GoTTY vs NetBird
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?
GoTTY
Share your terminal as a web application
VS
NetBird
Connect devices into a secure WireGuard-based overlay network
| Feature | GoTTY | NetBird |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Remote Access & VPN | Remote Access & VPN |
| License | MIT | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | binary, docker | docker, kubernetes, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 19,537 | ★ 28,139 |
| First released | 2015 | 2021 |
| Replaces | PuTTY | Tailscale, ZeroTier |
Why pick each one
Choose GoTTY if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 19.5k GitHub stars
Choose NetBird if…
- Released under the BSD-3-Clause license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
- Mature project with 28.1k GitHub stars
Frequently asked questions
Is GoTTY or NetBird better?
Neither is universally better. NetBird has the larger community, while GoTTY is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are GoTTY and NetBird free and open-source?
Yes. GoTTY is licensed under MIT and NetBird under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run GoTTY and NetBird with Docker?
GoTTY: yes. NetBird: yes.