Best offer on record: Personal plan (free forever). 5 verified findings, checked 2026-10-22.
Offers
Personal plan (free forever) high confidence
Free at $0 with no stated expiry. Up to 6 users, unlimited user devices, up to 3 ACL groups, 50 tagged resources included (extra tagged resources are a paid add-on; a fetch summary put the price at $1 per month each, not confirmed against the price table), and 1,000 ephemeral-resource minutes per month. The pricing page says the free plan gives access to nearly all Tailscale features for free, indefinitely. The task text also lists MagicDNS, subnet routers and exit nodes; I did not re-verify those three by name.
Eligibility
Any individual. The pricing page describes Personal as for individuals who want to connect their devices, servers or software. No student or startup verification and no application step. Not student-specific or startup-specific.
How to claim
No application. Create a Tailscale account and use the Personal plan. Going past 6 users requires a paid plan (Standard at $8 or Premium at $18 per user per month, list price per the pricing page).
Expiry
None. The pricing page says free forever and free indefinitely.
Gotchas
The April 8, 2026 pricing update retired Personal Plus; the free Personal plan now allows 6 users, the same limit Personal Plus had. The pages I read do not say whether company use of the free Personal tier is restricted, so check the Terms before running a startup network on it.
Tailscale for Startups Program (one free business-plan year) medium confidence
Accepted startups get a full year of the business plan at no cost, with up to 30 users free. Priority support is listed as a benefit. The page also says accepted applicants are automatically enrolled in a 14-day free trial with no credit card. The excerpt does not explain how the trial and the free year fit together, and it does not name the plan tier.
Eligibility
New-to-Tailscale companies only; current or past paying customers, and anyone who has already used Tailscale for work, are excluded. Requires a live working company domain and a new Tailscale account tied to that domain, with a work email on the company domain (personal email such as Gmail is rejected). Stage: the page lists pre-Seed, Series A or Series B; a fetch summary also reports an FAQ line saying Series A or earlier, so the cutoff is unclear. Product-focused software or hardware startups only; consultancies, agencies, retail, e-commerce and other non-product businesses are excluded. Under 25 employees is prioritized, over 50 is out of scope, and near-limit exceptions are possible. Bootstrapped companies are encouraged to apply.
How to claim
Apply at the startup program page with a company work email. Per a fetch summary, review is on a rolling basis; no deadline appears on the page. First-cohort admission is selective.
Expiry
One year on the business plan. The start point (acceptance or first use) is not stated in the excerpt.
Gotchas
Selective, with no guarantee of acceptance. More than 30 users is outside the stated benefit. After the year, normal paid pricing applies. Get the tier, the free-year start date and the trial interaction confirmed in writing with Support before relying on it.
Community on GitHub (free for OSI-licensed open-source projects) medium confidence
Free Tailscale use for a GitHub organization that uses it for an open-source project under an OSI-approved license. The docs suggest uses such as a shared build tool, an internal test server per platform, and sharing project resources with other developers. The docs excerpt I saw gives no numeric user, device or resource caps.
Eligibility
A GitHub organization (not a personal account) running an OSI-licensed open-source project. The docs require GitHub for authentication, so a tailnet that signs in only through another identity provider does not fit. Tailscale Support decides eligibility.
How to claim
Cannot be started from the Billing page of the admin console. Contact Tailscale Support, as the docs direct, and ask for the written scope, any caps, and renewal terms.
Expiry
None stated in the docs; no fixed term is given.
Gotchas
Not a GitHub Inc. product; it is Tailscale's plan name. Do not confuse it with 'Community Projects' in the Special Terms, which are open-source projects built on Tailscale, offered as is with no support or SLA; those are not a free plan.
Education discount: 50% off paid plans (not free) high confidence
50% off Tailscale list prices on paid plans. At list prices, Standard $8 becomes $4 and Premium $18 becomes $9 per user per month (Enterprise is custom). Support issues a one-time 50% coupon for checkout if there is no paid subscription, or applies the discount to an existing paid subscription.
Eligibility
Accredited primary, secondary or post-secondary schools, colleges, universities or trade schools using Tailscale for authorized academic or teaching purposes. The Special Terms also cover students and educators at accredited institutions for academic purposes their school authorizes. Excluded: commercial EdTech companies and programs exclusively for under-18s. US education organizations: Tailscale is not a FERPA school official.
How to claim
Contact Tailscale Support with the organization name, tailnet name and proof of eligibility. The excerpt cut off the education verification item; expect accreditation proof.
Expiry
None stated. Special Terms (Plan Discounts, Miscellaneous Terms) let Tailscale modify, reduce or discontinue plan discounts at any time, with or without notice.
Gotchas
Gives nothing on the free Personal plan. One plan discount per Tailscale account, and it cannot be combined with other offers or promotions. Student use must be academic and authorized by the school.
Nonprofit discount: 50% off paid plans (outside student and startup scope) high confidence
50% off Tailscale list prices on paid plans for eligible charities and not-for-profits. Not free.
Eligibility
US: registered 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. Canada: registered charity or not-for-profit. International: recognized charitable or not-for-profit status in its jurisdiction.
How to claim
Contact Tailscale Support with the organization name, tailnet name and proof: US an IRS 501(c)(3) determination letter (PDF or image); Canada a link to the official website or a certificate of incorporation; international a link to the official website or registry entry.
Expiry
None stated; same discretionary change or discontinue clause as the education discount.
Gotchas
Not free and not a student or startup benefit. Gives nothing on the free Personal plan. One plan discount per account.
Verdict: genuine free offers exist, but none is student-specific. Student route: the free Personal plan, open to any individual within 6 users. Startup route: the Startups Program (one free business-plan year, up to 30 users, selective, company domain required). Open-source route: Community on GitHub (free, apply through Support, OSI license, GitHub login). The 50% education and nonprofit discounts apply only to paid plans. No free student plan exists.Changes in 2025-2026: (1) The April 8, 2026 pricing update (Tailscale blog) retired Personal Plus and made the free Personal plan allow up to 6 users, the same limit Personal Plus had. (2) A third-party article (ITSecureOps, updated 2026-10-18) says business plan names changed (Starter became Standard) and that business plans moved from usage-based to seat-based billing on April 8, 2026. I did not confirm the rename or the billing change in Tailscale's own text. (3) The Tailscale free-plans docs page shows 'Last validated Apr 8, 2026'. The plan-discount Special Terms are effective 2024-11-29.Adjacent offer, not a student or startup offer and not listed as a finding: tailscale.com/switch (search snippet, undated) says a customer stuck in an annual contract with another VPN can send a copy of the contract to Tailscale and get Tailscale free until that contract expires, for up to 6 months.Naming: the 'GitHub open-source plan' here is Tailscale's Community on GitHub plan, not a GitHub Inc. product. GitHub's own programs are separate: GitHub for Nonprofits (free GitHub Team or 25% off Enterprise Cloud for verified 501(c)(3)-type organizations) and GitHub Education discounts for students and educators.Coverage gaps: the session's WebSearch budget ran out before I could search for Community on GitHub caps or any 2025-2026 change to it, so that plan's status and limits rest on the Tailscale docs excerpt alone. I did not work around the limit. Several WebFetch calls failed on output size (the first pricing fetch, and the docs page, which was read only through search snippets). The pricing page and the Startups Program page succeeded on shorter re-fetches. Whether the Startups Program is still accepting applications as of 2026-10-22 is not confirmed; the page showed no closure notice.