JumpServer vs Sunshine

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?
FeatureJumpServerSunshine
CategoryRemote Access & VPNRemote Access & VPN
LicenseGPL-3.0GPL-3.0
LanguagePythonC++
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM4,096 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, kubernetesdocker, binary
GitHub stars★ 31,230★ 39,962
First released20142020
ReplacesCyberArk, TeleportNVIDIA GameStream, Parsec

Why pick each one

Choose JumpServer if…

  • Released under the GPL-3.0 license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
  • Mature project with 31.2k GitHub stars
JumpServer details

Choose Sunshine if…

  • Released under the GPL-3.0 license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Mature project with 40k GitHub stars
  • Written in C++
Sunshine details

Frequently asked questions

Is JumpServer or Sunshine better?

Neither is universally better. Sunshine has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are JumpServer and Sunshine free and open-source?

Yes. JumpServer is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Sunshine under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run JumpServer and Sunshine with Docker?

JumpServer: yes. Sunshine: yes.

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