NetBird is an excellent open-source WireGuard mesh VPN — a strong Tailscale alternative. But for an MSP, joining a network is step zero. ProxyLink is the layer above: browser RDP/VNC/SSH to any device, the tunnel running on the router itself with no on-site machine, overlapping client LANs handled automatically, and session recording for NIS2 — none of which a mesh VPN does.
They're different categories. NetBird competes with Tailscale and ZeroTier — it's a mesh VPN that connects machines. ProxyLink competes with TeamViewer, AnyDesk, and Splashtop — it's remote access to client devices, built on WireGuard. NetBird gives you a network; ProxyLink gives you the devices on it.
| Feature | ProxyLink | NetBird |
|---|---|---|
| Tunnel runs on the router itself (no on-site machine) | Needs a routing-peer host on-site | |
| Agent on the accessing device (your laptop) | No — browser | Yes — NetBird client |
| Browser RDP / VNC / SSH built in | ||
| Reach NVR cameras, PBX, switches with no on-site agent | ||
| Overlapping / duplicate client LANs handled (auto NETMAP) | ||
| Session recording + per-session NIS2 audit trail | Network activity logs only | |
| MSP multi-tenant + no-account shareable access links | Limited (single org, ACLs) | |
| WireGuard protocol | ||
| EU company / EU-hostable | Yes (Hetzner DE) | Yes (Berlin) |
| Open-source & self-hostable | ||
| Peer-to-peer mesh performance | Relayed via EU server |
We give NetBird the wins it earns — open-source, self-hostable, EU-based, and a genuinely good peer-to-peer mesh. The difference is what sits on top.
NetBird puts your machines on one flat WireGuard network. To actually work on a device you still open your own RDP/VNC/SSH client — and there's no session recording, no browser access, and no way to hand a client one-off access to a single device.
Open a browser, click a device, and you're on its RDP/VNC/SSH or web UI — nothing installed on your machine or the target. Every session can be recorded with a timestamped audit trail, and you can share one device with a client via a link, no account needed.
To reach a whole client LAN, NetBird needs a routing peer — an always-on Linux host running the agent at each site, advertising that subnet. That's a box to deploy, patch, and babysit per client. And two clients on the same 192.168.1.0/24 can't be routed cleanly in one account.
One WireGuard config on the client's own router (MikroTik, pfSense, OPNsense, OpenWRT, Synology) covers the whole LAN and every VLAN — no extra hardware on-site. Overlapping client LANs are mapped to unique ranges automatically, so 100 hotels on identical addressing never collide.
If you want a self-hosted, open-source mesh where your own servers and laptops talk to each other peer-to-peer — with SSO and identity posture checks — NetBird is a great choice, and you keep full control of the control plane. ProxyLink is for the other job: reaching client devices you can't put software on, from a browser, with recording and multi-tenant management. Plenty of MSPs could run both.
Free during early access. EU-hosted. No agent on network devices. No credit card.
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