated 4.7 (NetBird: 4.6).

Web AppFreeWeb, Linux
4.7Visit

Screenity

Focus: screen recorder, loom alternative and annotation. Shares open source and github with NetBird. A browser extension, not a desktop app. Adds Chrome. Rated 4.7 (NetBird: 4.6).

Browser ExtensionFreeChrome
4.7Visit

BookStack

Focus: wiki, documentation and self-hosted. Shares open source and github with NetBird. A web app, not a desktop app. Adds Web. Same 4.6 rating.

Web AppFreeWeb, Cross-Platform
4.6Visit

Gitea

Focus: git hosting, code review and issues. Shares open source and github with NetBird. A web app, not a desktop app. Adds Web. Same 4.6 rating.

Web AppFreeWeb, Linux
4.6Visit

Wiki.js

Focus: wiki, documentation and self-hosted. Shares open source and github with NetBird. A web app, not a desktop app. Adds Web. Same 4.6 rating.

Web AppFreeWeb, Cross-Platform
4.6Visit
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