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Okta Platform vs Tailscale comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
5.1
Okta Platform streamlines identity management, enhancing security and efficiency while reducing support needs and improving compliance processes.
Sentiment score
4.9
Users save time and costs, with simpler setup and fewer security issues, when using Tailscale instead of traditional VPNs.
Employee onboarding used to be a major pain point, but the automation Okta Platform provides for creating user accounts across various apps or SaaS tools has made our life much easier.
Technical Lead at a tech vendor with 51-200 employees
First, it improves the security authentication and authorization processes across the organization, securing applications with single sign-on and MFA.
Practice Director - PAM, IGA, IAM & ZeroTrust at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
We have our dashboard to log in via Okta Workforce Identity.
Lead Admin Systems at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Previously, networks with FortiGate were used, and that forced us to spend on hardware. With Tailscale, that type of investment is not necessary.
Devops Engineer at Allenta
We have seen clear return on investment since implementing Tailscale by eliminating VPN server infrastructure costs.
System Engineer at a healthcare company with 11-50 employees
With Tailscale, I set it up and forget it because it just works, allowing me to avoid worrying about the whole VPN aspect of my home network architecture.
Application Security Engineer at a tech vendor with 501-1,000 employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.9
Okta users praise support knowledge and responsiveness but experience varied engagement, delays, and emphasize the need for issue prioritization.
Sentiment score
6.2
Tailscale's reliable service and comprehensive resources minimize support needs, but responsive support is praised when contacted.
By offering a system to set varying priority levels on support tickets, urgent issues could receive quicker attention, benefiting business continuity and customer satisfaction.
IT Lead at a outsourcing company with 51-200 employees
For Okta Platform, the customer service is seamless, and I am very satisfied with their assistance compared to other channels such as Microsoft's, which usually takes longer to resolve issues.
Systems Engineer – Iam & IT Operations at Deepwatch
You can raise issues based on urgency using classifications such as P1, P2, P3, and P4, and you will receive a response within two hours for P1 and within four hours for P2.
Customer Identity Engineer - CIAM at American Express Global Business Travel
Tailscale is that reliable, and their documentation answers any questions I have.
Application Security Engineer at a tech vendor with 501-1,000 employees
The user interface, documentation, and support for Tailscale are fabulous.
IT Support / Sysadmin
I would give it a ten out of ten.
DevOps Engineer at CloudKite.io
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.9
The Okta Platform is highly scalable, efficiently supporting large enterprises with thousands of identities and quick expansions.
Sentiment score
6.9
Tailscale is efficient, scalable, and reliable across platforms, supporting numerous devices with no downtime, easy expansion, and cost-effective pricing.
The scalability of Okta Platform is impressive, but its effectiveness relies on how integrations are designed, rate limits are handled, and day-to-day operations are managed.
Identity and Access Management Specialist at a university with 10,001+ employees
It is secure, providing needed scalability without impacting performance.
IT Lead at a outsourcing company with 51-200 employees
Clients can scale their API access requests beyond default limits, which is adaptable according to requirements without impacting performance or deployment.
Senior Analyst at Toll Holdings Limited
I would say it is really scalable, and I do not think I have ever experienced any downtime with Tailscale.
Software Engineer at Psycontech
As a free-tier user, I have tested my limits, connecting the maximum amount of devices, and everything performed great.
Application Security Engineer at a tech vendor with 501-1,000 employees
We have over 300 to 400 devices that use Tailscale that we connect with and utilize on a daily basis.
IT Support Engineer at a security firm with 11-50 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.9
Okta Platform is praised for stability and reliability, with quick resolution of issues and effective identity management solutions.
Sentiment score
8.4
Users praise Tailscale's stability and ease of use, noting rare disruptions and easy post-setup connectivity with scalability benefits.
This ensures immediate action upon changes applied within Okta Platform, stabilizing operations in managing user accounts, identities, logins, and user profiles.
IT Lead at a outsourcing company with 51-200 employees
You do not need to think about performance with Okta Platform; it just works.
Owner at HPC Brasil
Okta Workforce Identity is a stable product.
Business Intelligence Developer at a consultancy with 51-200 employees
Tailscale is a SaaS platform, so Tailscale scales it themselves.
DevOps Engineer at CloudKite.io
Tailscale is stable; it has never given me downtime on their side.
Infrastructure Lead & Student Developer (also Head of Ops - FOSSCET) at College of Engineering Trivandrum
For what we use it for—interconnection and networks—it is very stable.
Devops Engineer at Allenta
 

Room For Improvement

Users want better support response, simpler integration, enhanced features, improved UI, and more reasonable pricing for Okta services.
Users propose Tailscale enhancements in UI, performance, anti-censorship, integration, and pricing while addressing multi-account and tailnet issues.
If there was a fingerprint option, then only the person who has already added their fingerprint on their mobile phone could access it.
Lead Admin Systems at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
If someone is a beginner with Okta Platform, the UI should be simplified, and the language used should make it easier for them to understand the concepts and what they are trying to do.
Software Engineer at aeTech Digital Hub
While they have a vast range of integrations out of the box available, if their PAM and IGA capabilities were more mature, then Okta Platform could be the single solution for everything, covering access management, privilege access management, and governance of identity.
Practice Director - PAM, IGA, IAM & ZeroTrust at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
Tailscale could be improved with more advanced network visibility and monitoring tools, cleaner pricing tiers for scaling teams, and enhanced built-in reporting for device posture and controls for enterprise environments.
System Engineer at a healthcare company with 11-50 employees
At my apartment, I can do 2-gig networking, but when I connect via the exit node, and I'm wired in somewhere else, and that place also has 2-gig networking, I'm at max getting half of my speed.
Software engineer
I would like Tailscale to provide more censorship-resistant options, such as Shadowsocks or VLESS, as fallback protocols.
IT Support / Sysadmin
 

Setup Cost

Okta Platform offers comprehensive security features and flexibility, making it a valuable yet expensive choice for enterprises.
Tailscale offers affordable pricing with a generous free tier, ideal for small teams and cost-effective initial setup.
Despite the cost, it's cheaper than the potential financial loss from a security breach.
IT Manager at Clear Channel
It is certainly not cheap, but the features that you get, the functionality that you get, and whatever use cases that you have, it definitely satisfies those.
Principle Cloud Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
The pricing per-user list drops when user counts rise and with multi-year commitments.
Identity and Access Management Specialist at a university with 10,001+ employees
Tailscale has definitely made it so I don't have to incur additional costs.
Senior Technical Support Specialist at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The setup has been straightforward and predictable with the per-user subscription model and no infrastructure or hardware setup cost, making the initial deployment inexpensive.
System Engineer at a healthcare company with 11-50 employees
I never used a license. I never purchased or bought anything more than the basic free license.
Field Service Engineer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
 

Valuable Features

Okta Platform enhances security and efficiency with centralized identity management, adaptive MFA, and seamless integration across applications and services.
Tailscale offers seamless cross-platform integration and security, simplifying remote access and connectivity with Zero Trust architecture for all users.
One of its most valuable features is its easy integration with various applications through its extensive application directory, offering hundreds or thousands of applications ready to configure.
IT Manager at Clear Channel
It offers around eight thousand five hundred out-of-the-box connectors, providing an edge over other tools.
Managing Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
For the end user, it is beneficial as they do not have to remember a password or keep the password on a post-it for different applications; they just authenticate once to access several services and service providers.
Technical Team Lead at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
The security is valuable, as there are many providers available, but Tailscale fulfills the requirements that we had, allowing us to access and expose internal apps without exposing them to the general internet.
Software Engineer
The most valuable features are the Zero Trust architecture, peer-to-peer connectivity using WireGuard, easy deployment and setup, access control for granular permissions, single sign-on, subnet and routing, exit nodes, and cross-platform support.
System Engineer at a healthcare company with 11-50 employees
Tailscale's security is fabulous, especially the access control features and the ability to use existing OAuth accounts for access.
IT Support / Sysadmin
 

Categories and Ranking

Okta Platform
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
126
Ranking in other categories
Single Sign-On (SSO) (1st), Authentication Systems (3rd), Privileged Access Management (PAM) (3rd), Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) (2nd), Access Management (2nd), ZTNA as a Service (3rd), Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) (1st), AI IT Support (1st)
Tailscale
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
26
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Infrastructure VPN (2nd), ZTNA (2nd)
 

Featured Reviews

SN
Identity and Access Management Specialist at a university with 10,001+ employees
Automated lifecycle management has cut onboarding times and now drives secure, clean access
Although I am a fan of Okta Platform overall, there are areas where it could improve security outcomes and reduce admin friction. My top improvement areas include the system log and analytics upgrade, which are great for point troubleshooting, but trending and root cause analysis across large tenants still require exporting to SIEM. Verbose queries and long-range retention costs can add up. Additionally, while certificate rotations are better than most, the process is still manual for busy portfolios, especially concerning multi-SP SAML certificate rotations and app metadata drift. Two more buckets of potential improvements for Okta Platform involve user experience and security. There is the issue of push fatigue and prompt sprawl, where users receive multiple prompts across different apps and sessions. I arrived at the rating of eight because the core controls are strong and reliable, but a few operational UX and UI gaps prevent it from being rated higher. The reasons for not giving it a nine or ten include ongoing issues concerning safety and change safety, the complexity of group rules and mappings, and the lack of robustness in policy management. Additionally, there remains a need for more manual involvement than necessary, especially for large portfolios and dual certificate rotation, along with proactive SP data metadata validation.
Adeniyi Stephen - PeerSpot reviewer
DevOps Engineer at CloudKite.io
Secure access has simplified hybrid connectivity and has unified multi-cluster workflows
I would say that in terms of Tailscale, if I have so many tailnets I need to connect to, there are some issues in the login process that need a little bit of attention from the Tailscale team. Sometimes, you would probably need to restart your entire system for it to connect. As a DevOps as a Service engineer, I have so many clients that are using Tailscale, and I would need to connect to maybe five different tailnets because they are different clients. Client A might have a Tailscale, Client B, Client C, and so on. When changing between tailnets, sometimes it hangs. Sometimes you might need to restart your entire system. This is a bit of a headache in that aspect. However, I believe if you are just using a particular tailnet, just one, then it is quite easy and there won't be any headache. For me, I think it can be improved in the aspect of having multiple tailnets to connect to. A good refresh on the Tailscale side and the backend side to refresh the connection anytime there is a new connection to be made would be helpful. Instead of needing to restart the system, it should be able to refresh itself. The connection side and connecting to multiple Tailscale instances can be problematic, and sometimes you have to restart your system when switching between them. The ACL sometimes is like another language on its own entirely. It is fine, but they need to make it in a YAML format instead of the current format because it is quite new and something you have to go and study. If they can make it like a YAML format, that would be better. Aside from the switching which I mentioned and the fact that you have to relearn their ACL, if the ACL could be in a YAML format instead of JSON format, that would be beneficial. I don't think there is much they can do about the switching of tailnets, but if they can have a YAML format of the ACL, that would be good. Every other thing is a ten out of ten. The connection-wise is easy to set up and easy to install. It is good to have things connected all together from on-premises, from so many environments, and even exit nodes as well. It is good overall. The pricing, I think Tailscale can be a little bit on the higher side. It is not for teams with just small users. If you want to set it up for small users and a small startup, I don't think you can afford it and might need to go to other open-source alternatives. It is good for teams that have maybe fifty plus users or one hundred users. In terms of pricing, I would say it is on the higher side, but it is worth it. The price is worth the functionality. As a user, I would say it is more on the higher side, but based on its functionality, it is worth the price.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Construction Company
8%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
15%
Financial Services Firm
9%
University
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business53
Midsize Enterprise27
Large Enterprise64
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business17
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise4
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Okta Workforce Identity?
Pricing for Okta is reasonably not that much, however, I don't have access to the commercial aspect.
What needs improvement with Okta Workforce Identity?
Currently, in Okta Workforce Identity we get the two-digit authentication code. Instead of getting the two-digit authentication code, if we had an option to do fingerprint verification, that would ...
What is your primary use case for Okta Workforce Identity?
I don't have many details about Okta Workforce Identity. I use the tool just to sign in to different applications that we have. We basically set up Okta Workforce Identity in our mobile phone. We d...
What needs improvement with Tailscale?
I have a pretty basic use of Tailscale. I do not deploy it for a big organization, so I am generally happy with the product itself and have no special requests for a different feature that I would ...
What is your primary use case for Tailscale?
My main use case for Tailscale is to access my home network remotely. In my home network, I have deployed a wide range of microservices. For example, I use Tailscale to back up my pictures, and I n...
What advice do you have for others considering Tailscale?
I rate Tailscale overall a ten out of ten. I chose ten out of ten because the ease of installation, access to documentation, friendly UI, ease of tracking and debugging, and the facility I have to ...
 

Also Known As

Okta Customer Identity, Workforce Identity
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

FedEx, Zoom, Takeda, Lululemon Athletica, GrunHub, jetBlue, McKensson, Bain & Company, Engie, Peloton, Sonos, T-Mobile, Hewlett Packard, MGM Resorts, Ally Financial, Priceline, Albertsons, Itercom, Classy, FICO, Kensho, Live Nation, Drata, Rotary, and others.
Bamboo Health, Duolingo, Shiguredo, Instacart, Corelight, Machinify, Bolt, Mercari, Cobalt, Yugabyte, Jasper, VersaBank, Zego, Gini and Finter
Find out what your peers are saying about Okta Platform vs. Tailscale and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
909,725 professionals have used our research since 2012.