rathole 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?
rathole
Lightweight and high-performance reverse proxy for NAT traversal
VS
ZeroTier
Global virtual network for connecting devices anywhere
| Feature | rathole | ZeroTier |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Remote Access & VPN | Remote Access & VPN |
| License | Apache-2.0 | BSL-1.1 |
| Language | Rust | C++ |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | binary, docker | binary, docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 13,999 | ★ 16,988 |
| First released | 2021 | 2014 |
| Replaces | ngrok, frp | Tailscale |
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 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 rathole or ZeroTier better?
Neither is universally better. ZeroTier has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are rathole and ZeroTier free and open-source?
Yes. rathole is licensed under Apache-2.0 and ZeroTier under BSL-1.1. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run rathole and ZeroTier with Docker?
rathole: yes. ZeroTier: yes.