Headscale vs trzsz
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
trzsz
File transfer over SSH with progress and resume
| Feature | Headscale | trzsz |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Remote Access & VPN | Remote Access & VPN |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | MIT |
| Language | Go | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 42,612 | ★ 1,439 |
| First released | 2020 | 2022 |
| Replaces | Tailscale | lrzsz, SCP |
Why pick each one
Choose trzsz if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Active community (1.4k GitHub stars)
- Written in Python
Frequently asked questions
Is Headscale or trzsz better?
Neither is universally better. Headscale has the larger community, while trzsz is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Headscale and trzsz free and open-source?
Yes. Headscale is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and trzsz under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Headscale and trzsz with Docker?
Headscale: yes. trzsz: check the project docs for container support.