Headplane vs Sunshine
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?
Headplane
Advanced web UI and control panel for Headscale
VS
Sunshine
Self-hosted game-stream host for Moonlight clients
| Feature | Headplane | Sunshine |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Remote Access & VPN | Remote Access & VPN |
| License | MPL-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | C++ |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,831 | ★ 39,962 |
| First released | 2024 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Tailscale Admin Console | NVIDIA GameStream, Parsec |
Why pick each one
Choose Headplane if…
- Released under the MPL-2.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (2.8k GitHub stars)
Choose Sunshine if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 40k GitHub stars
- Written in C++
Frequently asked questions
Is Headplane or Sunshine better?
Neither is universally better. Sunshine has the larger community, while Headplane is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Headplane and Sunshine free and open-source?
Yes. Headplane is licensed under MPL-2.0 and Sunshine under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Headplane and Sunshine with Docker?
Headplane: yes. Sunshine: yes.