Chisel vs Mosh
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
Mosh
Mobile shell with roaming and intermittent connectivity
| Feature | Chisel | Mosh |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Remote Access & VPN | Remote Access & VPN |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | C++ |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | binary, docker | bare-metal, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 16,362 | ★ 14,307 |
| First released | 2015 | 2012 |
| Replaces | ngrok | SSH |
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 Mosh if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Mature project with 14.3k GitHub stars
- Written in C++
Frequently asked questions
Is Chisel or Mosh better?
Neither is universally better. Chisel has the larger community, while Mosh is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Chisel and Mosh free and open-source?
Yes. Chisel is licensed under MIT and Mosh under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Chisel and Mosh with Docker?
Chisel: yes. Mosh: check the project docs for container support.