Comparison

Tailscale vs Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange

Tailscale is a plugin bundle for AI coding tools published by Cursor. Marketplaces we read that list it: 1 (Cursor: cursor/plugins). Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange is an MCP server published by zscaler. Marketplaces we read that list it: 5 (Official MCP Registry, Claude Code: claude-plugins-official, Docker MCP Catalog, Claude Code: claude-plugins-community, Community GitHub marketplaces). As of our marketplace pass on 2026-10-17. This pair was picked by a reader, not by our comparison rule, so search engines are asked not to index the page.

Where each is published

Where each is published
Marketplace	Tailscale	Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange
Cursor: cursor/plugins	Listed Version: 1.0.0 Forks (GitHub): 1 158 Stars (GitHub): 11 894 Not marked · First seen 2026-10-13	Not listed
Official MCP Registry	Not listed	Listed Version: 0.15.4 Downloads/month (PyPI): 1 348 Downloads/week (PyPI): 370 Forks (GitHub): 33 Stars (GitHub): 49 Not marked · First seen 2026-10-11
Claude Code: claude-plugins-official	Not listed	Listed Version: 0.15.4 Forks (GitHub): 33 Stars (GitHub): 49 Not marked · First seen 2026-10-11
Docker MCP Catalog	Not listed	Listed Version: sha256:a3951ea456e1 Forks (GitHub): 33 Pulls (Docker Hub): 7 125 Stars (Docker Hub): 0 Stars (GitHub): 49 Not marked · First seen 2026-10-11
Claude Code: claude-plugins-community	Not listed	Listed Version: 0.15.0 Forks (GitHub): 33 Stars (GitHub): 49 Not marked · First seen 2026-10-12

Each figure is the marketplace's own and is never added up across marketplaces. A marketplace that publishes no figure shows none: no number is not zero.

The facts side by side

Tailscale vs Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange
Fact	Tailscale	Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange
Marketplaces that list it (differs)	1 (worse)	5 (better)
Stars (GitHub) (differs)	11 894 (better)	49 (worse)
Pulls (Docker Hub) (differs)	No figure on Docker Hub	7 125
Forks (GitHub) (differs)	1 158 (better)	33 (worse)
Last release	Not published	Not published
Where it runs (differs)	Installs as a plugin bundle	On your machine (zscaler-mcp)
Transport (differs)	Not stated	stdio
Tools it declares (differs)	Not published	302
Environment variables it asks for (differs)	Not published	10, secrets among them: 5
Parts of the bundle (differs)	1	28
Licence	MIT	MIT
Repository (differs)	github.com/cursor/plugins	github.com/zscaler/zscaler-mcp-server
Changes in the last 7 days	2	2
First seen (differs)	2026-10-13	2026-10-11

Lines where the two differ have a tinted background and bold values. Where the data itself says which value is better (more marketplaces, a larger figure of the same marketplace, a fresher release, a verified mark on a marketplace that lists both), the better one is also marked green with ▲ and the worse one red with ▼. Where it runs, the transport, the tools, the settings, hooks, the bundle's parts, the licence and the week's changes are marked only as different: more or fewer is not better in itself.

What each says it does

Tailscale

In its own words, on Cursor: cursor/plugins:

Let Grok Bot reach MCP servers on your private Tailscale network. Sign in to Tailscale to connect your tailnet; Grok Bot joins it as one tagged device and only reaches the hosts you grant to tag:grokbot.

Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange

In its own words, on Official MCP Registry:

Manage Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange via 400+ tools — ZPA, ZIA, ZDX, ZCC, ZTW, ZMS, EASM, and more.

How to run each

Tailscale

No data for an automatic command: what its marketplaces declare does not say unambiguously how to connect it.

Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange As a local MCP server: PyPI package

Claude Code

claude mcp add --env "ZSCALER_CLIENT_ID=<YOUR_ZSCALER_CLIENT_ID>" --env "ZSCALER_CLIENT_SECRET=<YOUR_ZSCALER_CLIENT_SECRET>" --env "ZSCALER_CUSTOMER_ID=<YOUR_ZSCALER_CUSTOMER_ID>" --env "ZSCALER_VANITY_DOMAIN=<YOUR_ZSCALER_VANITY_DOMAIN>" --transport stdio zscaler-mcp-server -- uvx zscaler-mcp

Requires: ZSCALER_CLIENT_ID (secret), ZSCALER_CLIENT_SECRET (secret), ZSCALER_CUSTOMER_ID, ZSCALER_VANITY_DOMAIN

Commands built only from what the marketplaces declare; the full set for every client is on each card.

Tools each declares

The marketplaces of Tailscale publish no list of tools, so we do not compare tools.

Settings each asks for

The marketplaces of Tailscale publish no settings it asks for, so we do not compare settings.

What it can do: Tailscale · What it can do: Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange · Compare two other plugins

Data comes from the public marketplace file https://github.com/cursor/plugins/blob/HEAD/.cursor-plugin/marketplace.json. Data comes from the Official MCP Registry (registry.modelcontextprotocol.io), CC0 1.0. Data comes from the public marketplace file https://github.com/anthropics/claude-plugins-official/blob/HEAD/.claude-plugin/marketplace.json. Data comes from the Docker MCP Catalog (desktop.docker.com/mcp/catalog) and Docker Hub. Data comes from the public marketplace file https://github.com/anthropics/claude-plugins-community/blob/HEAD/.claude-plugin/marketplace.json. Data comes from public marketplace files in GitHub repositories of their authors. Figures come from our own regular passes over the marketplaces, last read on 2026-10-17. We publish no contact details for plugin publishers.