GoTTY vs rathole
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
rathole
Lightweight and high-performance reverse proxy for NAT traversal
| Feature | GoTTY | rathole |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Remote Access & VPN | Remote Access & VPN |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Go | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | binary, docker | binary, docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 19,537 | ★ 13,999 |
| First released | 2015 | 2021 |
| Replaces | PuTTY | ngrok, frp |
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 rathole if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 14k GitHub stars
- Written in Rust
Frequently asked questions
Is GoTTY or rathole better?
GoTTY is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider rathole if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are GoTTY and rathole free and open-source?
Yes. GoTTY is licensed under MIT and rathole under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run GoTTY and rathole with Docker?
GoTTY: yes. rathole: yes.