GoTTY 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?
| Feature | GoTTY | Tailscale |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Remote Access & VPN | Remote Access & VPN |
| License | MIT | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | binary, docker | binary, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 19,537 | ★ 34,934 |
| First released | 2015 | 2019 |
| Replaces | PuTTY | 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 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 GoTTY 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 GoTTY and Tailscale free and open-source?
Yes. GoTTY is licensed under MIT and Tailscale under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run GoTTY and Tailscale with Docker?
GoTTY: yes. Tailscale: check the project docs for container support.