JumpServer vs Tailscale
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?
Compare JumpServer with
choose an app… RustDesk frp Headscale Sunshine Algo VPN NetBird WG-Easy localtunnel Neko Teleport GoTTY Moonlight Nebula ZeroTier Chisel Cockpit Termix OpenVPN Mosh rathole noVNC FreeRDP SoftEther VPN EasyTier ttyd Netmaker Sliver bore Apollo RustDesk Server Docker OpenVPN Firezone sshx Warpgate TigerVNC GOST MeshCentral n2n wstunnel Outline Server Webmin Next Terminal innernet Wetty KasmVNC WebSSH Remotely Pritunl Wirehole Nexterm zrok expose websockify Tactical RMM OpenZiti Webtop Boundary WireGuard Apache Guacamole Eternal Terminal pgrok Bastillion Sshwifty Shell In A Box strongSwan Xpra Headplane Defguard WebSSH2 Snowflake SSH Client tinc Games on Whales ShellHub Selkies Aspia tunnelmole ztncui Subspace WireGuard Portal wayvnc PyRDP docker-baseimage-gui trzsz boringproxy SSHPiper Upterm Kasm Workspaces Headscale-Admin Wesher x11vnc Neko Rooms CloudTTY OpenConnect Server Apache Guacamole Lite gTunnel X2Go Guacozy Engity's Bifröst Cardea RPort Neutrinet SparkView
Compare Tailscale with
choose an app… RustDesk frp Headscale Sunshine Algo VPN NetBird WG-Easy localtunnel Neko Teleport GoTTY Moonlight Nebula ZeroTier Chisel Cockpit Termix OpenVPN Mosh rathole noVNC FreeRDP SoftEther VPN EasyTier ttyd Netmaker Sliver bore Apollo RustDesk Server Docker OpenVPN Firezone sshx Warpgate TigerVNC GOST MeshCentral n2n wstunnel Outline Server Webmin Next Terminal innernet Wetty KasmVNC WebSSH Remotely Pritunl Wirehole Nexterm zrok expose websockify Tactical RMM OpenZiti Webtop WireGuard Apache Guacamole Eternal Terminal pgrok Bastillion Sshwifty Shell In A Box strongSwan Xpra Headplane Defguard WebSSH2 Snowflake SSH Client tinc Games on Whales ShellHub Selkies Aspia tunnelmole ztncui Subspace WireGuard Portal wayvnc PyRDP docker-baseimage-gui trzsz boringproxy SSHPiper Upterm Kasm Workspaces Headscale-Admin Wesher x11vnc Neko Rooms CloudTTY OpenConnect Server Apache Guacamole Lite gTunnel X2Go Guacozy Engity's Bifröst Cardea RPort Neutrinet SparkView
Feature JumpServer Tailscale Category Remote Access & VPN Remote Access & VPN License GPL-3.0 BSD-3-Clause Language Python Go Setup difficulty Medium Easy Min. RAM 4,096 MB 64 MB Deployment docker, kubernetes binary, bare-metal GitHub stars ★ 31,230 ★ 34,934 First released 2014 2019 Replaces CyberArk, Teleport ZeroTier
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 Tailscale if… Released under the BSD-3-Clause license Easy to set up — beginner-friendly Mature project with 34.9k GitHub stars Written in Go Tailscale details
Frequently asked questions Is JumpServer or Tailscale better? Tailscale is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider JumpServer if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are JumpServer and Tailscale free and open-source? Yes. JumpServer is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Tailscale under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run JumpServer and Tailscale with Docker? JumpServer: yes. Tailscale: check the project docs for container support.