rathole vs Teleport
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?
rathole
Lightweight and high-performance reverse proxy for NAT traversal
VS
Teleport
Identity-aware access for infrastructure
| Feature | rathole | Teleport |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Remote Access & VPN | Remote Access & VPN |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Rust | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | binary, docker | docker, kubernetes, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 13,999 | ★ 20,780 |
| First released | 2021 | 2016 |
| Replaces | ngrok, frp | Cisco AnyConnect, AWS Systems Manager |
Why pick each one
Choose rathole if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 14k GitHub stars
- Written in Rust
Choose Teleport if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
- Mature project with 20.8k GitHub stars
Frequently asked questions
Is rathole or Teleport better?
Neither is universally better. Teleport has the larger community, while rathole is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are rathole and Teleport free and open-source?
Yes. rathole is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Teleport under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run rathole and Teleport with Docker?
rathole: yes. Teleport: yes.