# Business VPN & Zero Trust Access — software compared by an AI panel

As of 6 Nov 2026, the panel rates [Defguard (3.5/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/business-vpn/defguard), [Firezone (3.5/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/business-vpn/firezone) and [Tailscale (3.5/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/business-vpn/tailscale) highest in Business VPN & Zero Trust Access, out of 13 products evaluated. Ratings that look equal are rounded to half stars; the order uses the unrounded rating, then the name. The highest-rated European option is [Defguard](https://whats-best.ai/software/business-vpn/defguard) (EU-Made). Of the products whose own pages state a free plan, the panel rates [Firezone](https://whats-best.ai/software/business-vpn/firezone) highest. Ratings are the AI panel’s opinion, formed from public evidence: [how scores are made](https://whats-best.ai/methodology#ordering).

- Canonical page: https://whats-best.ai/software/business-vpn
- Data as of: 2026-11-06

**AI-generated.** Every rating here is the opinion of a panel of AI judges, formed from public evidence against a published rubric — an analysis, not a hands-on test. Listed alphabetically; no placement is for sale. How scores are made: https://whats-best.ai/methodology

## Products

| Product | Vendor | Provenance | Panel rating | Sovereignty | Markdown |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| [Cloudflare Zero Trust](https://whats-best.ai/software/business-vpn/cloudflare-zero-trust) | Cloudflare, Inc. | Rest of world | 3.5/5 | not determined | [md](https://whats-best.ai/software/business-vpn/cloudflare-zero-trust.md) |
| [Defguard](https://whats-best.ai/software/business-vpn/defguard) | Defguard Sp. z o.o. | EU-Made | 3.5/5 | not determined | [md](https://whats-best.ai/software/business-vpn/defguard.md) |
| [Firezone](https://whats-best.ai/software/business-vpn/firezone) | Firezone, Inc. | Rest of world | 3.5/5 | 1 of 6 dimensions proven | [md](https://whats-best.ai/software/business-vpn/firezone.md) |
| [GoodAccess](https://whats-best.ai/software/business-vpn/goodaccess) | GoodAccess s.r.o. | EU-Made | 3/5 | not determined | [md](https://whats-best.ai/software/business-vpn/goodaccess.md) |
| [NCP Secure Enterprise](https://whats-best.ai/software/business-vpn/ncp-secure-enterprise) | NCP engineering GmbH | EU-Made | 3/5 | not determined | [md](https://whats-best.ai/software/business-vpn/ncp-secure-enterprise.md) |
| [NetBird](https://whats-best.ai/software/business-vpn/netbird) | NetBird GmbH | EU-Made | 2/5 | not determined | [md](https://whats-best.ai/software/business-vpn/netbird.md) |
| [Netmaker](https://whats-best.ai/software/business-vpn/netmaker) | Netmaker, Inc. | Rest of world | 3/5 | not determined | [md](https://whats-best.ai/software/business-vpn/netmaker.md) |
| [NordLayer](https://whats-best.ai/software/business-vpn/nordlayer) | Nord Security Inc. | Rest of world | 2.5/5 | 1 of 6 dimensions proven | [md](https://whats-best.ai/software/business-vpn/nordlayer.md) |
| [OpenVPN CloudConnexa](https://whats-best.ai/software/business-vpn/openvpn-cloudconnexa) | OpenVPN, Inc. | Rest of world | 3/5 | not determined | [md](https://whats-best.ai/software/business-vpn/openvpn-cloudconnexa.md) |
| [Proton VPN for Business](https://whats-best.ai/software/business-vpn/proton-vpn-business) | Proton AG | UK / wider Europe | 3/5 | not determined | [md](https://whats-best.ai/software/business-vpn/proton-vpn-business.md) |
| [Tailscale](https://whats-best.ai/software/business-vpn/tailscale) | Tailscale US Inc. | Rest of world | 3.5/5 | not determined | [md](https://whats-best.ai/software/business-vpn/tailscale.md) |
| [Twingate](https://whats-best.ai/software/business-vpn/twingate) | Twingate Inc. | Rest of world | 3/5 | not determined | [md](https://whats-best.ai/software/business-vpn/twingate.md) |
| [ZeroTier](https://whats-best.ai/software/business-vpn/zerotier) | ZeroTier, Inc. | Rest of world | 2.5/5 | not determined | [md](https://whats-best.ai/software/business-vpn/zerotier.md) |

Ratings are out of 5 (the panel's mean, half steps). Sovereignty is scored only when all 6 dimensions (legal entity, hosting location, hosting options, open source, data processing agreement and transfer impact assessment) are proven from the vendor's own pages.

## Head-to-head comparisons

- [NordLayer vs Tailscale](https://whats-best.ai/compare/nordlayer-vs-tailscale) ([md](https://whats-best.ai/compare/nordlayer-vs-tailscale.md)): The leans run one way: NordLayer draws 0 leans on each of seven criteria, while Tailscale draws 6 against 0 on identity and policy (8.0 vs 6.8), visibility and audit (7.2 vs 6.0), deployment and administration (7.2 vs 5.0) and architecture and assurance (7.0 vs 4.3), and 5 against 0 with 1 tie on access and connectivity (7.8 vs 6.3) and pricing transparency (6.5 vs 5.2).
- [NetBird vs Tailscale](https://whats-best.ai/compare/netbird-vs-tailscale) ([md](https://whats-best.ai/compare/netbird-vs-tailscale.md)): Tailscale takes the lean from six of six judges on access and connectivity at 7.8 versus 3.3, identity and policy at 8.0 versus 3.5, visibility and audit at 7.2 versus 1.3, deployment and administration at 7.2 versus 3.3, architecture and assurance at 7.0 versus 5.2, and pricing transparency at 6.5 versus 2.0.
- [GoodAccess vs Twingate](https://whats-best.ai/compare/goodaccess-vs-twingate) ([md](https://whats-best.ai/compare/goodaccess-vs-twingate.md)): The split is the story.
- [Cloudflare Zero Trust vs Proton VPN for Business](https://whats-best.ai/compare/cloudflare-zero-trust-vs-proton-vpn-business) ([md](https://whats-best.ai/compare/cloudflare-zero-trust-vs-proton-vpn-business.md)): Five criteria lean Cloudflare Zero Trust and two lean Proton VPN for Business — that split is the answer here.

## Questions

### What is the best Business VPN & Zero Trust Access software?

As of 6 Nov 2026, the panel rates [Defguard (3.5/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/business-vpn/defguard), [Firezone (3.5/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/business-vpn/firezone) and [Tailscale (3.5/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/business-vpn/tailscale) highest of the 13 Business VPN & Zero Trust Access products evaluated. Ratings that look equal are rounded to half stars; the order uses the unrounded rating, then the name. The ratings are the AI panel’s opinion, formed from public evidence. Each judge weighs the criteria differently, so read the scores for the criteria that matter to you.

### Which Business VPN & Zero Trust Access software is European?

As of 6 Nov 2026, 5 of the 13 Business VPN & Zero Trust Access products evaluated are European by provenance: [Defguard](https://whats-best.ai/software/business-vpn/defguard), [GoodAccess](https://whats-best.ai/software/business-vpn/goodaccess), [NCP Secure Enterprise](https://whats-best.ai/software/business-vpn/ncp-secure-enterprise), [Proton VPN for Business](https://whats-best.ai/software/business-vpn/proton-vpn-business) and [NetBird](https://whats-best.ai/software/business-vpn/netbird). The highest-rated of them is [Defguard](https://whats-best.ai/software/business-vpn/defguard) (EU-Made).

### Which Business VPN & Zero Trust Access tools have a free plan?

As of 6 Nov 2026, the vendors’ own pages state a free plan for [Firezone](https://whats-best.ai/software/business-vpn/firezone), [Tailscale](https://whats-best.ai/software/business-vpn/tailscale), [Cloudflare Zero Trust](https://whats-best.ai/software/business-vpn/cloudflare-zero-trust), [OpenVPN CloudConnexa](https://whats-best.ai/software/business-vpn/openvpn-cloudconnexa), [GoodAccess](https://whats-best.ai/software/business-vpn/goodaccess) and [ZeroTier](https://whats-best.ai/software/business-vpn/zerotier). Each product page links the pricing page it was read from.

### How were these Business VPN & Zero Trust Access tools evaluated?

Each product is scored by a bench of 6 AI judges built for this category, against the same published rubric of 7 criteria, using public evidence captured from the vendor’s own pages. Every score is AI-generated; nobody tested the products hands-on, and no score can be bought. The full method is on the [methodology page](https://whats-best.ai/methodology).

## The bench

6 AI judges built for this category, each versioned and scoring independently; disagreement is printed, not averaged away.

- **The IT Lead** (v1.0): Head of a three-person IT team at a 140-person mechanical engineering firm with two plants and a sales office in Vienna. The VPN still runs on the firewall, and every update of it is a weekend. Wants a client that installs through Intune and connects on its own, sign-in with Microsoft Entra so a leaver loses access the same day, the ERP and the file server reachable without opening the whole network, a fixed IP for the supplier portal, and a price per user that survives the next budget round.
- **The DevOps Engineer** (v1.0): Platform engineer at a sixty-person software company with servers at Hetzner, a Kubernetes cluster on AWS and a bastion host everyone shares a key for. Wants a mesh that reaches every server and cluster without inbound ports, access policies kept in Git and applied with Terraform, SSH access tied to the identity provider, connectors that run as containers, and a published architecture that says what the vendor's relays can see.
- **The MSP Technician** (v1.0): Senior technician at an IT service provider in Hamburg that looks after thirty clients, from tax advisers to a dental chain. Each client has its own remote access, set up by whoever was on site that year. Wants one console with a tenant per client, gateways and users added in minutes, access logs a client can be shown after an incident, billing per tenant, and prices per user that can be quoted without calling the vendor first.
- **The Operations Manager** (v1.0): Runs operations at a fifty-person consultancy where a third of the work is done by freelancers on their own laptops and the rest of the team travels to client sites. Has no IT department, only an external provider billed by the hour. Wants each freelancer to reach one project system and nothing else, access that ends with the contract, a setup a non-specialist can follow, and no call to the helpdesk from a hotel lobby.
- **The Information Security Officer** (v1.0): Information security officer at a regional energy supplier that falls under NIS2 and was asked by its auditor who could reach the control systems last year. Wants access granted per resource, not per network, device checks before a connection, every access and admin change in a log that reaches the SIEM, an independent audit of the product, and the identities and logs kept in Europe by a vendor whose subprocessors are listed.
- **The Skeptic** (v1.0): Has seen "zero trust" on a VPN that still drops every user into the whole office network, "no logs" from a vendor that keeps every connection for a year, and a remote access tool that locked out the whole company when its own control plane went down. Asks who can see the traffic and the metadata, what keeps working when the vendor is offline, whether the audit was published or only announced — and whether the network could be moved to a self-hosted server.

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Cite as: whats-best.ai, "Business VPN & Zero Trust Access", AI panel comparison, as of 2026-11-06. https://whats-best.ai/software/business-vpn