Chisel vs noVNC
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
noVNC
VNC client that runs entirely in the browser
| Feature | Chisel | noVNC |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Remote Access & VPN | Remote Access & VPN |
| License | MIT | MPL-2.0 |
| Language | Go | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | binary, docker | bare-metal, docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 16,362 | ★ 13,911 |
| First released | 2015 | 2010 |
| Replaces | ngrok | RealVNC |
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 noVNC if…
- Released under the MPL-2.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 13.9k GitHub stars
Frequently asked questions
Is Chisel or noVNC better?
Neither is universally better. Chisel has the larger community, while noVNC is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Chisel and noVNC free and open-source?
Yes. Chisel is licensed under MIT and noVNC under MPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Chisel and noVNC with Docker?
Chisel: yes. noVNC: yes.