Sunshine vs tunnelmole
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
tunnelmole
Open-source tunnel to expose local servers to the internet
| Feature | Sunshine | tunnelmole |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Remote Access & VPN | Remote Access & VPN |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | C++ | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | binary, docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 39,962 | ★ 1,885 |
| First released | 2020 | 2021 |
| Replaces | NVIDIA GameStream, Parsec | ngrok, localtunnel |
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 tunnelmole if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (1.9k GitHub stars)
Frequently asked questions
Is Sunshine or tunnelmole better?
Neither is universally better. Sunshine has the larger community, while tunnelmole is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Sunshine and tunnelmole free and open-source?
Yes. Sunshine is licensed under GPL-3.0 and tunnelmole under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Sunshine and tunnelmole with Docker?
Sunshine: yes. tunnelmole: yes.