Guacozy 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?
Guacozy
Cozy Guacamole-based remote-access connection manager
VS
NetBird
Connect devices into a secure WireGuard-based overlay network
| Feature | Guacozy | NetBird |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Remote Access & VPN | Remote Access & VPN |
| License | MIT | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | Python | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker | docker, kubernetes, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 197 | ★ 28,139 |
| First released | 2020 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Apache Guacamole | Tailscale, ZeroTier |
Why pick each one
Choose Guacozy if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Python
- Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
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 Guacozy 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 Guacozy and NetBird free and open-source?
Yes. Guacozy is licensed under MIT and NetBird under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Guacozy and NetBird with Docker?
Guacozy: yes. NetBird: yes.