Headscale vs ttyd
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?
| Feature | Headscale | ttyd |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Remote Access & VPN | Remote Access & VPN |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | MIT |
| Language | Go | C |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | binary, docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 42,612 | ★ 12,165 |
| First released | 2020 | 2016 |
| Replaces | Tailscale | PuTTY |
Why pick each one
Choose ttyd if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 12.2k GitHub stars
Frequently asked questions
Is Headscale or ttyd better?
Neither is universally better. Headscale has the larger community, while ttyd is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Headscale and ttyd free and open-source?
Yes. Headscale is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and ttyd under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Headscale and ttyd with Docker?
Headscale: yes. ttyd: yes.