Tailscale

PumaGate vs Tailscale

Compare PumaGate's Zero Trust access gateway with Tailscale's VPN mesh approach for infrastructure access.

Feature Comparison

See how we compare across key capabilities

Capability PumaGate Tailscale
Architecture
Zero Trust gateway (no VPN)
VPN mesh (WireGuard)
Client requirement
Browser-based, no client
Tailscale client required
Session recording
Full video-like playback
No session recording
Audit trail
Complete session history
Connection logs only
Access controls
Identity-aware, per-session
ACL-based, network-level
Just-in-time access
Built-in approval workflows
Not available
Compliance readiness
SOC 2 & ISO 27001 aligned, full audit trails
Basic compliance
Protocol support
SSH, RDP, VNC, K8s, gRPC, Telnet, databases
Any TCP/UDP (VPN)

Why Choose PumaGate

Key advantages for secure infrastructure access

Not a VPN

  • Zero Trust, not network trust
  • No split tunneling decisions
  • No client software needed
  • Identity-verified per session
Move beyond VPN — verify identity on every connection, not just at the network edge.

Full session visibility

  • Every session recorded
  • Video-like playback
  • Searchable audit history
  • Compliance-ready out of the box
Tailscale shows you who connected. PumaGate shows you what they did.

Just-in-time access

  • Time-limited permissions
  • Approval workflows built-in
  • Automatic access expiration
  • No standing privileges
Grant access only when needed, automatically revoke when done.

Our Focus

We specialize in secure infrastructure access with full session visibility. We don't try to do everything — we focus on what security and operations teams need most.

  • We're not a VPN or VPN mesh product
  • We don't provide general network connectivity
  • We focus on infrastructure access with audit trails
  • We complement Tailscale for access-controlled sessions
Works with your existing tools: PumaGate integrates with your identity providers, alerting tools, and SIEM platforms.

Common Questions

What customers often ask when comparing

Tailscale is easier to set up for our dev team
Tailscale is great for developer networking. PumaGate is purpose-built for secure, audited access to production infrastructure. Many teams use Tailscale for dev and PumaGate for production.
Tailscale supports any protocol via VPN
True, but VPN access means no session recording, no just-in-time access, and limited audit trails. PumaGate provides identity-aware access with full session visibility for the protocols that matter in production.
We already use Tailscale for remote access
PumaGate adds the audit and compliance layer that Tailscale doesn't provide. Keep Tailscale for general connectivity and add PumaGate for production access that needs session recording and approval workflows.

Is PumaGate Right for You?

PumaGate works best for teams that need secure access with full audit trails

PumaGate is ideal for

  • Organizations needing session recording for compliance
  • Teams requiring just-in-time access with approval workflows
  • Regulated industries needing full audit trails
  • Organizations moving from VPN to Zero Trust access

PumaGate gives you what VPNs can't — identity-verified access with full session recordings and just-in-time permissions.

Ready to See the Difference?

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