Eternal Terminal vs Sunshine
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?
Eternal Terminal
Remote terminal that survives network changes
VS
Sunshine
Self-hosted game-stream host for Moonlight clients
| Feature | Eternal Terminal | Sunshine |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Remote Access & VPN | Remote Access & VPN |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | C++ | C++ |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, binary | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,839 | ★ 39,962 |
| First released | 2016 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Mosh | NVIDIA GameStream, Parsec |
Why pick each one
Choose Eternal Terminal if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Active community (3.8k GitHub stars)
- Written in C++
Choose Sunshine if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 40k GitHub stars
- Written in C++
Frequently asked questions
Is Eternal Terminal or Sunshine better?
Neither is universally better. Sunshine has the larger community, while Eternal Terminal is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Eternal Terminal and Sunshine free and open-source?
Yes. Eternal Terminal is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Sunshine under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Eternal Terminal and Sunshine with Docker?
Eternal Terminal: check the project docs for container support. Sunshine: yes.