Zayo vs ZeroTier
A detailed comparison to help you choose between Zayo and ZeroTier.
Quick Verdict
3.3/5
Zayo
0 reviews
3.7/5
ZeroTier
0 reviews
ZeroTier is rated higher (3.7 vs 3.3). More than 240,000 route miles and 34 million fiber miles worldwide across North America, Europe and global reach (2026 figures) ZeroTier creates virtual Ethernet networks over the internet. Connect servers, VMs, and devices as if on the same LAN. Personal plan is free for 10 devices (non-commercial). SDN-based layer-2 architecture.
Zayo Fiber network and colocation carrier | ZeroTier Virtual networking — Ethernet over the internet | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Rating | 3.3 (0 reviews) | 3.7 (0 reviews)✓ |
| Pricing model | paid | freemium |
| Starting price | Free tier available | Free tier available |
| Best for | Enterprises, carriers and content operators buying dedicated transport capacity — dark fiber, 100G/400G wavelengths, private networks and colocation cross-connects — across North America and Western Europe | Homelab operators, LAN-dependent software, and device-heavy, user-light fleets that need a flat virtual Ethernet network |
| Features | ||
| IPv6 | ✓ | |
| DDoS protection | ✓ | |
| Automated backups | ||
| Snapshots | ||
| Managed option | ||
| Bare metal | ||
| GPU available | ||
| S3-compatible | ||
| Hourly billing | ||
| Free tier | ✓ | |
| Tags | ||
| Tags | eu datacenterus datacenterprivate networking | free tieropen sourceapi access |
| Visit Zayo → | Visit ZeroTier → | |
Zayo
Pros
- + Tier-1 backbone: 240,000+ route miles, 11+ unique North American long-haul routes and genuine path diversity
- + Specific published SLAs (99.9% unprotected, 99.95% protected; 100% CloudLink guarantee) rather than marketing uptime claims
- + Real network-based DDoS mitigation (50 Tb+ capacity) with 24/7 NOC and SOC operations
- + Deep transport portfolio — dark fiber, 400G/800G wavelengths, Ethernet, IP transit, colocation — under one contract
Cons
- - No public pricing and no self-serve anything: quote-based, multi-year, engineer-installed
- - Procurement and install timelines are long; not viable for small or urgent deployments
- - APAC presence is subsea reach and partner interconnect, not owned metro fiber
- - Carrier-grade support experience is inconsistent in public enterprise forums; negotiate escalation terms
ZeroTier
Pros
- + True layer-2 virtual Ethernet: broadcast and multicast work, unlike WireGuard-based overlays
- + Free Personal plan covers a 10-device homelab with no time limit
- + Native IPv6 support with RFC 4193, 6PLANE /80 delegation and public prefix routing
- + Lightweight agents (under 16 MB memory) with broad platform support including MikroTik and Docker
- + Direct peer-to-peer paths keep traffic off vendor infrastructure when NAT traversal succeeds
Cons
- - Free tier shrank to 10 devices, one network, non-commercial only; no API without a paid plan
- - No forward secrecy in its Salsa20/Poly1305 protocol, unlike WireGuard-based rivals
- - Since v1.16 the controller is non-commercial source-available; commercial self-hosting means Enterprise
- - Relayed fallback traffic is slow, and paid Premium Relays are still listed as coming soon
- - Monthly-only, non-refundable subscriptions with configuration lockout if payment lapses
Stay in the loop
Get weekly updates on the best new hosting and infrastructure providers, deals, and comparisons.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.