NetBird vs Webmin
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?
NetBird
Connect devices into a secure WireGuard-based overlay network
VS
Webmin
Web-based system administration for Unix-like servers
| Feature | NetBird | Webmin |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Remote Access & VPN | Remote Access & VPN |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | Go | HTML |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, binary | bare-metal, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 28,139 | ★ 5,996 |
| First released | 2021 | 1997 |
| Replaces | Tailscale, ZeroTier | cPanel |
Why pick each one
Choose NetBird if…
- Released under the BSD-3-Clause license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
- Mature project with 28.1k GitHub stars
Choose Webmin if…
- Released under the BSD-3-Clause license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Mature project with 6k GitHub stars
- Written in HTML
Frequently asked questions
Is NetBird or Webmin better?
Neither is universally better. NetBird has the larger community, while Webmin is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are NetBird and Webmin free and open-source?
Yes. NetBird is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and Webmin under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run NetBird and Webmin with Docker?
NetBird: yes. Webmin: check the project docs for container support.