Headscale vs Subspace
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
Subspace
Simple WireGuard VPN server with a web dashboard
| Feature | Headscale | Subspace |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Remote Access & VPN | Remote Access & VPN |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | MIT |
| Language | Go | HTML |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 42,612 | ★ 1,805 |
| First released | 2020 | 2019 |
| Replaces | Tailscale | OpenVPN Access Server, Twingate |
Why pick each one
Choose Subspace if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (1.8k GitHub stars)
Frequently asked questions
Is Headscale or Subspace better?
Neither is universally better. Headscale has the larger community, while Subspace is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Headscale and Subspace free and open-source?
Yes. Headscale is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and Subspace under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Headscale and Subspace with Docker?
Headscale: yes. Subspace: yes.