Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Headscale VS NetBird

Compare Headscale VS NetBird and see what are their differences

Headscale logo Headscale

An open source, self-hosted implementation of the Tailscale control server

NetBird logo NetBird

Connect your devices into a single secure private WireGuard®-based mesh network with SSO/MFA and manage access with just a few clicks.
  • Headscale Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-20
  • NetBird Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-20

Headscale videos

Testing out headscale locally for homelab setup

More videos:

  • Review - Tutorial: Using Tailscale Overlay Network VPN with the Self Hosted Headscale Controller

NetBird videos

No NetBird videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Headscale and NetBird)
VPN
59 59%
41% 41
Cloud VPN
60 60%
40% 40
Security & Privacy
62 62%
38% 38
Localhost Tools
53 53%
47% 47

User comments

Share your experience with using Headscale and NetBird. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Headscale should be more popular than NetBird. It has been mentiond 42 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Headscale mentions (42)

  • List of ngrok/Cloudflare Tunnel alternatives and other tunneling software and services. Focus on self-hosting.
    Headscale - Open source implementation of Tailscale control server. Can be used with Tailscale's official open source client. Written in Go. - Source: dev.to / 15 days ago
  • Securely Accessing Private AWS Resources from GitHub Actions with TailScale
    One more thing, you can host Tailscale Control Server yourself if you want, which is a plus. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • A word of caution about Tailscale
    Https://github.com/juanfont/headscale not to mention but Tailscale has a very good culture, I’m sure they would give notice if they pull the rug. There are also many alternatives such as Zerotier and more are showing up every day and open source options. Source: 5 months ago
  • Connecting several hundreds IoT (raspberry pi's) devices with a VPN
    How about self-hosted Tailscale, known as Headscale. Source: 5 months ago
  • Mullvad on Tailscale: Privately browse the web
    You can run your own "head scale" control server and use their clients with it: https://github.com/juanfont/headscale Requires a lot more setup, but it is an option. I've been self-hosting headscale for some time and it is quite stable. - Source: Hacker News / 8 months ago
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NetBird mentions (8)

  • AWS Lambda Serverless Security. Mistakes, Oversights, and Potential Vulnerabilities
    The best way to securely connect your functions to your other resources is with an encrypted mesh network like NetBird. NetBird lets you link your infrastructure together using a zero-config private WireGuard network that works across cloud, serverless, and on-premise infrastructure. - Source: dev.to / 12 days ago
  • Using NetBird for Kubernetes Access
    NetBird simplifies Kubernetes access with its zero-configuration approach, leveraging WireGuard's simplicity and strength. It seamlessly integrates with various tools, offering transparency and high reliability as an open source solution. - Source: dev.to / 16 days ago
  • NetMaker: Connect Everything with a WireGuard VPN
    I'd add to that list Netbird, which is the one I ended up using after trying all of the above. https://netbird.io/. - Source: Hacker News / 9 months ago
  • Tailscale vs. Narrowlink
    Another option in this space is https://netbird.io/ Unfortunately they still don't have an iOS client (which e.g. Tailscale and ZeroTier has). - Source: Hacker News / 9 months ago
  • Is there a WebUI for multi-tenant OpenVPN setup?
    Why OpenVPN? If the type is not important then use netbird.io it uses Wireguard and can have subnets. Source: 12 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Headscale and NetBird, you can also consider the following products

TailScale - Private networks made easy Connect all your devices using WireGuard, without the hassle. Tailscale makes it as easy as installing an app and signing in.

Netmaker - Netmaker automates mesh VPN's and software-defined networks using WireGuard.

zrok - Next-generation sharing platform built on top of OpenZiti

ZeroTier - Extremely simple P2P Encrypted VPN

ngrok - ngrok enables secure introspectable tunnels to localhost webhook development tool and debugging tool.

OpenVPN - OpenVPN - The Open Source VPN