--- title: I almost paid my ISP for a static IP, but a free... description: Faced with CGNAT blocking external access to a homelab, the author nearly paid for a static IP from their ISP. Instead, they tried Tailscale's free tier, which... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/i-almost-paid-my-isp-for-a-static-ip-but-a-free-tailscale-account-did-the-job-better-kdq3ebadc twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: I almost paid my ISP for a static IP, but a free Tailscale account did the job better | daily.dev og:description: Faced with CGNAT blocking external access to a homelab, the author nearly paid for a static IP from their ISP. Instead, they tried Tailscale's free tier, which... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/i-almost-paid-my-isp-for-a-static-ip-but-a-free-tailscale-account-did-the-job-better-kdq3ebadc og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/kDQ3ebaDC.png og:image:alt: I almost paid my ISP for a static IP, but a free Tailscale account did the job better og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # I almost paid my ISP for a static IP, but a free Tailscale account did the job better **[XDA Developers](https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers)** · 7 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Faced with CGNAT blocking external access to a homelab, the author nearly paid for a static IP from their ISP. Instead, they tried Tailscale's free tier, which solved all remote access needs — SSH, Portainer, SMB shares, Docker dashboards — without port forwarding or router changes. The free plan covered all personal and family devices, making the static IP unnecessary. The post also notes Tailscale's limitations for public-facing services and acknowledges the risk of the free tier eventually disappearing. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Tailscale replaced my entire networking setup, and I finally stopped dreading new services](https://daily.dev/posts/tailscale-replaced-my-entire-networking-setup-and-i-finally-stopped-dreading-new-services-taswqwfah) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [My ISP quietly put me behind CGNAT, and it broke half my home lab before I noticed](https://daily.dev/posts/my-isp-quietly-put-me-behind-cgnat-and-it-broke-half-my-home-lab-before-i-noticed-yzswv0vyk) · XDA Developers · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Tailscale's free plan replaced my $100-a-year VPN subscription](https://daily.dev/posts/tailscale-s-free-plan-replaced-my-100-a-year-vpn-subscription-dpcy12zum) · XDA Developers · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Stop opening firewall ports and start using identity](https://daily.dev/posts/stop-opening-firewall-ports-and-start-using-identity-xyrc1lkyd) · All Things Open · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Tailscale’d Into Homelabbing](https://daily.dev/posts/tailscale-d-into-homelabbing-vyztndhi7) · Lobsters · 6 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#vpn](https://daily.dev/tags/vpn), [#self-hosting](https://daily.dev/tags/self-hosting), [#homelab](https://daily.dev/tags/homelab), [#tailscale](https://daily.dev/tags/tailscale) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/i-almost-paid-my-isp-for-a-static-ip-but-a-free-tailscale-account-did-the-job-better-kdq3ebadc) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"I almost paid my ISP for a static IP, but a free Tailscale account did the job better","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/i-almost-paid-my-isp-for-a-static-ip-but-a-free-tailscale-account-did-the-job-better-kdq3ebadc","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/i-almost-paid-my-isp-for-a-static-ip-but-a-free-tailscale-account-did-the-job-better-kdq3ebadc"},"datePublished":"2026-07-19T12:01:14.440Z","dateModified":"2026-07-19T12:05:39.091Z","description":"Faced with CGNAT blocking external access to a homelab, the author nearly paid for a static IP from their ISP. 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