Private mesh networking

One private network.
Any endpoint.

PrivScale runs your own Headscale control plane so every laptop, server, phone, and sensor you own joins one encrypted mesh — direct connections where possible, relayed where they're not, and no third-party network in between.

HS laptop vps phone nas sensor
How it works

Coordination, tunnel, endpoint

Three layers, in the order traffic actually takes: a control plane that introduces devices to each other, an encrypted overlay that carries the traffic, and the endpoints that make up your network.

Control plane

Headscale coordinates

An open-source, self-hosted implementation of the Tailscale control server. It handles device registration, key exchange, and ACLs — but carries none of your actual traffic.

Overlay

WireGuard tunnels the traffic

Once introduced, devices negotiate direct WireGuard tunnels wherever NAT allows, falling back to a relay only when a direct path can't be found.

Endpoints

Anything with an IP joins

Workstations, phones, cloud VPS instances, home servers, and single-board devices all register as nodes on the same private address space.

Endpoints

Built for a mixed fleet

Your network isn't one kind of device. PrivScale doesn't assume it is.

Workstation Desktop / laptop
Mobile iOS / Android
Cloud VPS Any provider
Home server NAS / hypervisor
Single-board Pi / embedded
Subnet router Bridge a whole LAN
Self-host

Own the control plane

The overlay protocol is the same either way. What changes is who holds the coordination server.

Hosted SaaS control plane

  • Provider sees your device list and network graph
  • Subject to a third party's uptime and pricing
  • Node limits on free tiers

Self-hosted with PrivScale

  • Coordination server runs on hardware you control
  • No node caps, no external dependency for uptime
  • Full visibility into ACLs, keys, and routing
Runbook

Tailscale exit node on a Headscale-managed VPS

A full playbook for standing up a VPS as an exit node under your own Headscale control plane — fresh-install steps, backup/restore across a rebuild, route approval, and throughput tuning.

Open the runbook →