Chisel vs Cockpit
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted remote access & vpn options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Chisel
Fast TCP/UDP tunnel over HTTP secured by SSH
VS
Cockpit
Web-based graphical interface for Linux servers
| Feature | Chisel | Cockpit |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Remote Access & VPN | Remote Access & VPN |
| License | MIT | LGPL-2.1 |
| Language | Go | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | binary, docker | bare-metal, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 16,362 | ★ 14,842 |
| First released | 2015 | 2014 |
| Replaces | ngrok | Webmin |
Why pick each one
Choose Chisel if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 16.4k GitHub stars
- Written in Go
Choose Cockpit if…
- Released under the LGPL-2.1 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Mature project with 14.8k GitHub stars
- Written in JavaScript
Frequently asked questions
Is Chisel or Cockpit better?
Neither is universally better. Chisel has the larger community, while Cockpit is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Chisel and Cockpit free and open-source?
Yes. Chisel is licensed under MIT and Cockpit under LGPL-2.1. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Chisel and Cockpit with Docker?
Chisel: yes. Cockpit: check the project docs for container support.