Sunshine vs TigerVNC
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
TigerVNC
High-performance, platform-neutral VNC implementation
| Feature | Sunshine | TigerVNC |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Remote Access & VPN | Remote Access & VPN |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | C++ | C++ |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | bare-metal, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 39,962 | ★ 7,368 |
| First released | 2020 | 2009 |
| Replaces | NVIDIA GameStream, Parsec | RealVNC |
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 TigerVNC if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- Mature project with 7.4k GitHub stars
- Written in C++
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Sunshine or TigerVNC 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 TigerVNC free and open-source?
Yes. Sunshine is licensed under GPL-3.0 and TigerVNC under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Sunshine and TigerVNC with Docker?
Sunshine: yes. TigerVNC: check the project docs for container support.