Headscale vs Pritunl
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?
Headscale
Open-source self-hosted Tailscale control server
VS
Pritunl
Enterprise VPN server built on OpenVPN and WireGuard
| Feature | Headscale | Pritunl |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Remote Access & VPN | Remote Access & VPN |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | bare-metal, docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 42,612 | ★ 4,997 |
| First released | 2020 | 2013 |
| Replaces | Tailscale | OpenVPN Access Server |
Why pick each one
Choose Pritunl if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (5k GitHub stars)
- Written in Python
Frequently asked questions
Is Headscale or Pritunl better?
Neither is universally better. Headscale has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Headscale and Pritunl free and open-source?
Yes. Headscale is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and Pritunl under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Headscale and Pritunl with Docker?
Headscale: yes. Pritunl: yes.