SHSelfHostIndex

Apache Guacamole 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?
AP Apache Guacamole Clientless remote desktop gateway in your browser VS NE NetBird Connect devices into a secure WireGuard-based overlay network
FeatureApache GuacamoleNetBird
CategoryRemote Access & VPNRemote Access & VPN
LicenseApache-2.0BSD-3-Clause
LanguageCGo
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM1,024 MB256 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metaldocker, kubernetes, binary
GitHub stars★ 3,942★ 28,139
First released20162021
ReplacesTeamViewer, CitrixTailscale, ZeroTier

Why pick each one

Choose Apache Guacamole if…

  • Released under the Apache-2.0 license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Active community (3.9k GitHub stars)
  • Written in C
Apache Guacamole details

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
NetBird details

Frequently asked questions

Is Apache Guacamole or NetBird better?

Neither is universally better. NetBird has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Apache Guacamole and NetBird free and open-source?

Yes. Apache Guacamole is licensed under Apache-2.0 and NetBird under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Apache Guacamole and NetBird with Docker?

Apache Guacamole: yes. NetBird: yes.

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