SHSelfHostIndex

Sunshine vs Docker OpenVPN

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?
SU Sunshine Self-hosted game-stream host for Moonlight clients VS DO Docker OpenVPN OpenVPN server in a Docker container
FeatureSunshineDocker OpenVPN
CategoryRemote Access & VPNRemote Access & VPN
LicenseGPL-3.0MIT
LanguageC++Shell
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM512 MB128 MB
Deploymentdocker, binarydocker
GitHub stars★ 39,962★ 9,088
First released20202014
ReplacesNVIDIA GameStream, ParsecNordVPN

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++
Sunshine details

Choose Docker OpenVPN if…

  • Released under the MIT license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Mature project with 9.1k GitHub stars
  • Written in Shell
Docker OpenVPN details

Frequently asked questions

Is Sunshine or Docker OpenVPN 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 Sunshine and Docker OpenVPN free and open-source?

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

Can I run Sunshine and Docker OpenVPN with Docker?

Sunshine: yes. Docker OpenVPN: yes.

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