Headscale vs Wirehole
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
Wirehole
WireGuard, Pi-hole, and Unbound in one compose stack
| Feature | Headscale | Wirehole |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Remote Access & VPN | Remote Access & VPN |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | MIT |
| Language | Go | Shell |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 42,612 | ★ 4,967 |
| First released | 2020 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Tailscale | NordVPN |
Why pick each one
Choose Wirehole if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (5k GitHub stars)
Frequently asked questions
Is Headscale or Wirehole better?
Neither is universally better. Headscale has the larger community, while Wirehole is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Headscale and Wirehole free and open-source?
Yes. Headscale is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and Wirehole under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Headscale and Wirehole with Docker?
Headscale: yes. Wirehole: yes.