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SSO tax, cut

Blog post from Tailscale

Post Details
Company
Date Published
Author
Charlotte Brandhorst-Satzkorn
Word Count
1,037
Language
-
Hacker News Points
-
Summary

In 2023, Tailscale introduced a pricing structure that categorized Single Sign-On (SSO) identity providers into standard (free) and advanced (paid) tiers, but recently removed this distinction, allowing any OpenID Connect-compliant SSO provider to be used on any plan. This decision was motivated by the belief that SSO should be a basic security measure, not a premium feature, and the realization that charging extra for advanced identity providers inadvertently created an "SSO tax" that contradicted Tailscale's mission of promoting security as a default, not a luxury. While initially intended to align with user needs and security levels, the pricing model did not correlate with actual user requirements, prompting Tailscale to quickly eliminate the SSO tax in response to customer feedback, reinforcing their commitment to security accessibility and encouraging other companies to adopt similar practices.