Nebula vs ZeroTier
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?
Nebula
Scalable overlay networking tool from Slack
VS
ZeroTier
Global virtual network for connecting devices anywhere
| Feature | Nebula | ZeroTier |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Remote Access & VPN | Remote Access & VPN |
| License | MIT | BSL-1.1 |
| Language | Go | C++ |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | binary, bare-metal | binary, docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 17,591 | ★ 16,988 |
| First released | 2019 | 2014 |
| Replaces | Tailscale | Tailscale |
Why pick each one
Choose Nebula if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Mature project with 17.6k GitHub stars
- Written in Go
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Choose ZeroTier if…
- Released under the BSL-1.1 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 17k GitHub stars
- Written in C++
Frequently asked questions
Is Nebula or ZeroTier better?
Neither is universally better. Nebula has the larger community, while ZeroTier is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Nebula and ZeroTier free and open-source?
Yes. Nebula is licensed under MIT and ZeroTier under BSL-1.1. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Nebula and ZeroTier with Docker?
Nebula: check the project docs for container support. ZeroTier: yes.