Pricing overview

Teleport implements a user-based pricing model, designed to scale with organizational needs from individual developers to large enterprises. The core principle involves charging per active user per month, with different plans offering varying levels of features, support, and compliance capabilities. This approach is common among software-as-a-service (SaaS) providers and identity and access management (IAM) solutions, where the value scales with the number of individuals requiring secure access to infrastructure resources Google Cloud's IAM documentation. Teleport's pricing structure ranges from a free, open-source Community Edition to tailored Enterprise solutions.

Each paid tier builds upon the features of the preceding one, primarily enhancing aspects like advanced security controls, dedicated support, and specialized compliance reporting. For instance, higher tiers typically include features such as single sign-on (SSO) integration with identity providers like Okta or Azure AD, audit log retention beyond standard periods, and multi-region deployment support. Organizations select a tier based on their operational requirements, security posture, and the number of users needing access to servers, Kubernetes clusters, databases, and applications managed through Teleport's unified access plane Teleport's official documentation.

Plans and tiers

Teleport offers four primary tiers: Community Edition, Starter, Business, and Enterprise. Each tier is designed to address different organizational scales and feature requirements. The paid plans are billed annually, with the stated prices reflecting a per-user, per-month cost when committed to an annual subscription.

Teleport Community Edition

  • Price: Free
  • Key Features: Core access capabilities for SSH, Kubernetes, Databases, Applications, and Desktops; open-source and self-hosted.
  • Best For: Individual developers, small teams, and open-source projects; testing and evaluation of Teleport's capabilities.

Teleport Starter

  • Price: $10 per user per month (billed annually)
  • Key Features: All Community Edition features, plus commercial support, cloud-hosted options, extended audit log retention, and basic integration with identity providers.
  • Key Limits: Up to 50 users.
  • Best For: Small to medium-sized businesses requiring commercial support and cloud-hosting convenience.

Teleport Business

  • Price: $18 per user per month (billed annually)
  • Key Features: All Starter features, plus advanced identity provider integrations (e.g., Okta, Azure AD, SAML, OIDC), enhanced session recording, and advanced access controls.
  • Key Limits: Up to 500 users.
  • Best For: Growing businesses needing robust identity management and comprehensive access controls.

Teleport Enterprise

  • Price: Custom pricing
  • Key Features: All Business features, plus unlimited users, dedicated support, multi-region deployment, advanced compliance reporting (e.g., SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA, PCI DSS), and professional services.
  • Best For: Large organizations with complex infrastructure, strict compliance requirements, and a need for dedicated support and custom solutions.

Plan Comparison Table

Plan Price (per user/month) Key Limits Best For
Community Edition Free Self-hosted, community support Individuals, small teams, evaluation
Starter $10 (billed annually) Up to 50 users Small-to-medium businesses needing commercial support
Business $18 (billed annually) Up to 500 users Growing businesses with advanced identity needs
Enterprise Custom Unlimited users Large organizations, strict compliance, dedicated support

For detailed feature breakdowns and specific service level agreements (SLAs) for paid tiers, organizations should consult the official Teleport pricing page.

Free tier and limits

Teleport offers a robust free tier known as the Community Edition. This edition is open-source and provides the fundamental capabilities of Teleport, allowing users to secure access to SSH servers, Kubernetes clusters, databases, web applications, and Windows Desktops. The Community Edition is self-hosted, meaning users are responsible for deploying and managing the Teleport infrastructure themselves, typically on their own cloud or on-premises environments Teleport installation documentation.

Key limits and considerations for the Community Edition include:

  • Support: Support is primarily community-driven through forums and open-source channels, without guaranteed response times or dedicated support personnel.
  • Features: While core access features are available, advanced capabilities such as cloud-hosted options, extended audit log retention, dedicated identity provider integrations (beyond basic local users or simple LDAP), and advanced compliance reporting are reserved for paid tiers.
  • Scalability: The Community Edition can be scaled to support a significant number of resources and users, but the operational burden of managing the infrastructure, backups, and high availability falls entirely on the user.
  • Audit Logs: Audit log retention might be limited by local storage or configuration, lacking the centralized, long-term retention and immutable storage features often required for compliance that are available in higher tiers.

The Community Edition serves as an entry point for developers and smaller teams to implement secure access practices without an upfront financial commitment. It also provides a foundational understanding of Teleport's architecture and operational model before considering an upgrade to a commercial plan.

Real-world cost examples

To illustrate Teleport's pricing, consider the following scenarios based on its user-based subscription model (all paid plans assume annual billing):

Scenario 1: Small Development Team

  • Team Size: 15 developers
  • Requirements: Secure SSH and Kubernetes access, commercial support, cloud-hosted convenience.
  • Recommended Plan: Starter
  • Calculation: 15 users * $10/user/month = $150/month
  • Annual Cost: $1,800 annually

This team benefits from Teleport hosting and support without needing extensive identity integrations for their size.

Scenario 2: Growing Mid-sized Company

  • Team Size: 75 engineers and operations staff
  • Requirements: Secure access to SSH, Kubernetes, Databases, and Applications; integration with Okta for SSO; robust audit logging for compliance.
  • Recommended Plan: Business
  • Calculation: 75 users * $18/user/month = $1,350/month
  • Annual Cost: $16,200 annually

The Business plan provides the necessary advanced identity features and broader access management capabilities for a company with a larger and more diverse infrastructure footprint.

Scenario 3: Large Enterprise with Strict Compliance

  • Team Size: 750 users (developers, SREs, DBAs, security personnel)
  • Requirements: Secure access across global multi-cloud environment; integration with multiple identity providers; 5+ years audit log retention; SOC 2 Type II and HIPAA compliance reporting; dedicated account management and professional services.
  • Recommended Plan: Enterprise
  • Calculation: Custom pricing (typically based on usage, features, and support level)
  • Estimated Cost: Will vary significantly based on negotiated terms. Enterprises in this category often negotiate volume discounts, specific SLAs, and specialized feature sets.

The Enterprise plan is tailored to meet the specific demands of large organizations, which often involve complex integrations and stringent regulatory requirements Notion's compliance program details.

How the pricing compares

Teleport operates in the privileged access management (PAM) and secure infrastructure access market. Its pricing model, based on user count and annual subscriptions, is a common approach in this sector. Key alternatives include HashiCorp Boundary and StrongDM, each with distinct pricing philosophies.

Teleport vs. HashiCorp Boundary

  • Teleport: Offers a comprehensive unified access plane with a free Community Edition, then scales with per-user annual subscriptions ($10-$18/user/month for Starter and Business editions, custom for Enterprise). It covers SSH, Kubernetes, databases, applications, and desktops.
  • HashiCorp Boundary: Provides secure remote access to systems without VPNs. Boundary's open-source version is free. Its commercial offering, Boundary Enterprise, also features user-based licensing, but specific public pricing for Enterprise tiers is typically not published and requires direct engagement with HashiCorp sales HashiCorp Boundary product page. Boundary focuses heavily on brokering connections rather than directly managing various resource types like Teleport does.
  • Comparison: Teleport generally provides more direct control and management over various resource types within its platform. Boundary, while effective for brokered access, may require additional tooling for comprehensive identity and access management across diverse infrastructure components.

Teleport vs. StrongDM

  • Teleport: Focuses on a unified access plane, with pricing starting at $10/user/month, scaling up to custom enterprise rates. It emphasizes self-hosting options and open-source transparency.
  • StrongDM: Also offers a unified access platform for databases, servers, Kubernetes, and web applications. StrongDM's pricing is user-based, similar to Teleport. While specific public pricing is often behind a contact form, it is generally positioned for enterprise customers with potentially higher price points due to its extensive feature set and focus on large deployments StrongDM's pricing overview.
  • Comparison: Both offer robust feature sets for secure access. StrongDM might appeal to organizations prioritizing a fully managed, high-touch service with extensive compliance and audit features out-of-the-box, potentially at a premium. Teleport provides a strong alternative with its open-source foundation, flexible deployment options (self-hosted or cloud-hosted), and clear, publicly available pricing for its lower tiers, making it accessible to a broader range of organizations.

Organizations evaluating these solutions consider not just the per-user cost but also the total cost of ownership, including deployment, maintenance, feature set alignment with specific use cases, and the level of support required.