SHSelfHostIndex

Cockpit vs SoftEther VPN

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?
CO Cockpit Web-based graphical interface for Linux servers VS SO SoftEther VPN Multi-protocol VPN server from the University of Tsukuba
FeatureCockpitSoftEther VPN
CategoryRemote Access & VPNRemote Access & VPN
LicenseLGPL-2.1Apache-2.0
LanguageJavaScriptC
Setup difficultyEasyHard
Min. RAM128 MB256 MB
Deploymentbare-metal, binarybare-metal, binary
GitHub stars★ 14,842★ 13,447
First released20142014
ReplacesWebminCisco AnyConnect

Why pick each one

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
Cockpit details

Choose SoftEther VPN if…

  • Released under the Apache-2.0 license
  • Mature project with 13.4k GitHub stars
  • Written in C
  • Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
SoftEther VPN details

Frequently asked questions

Is Cockpit or SoftEther VPN better?

Cockpit is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider SoftEther VPN if its specific feature set fits your needs better.

Are Cockpit and SoftEther VPN free and open-source?

Yes. Cockpit is licensed under LGPL-2.1 and SoftEther VPN under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Cockpit and SoftEther VPN with Docker?

Cockpit: check the project docs for container support. SoftEther VPN: check the project docs for container support.

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