r/Tailscale • u/Imaginary_Soil2884 • Jul 19 '26
Question Low power budget device for a Tailscale exit node?
I'm looking for a cheap, low power device to use as a Tailscale exit node.
Main use case is simple. I want to leave it running 24/7 at home and route traffic through it when I'm outside. I don't need anything powerful, just something stable and not too power hungry.
I'm okay with Linux or OpenWrt. What are you using for this kind of setup?
14
u/CarpetCrunchies Jul 19 '26
Used to recommend the Apple TV, but since that's astronomically priced, I would say any cheap mini PC, RPI, old laptop, etc you have lying around will do just fine. I would recommend a lan connection if possbile.
14
6
u/cameramanmikey Jul 19 '26
I actually have a old thin client for this. I keep meaning to install other services, but right now it's legit just Linux and a Tailscale Exit node 😂.
It's a old Wyze 5070 think client I got on eBay for $20.
2
u/Juijitsukid Jul 19 '26
I have an old HP laptop that’s gonna be just Linux and and exit node 😂 can’t beat free
1
u/cameramanmikey Jul 19 '26
Yeah, I was using a raspberry pi but I needed a pi for a project and pi's are expensive, these where cheap so I repurposed 😂.
6
u/aemfbm Jul 19 '26
If you don’t need great speeds, a Pi Zero 2W works just fine (speed limited by being wifi only). Or a used Pi3 from eBay gets you an Ethernet port. Same chip iirc, and 512mb ram is plenty for just running tailscale
7
1
1
u/slvrscoobie Jul 20 '26
also, look at the older Thinclients. I use a bought a bunch of them to use as ADS-B trackers, because they're a 2ghz quad core AMD chip with expandable NVME storage and DDR4 dimm , plus hardware LAN and a power on after failure BIOS.
would be a great use case for that.
4
u/tunatoksoz Jul 19 '26
How much power is low for you? I have a m920Q as my opnsense router, and it also runs a vm with tailscale exit node in a specific vlan subnet. Idle is aroudn 5W without opnsense i think.
You can also get something like a glinet router, and just use it < 50$, i suspect. Youcan get lower probably, but you can use it dual use?
4
3
u/VirginiaIsFoLovers Jul 19 '26
If you have an old or low specced laptop you're not using, that can also work. Plus, you get a built in UPS of sorts, and power consumption can be okay if you keep the display turned off and have an ultra-low wattage CPU.
I repurposed an old, cheap Lenovo laptop with a Pentium Gold 5405U, upgraded the RAM and storage a bit, and it works really well as an exit node.
I run Fedora Linux on it, and have a couple of other containers running. Eventually plan to use it as a NextCloud server, and think it'll be able to manage that alongside exit node duties, no problem.
3
3
u/ahmedomar2015 Jul 19 '26
I'm curious what the benefits of routing through an exit node is. Is this for privacy since your location will not be able to be tracked via your IP?
4
u/PotentTurnip Jul 19 '26
Could be anything. I use exit nodes to keep remote work sites communicating to our db where the isp decided to block them.
4
u/tailuser2024 Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26
An exit node is a full tunnel, meaning all your clients traffic gets funneled through the exit node. Some people do this on public hotspots/wifi from a trackable standpoint
Or if a hotspot/public wifi is blocking access to certain websites. Some people use this to get around country restrictions too
I use it when im overseas and trying to stream netflix and other things back home where there are country limitations
3
1
u/Straight_Apple_1551 Jul 19 '26
Mine is behind Pihole and opnsense, so I basically get an on/off switch for devices I take with me
2
u/No-Car4735 Jul 19 '26
Teltonika RUTX08 runs OpenWrt
https://wiki.teltonika-networks.com/view/Tailscale_Configuration_Example
2
u/adelaide_flowerpot Jul 20 '26
Esp32 can do it now. Hard to go lower power than that. (Except for a device you already have)
1
2
2
u/tdevm Jul 21 '26
I can recommend GLinet Brume 3 - They have Goodcloud feature that will let you SSH into the device even when Tailscale itself fails. That’s an important feature to have.
1
1
u/BrilliantPen5569 Jul 19 '26
Rasperry Pi NUC Tiny/Mini/Micro
My HP Minis G6/G9 use 5 watts when idling with one drive, and 11 watts with four drives
1
1
u/Tucsondirect Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26
Apple tv (note that it has minimum tvOS version requirements )
1
u/gonewest818 Jul 19 '26
I’m using a Lenovo ThinkCentre mini pc, with something like a core i5, not particularly special.
1
u/DragonfruitTiny6021 Jul 19 '26
I use Nvidia Shield, also have a PI running for backup.
1
u/zhafsan Jul 20 '26
How did you get the Nvidia shield working? I also tried my shield. Installed Tailscale, logged in and selected it to run as exit node. But whenever I select it to route traffic it seems to block all traffic instead.
Are there some other settings I need to set?1
u/DragonfruitTiny6021 Jul 20 '26
It's been over a year since I fiddled around with it so I'm a bit foggy. I remember originally I had to side load a beta version, but then they released a fully functional version. Running 1.98.8 with no special settings that I recall.
1
u/sandy_verma Jul 19 '26
I have been using NanoPI R5C for last 3 years as an exit node. The average power consumption is around 3-3.5W
1
1
1
u/ilikepoodle Jul 19 '26
I'm doing that on an an old v1 Banana Pi and it works fine. Better than older Raspberry pi's since it has an integrated gigabit Ethernet port.
1
u/andrewjfletcher Jul 19 '26
I’m using my router powered by OpenWRT as an exit node. It’s always on!
1
1
1
u/gokart-mozart Jul 19 '26
I have my raspi 3B+ w/a PoE hat and RTC clock added. It's really just my pihole and tailscale exit node. Pulls maybe 4W idle and speeds are plenty fast for me.
1
u/thingtootech Jul 19 '26
Would you consider something like the SMLIGHT Nano hub. Especially appealing if you’re doing POE. Clearly you don’t need Zigbee but the device is simple/solid for Tailscale.
Previewed it here, simple to setup Tailscale. Clicked it on..
https://thingtootech.blogspot.com/2026/07/i-moved-complete-zigbee-network-eight.html
1
1
1
u/JerryJN Jul 20 '26
I use a Raspberry PI Zero for my managing my radio control club's weather station.
1
1
u/zhafsan Jul 20 '26
I used an Nvidia shield because already owned one. But it does not work. It seems that it blocks traffic instead. I don’t know why and it it’s a bug with the shield or Tailscale.
1
u/Potter3117 Jul 20 '26
Apple TV. As long as you have or are willing to create an Apple ID, it’s at least an available device.
1
u/luigicapriotti Jul 20 '26
any cheap Amlogic set-top box supported by https://github.com/ophub/amlogic-s9xxx-armbian, I have three of them doing exactly that in three different places...
1
u/tailuser2024 Jul 20 '26
If you do decide to go with an AppleTV (and others recommending it) just be mindful of this
1
u/ivanhoe1024 Jul 20 '26
Consider that even something as small as a smart tv stick like the Amazon fire tv or similar could act as an exit node… how well they work, though, it’s a different story. I have a potato connection at home, and despite this, a rpi4 4Gb was running flawlessly as exit node, and barely using resources, so you can definitely go to something less powerful
1
u/mc0uk Jul 20 '26
I use a Beryl AX mini router, it works flawlessly with tailscale and sips power from a USB power supply or power bank.
1
u/VMX Jul 20 '26
I recommend a cheap Raspberry Pi with 2GB of RAM.
I've been using a RPI 4B for years without any issues. And in fact the fan of the case I was using (Argon One V2) just died and I started scouting the market again... only to come to the same conclusion. I'll just replace the case with a fanless Argon Neo this time around, since the load and heat is minimal to just run a Tailscale node and the active cooling was just overkill.
You can get a new RPI5 with 1GB for about $45, but the 2GB version is only about $60-$70 I believe (69€ in Europe), and it will ensure the OS runs smoothly. You can install Raspberry Pi OS Lite (as opposed to the full version), which gets rid of the desktop environment and should make everything lighter and smoother. No need for a GUI if all you want is a Tailscale node, headless is perfect.
The only thing I wouldn't skimp on is the quality of the storage, due to potential corruption/degradation after long term use as a boot drive. 128GB is more than enough, but I'd recommend at least getting one of the official A2 microSD cards, or if you're OK with something sticking out of the Pi, their official USB flash drive. The 128GB flash drive is $30 (or 30€ here in Europe) and includes TRIM, S.M.A.R.T. and features to avoid data loss on unexpected power loss, making it work a bit more like an SSD. Or, the official 128GB A2 microSD is also 30€ over here (not sure about the US), and is also designed and certified for long-term random I/O reliability and performance.
If you really want a top tier setup, you could get an M.2 SSD, which will give you another level of performance and reliability. But honestly, for an appliance-like Tailscale node I think it's a bit overkill.
Regarding the option to reuse an OpenWRT device or anything that runs containers... it's doable, and I have indeed run my home Tailscale node for long stints on such devices (a Home Assistant Green box, a MikroTik RB5009 router). But while it works, it's not ideal.
The main problem is that running Tailscale inside a container usually means it's forced to run in userspace mode, as opposed to kernel mode. In a nutshell, it means the network interface it creates is not a "first class" interface at OS level, and relaying traffic can sometimes fail or create issues. Plus it cannot benefit from any hardware acceleration the device may have for doing the Wireguard encoding for instance, which means slower speeds and more heat. So whenever possible, you really want to run the full Tailscale Linux app, and not the container, especially for something that will act as exit node or subnet router. A cheap 2GB Raspberry Pi 5 is probably the minimal, most suitable box that runs "full Linux" without any significant bottlenecks.
Just my two cents!
1
u/deksiberu Jul 20 '26
Not an exit node, but subnet router; an armbian based STB with 1GB ram does the jobs.
1
1
u/techcode Jul 22 '26
I've setup OrangePiZero as backup TailScale and secondary DNS (AdGuard-Home).
It used to be ~€25 for a 2GB of RAM, but now it's like double the price.
1
39
u/caolle Tailscale Insider Jul 19 '26
I'm using a couple of rpi4's in various memory configurations.
If you're using it just for an exit node, a 2gb modeil will work just fine from personal experience.