Eternal Terminal vs Tailscale
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
Tailscale
Zero-config mesh VPN built on WireGuard
| Feature | Eternal Terminal | Tailscale |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Remote Access & VPN | Remote Access & VPN |
| License | Apache-2.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | C++ | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, binary | binary, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,839 | ★ 34,934 |
| First released | 2016 | 2019 |
| Replaces | Mosh | ZeroTier |
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 Tailscale if…
- Released under the BSD-3-Clause license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Mature project with 34.9k GitHub stars
- Written in Go
Frequently asked questions
Is Eternal Terminal or Tailscale better?
Neither is universally better. Tailscale has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Eternal Terminal and Tailscale free and open-source?
Yes. Eternal Terminal is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Tailscale under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Eternal Terminal and Tailscale with Docker?
Eternal Terminal: check the project docs for container support. Tailscale: check the project docs for container support.