Sunshine vs Mosh
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?
Sunshine
Self-hosted game-stream host for Moonlight clients
VS
Mosh
Mobile shell with roaming and intermittent connectivity
| Feature | Sunshine | Mosh |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Remote Access & VPN | Remote Access & VPN |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | C++ | C++ |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | bare-metal, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 39,962 | ★ 14,307 |
| First released | 2020 | 2012 |
| Replaces | NVIDIA GameStream, Parsec | SSH |
Why pick each one
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++
Choose Mosh if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Mature project with 14.3k GitHub stars
- Written in C++
Frequently asked questions
Is Sunshine or Mosh better?
Neither is universally better. Sunshine has the larger community, while Mosh is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Sunshine and Mosh free and open-source?
Yes. Sunshine is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Mosh under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Sunshine and Mosh with Docker?
Sunshine: yes. Mosh: check the project docs for container support.