GOST vs tunnelmole
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted remote access & vpn options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | GOST | tunnelmole |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 91 · Excellent | 66 · Good |
| Category | Remote Access & VPN | Remote Access & VPN |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | Go | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | binary, docker | binary, docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 7,527 | ★ 1,892 |
| First released | 2017 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Chisel, ngrok | ngrok, localtunnel |
What are GOST and tunnelmole?
GOST
GOST is an open-source command-line tool that provides flexible secure tunneling and proxying with support for many protocols. It is self-hosted to build relay chains and forward traffic.
- Multi-protocol tunneling
- Relay chaining
- Port forwarding
- Single binary
tunnelmole
Tunnelmole is an open-source tunneling tool that gives local web servers a public URL. The client and server are both open source so the entire service can be self-hosted.
- Public URLs for local apps
- Self-hostable server
- No signup needed
- Cross-platform client
GOST vs tunnelmole: key differences
GOST is written in Go, while tunnelmole is built with TypeScript. GOST is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 128 MB for tunnelmole. GOST is the more established project (first released 2017), while tunnelmole arrived in 2021. GOST has the considerably larger community, at 7,527 GitHub stars versus 1,892.
Why pick each one
Choose GOST if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 7.5k GitHub stars
- Written in Go
Choose tunnelmole if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (1.9k GitHub stars)
Frequently asked questions
Is GOST or tunnelmole better?
Neither is universally better. GOST has the larger community, while tunnelmole is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are GOST and tunnelmole free and open-source?
Yes. GOST is licensed under MIT and tunnelmole under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run GOST and tunnelmole with Docker?
GOST: yes. tunnelmole: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, GOST or tunnelmole?
GOST has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 128 MB for tunnelmole. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.