Compare / Headscale vs NetBird
Headscale vs NetBird
Pick Headscale if you want a Tailscale-compatible control server and keep official Tailscale clients (the published c17 stack). Pick NetBird if you want their clients and UI — management/signal/relay are AGPL-3.0 from v0.53.0.
Facts checked 18 Oct 2026. License, language, and GitHub activity come from the catalog or the project's own repo. "Not in the catalog row" means the public catalog dump does not store that number.
Headscale in the catalog NetBird in the catalogStart on Railway
How they compare
| Headscale | NetBird | |
|---|---|---|
| License | BSD-3-Clause (juanfont/headscale) source | BSD-3-Clause except management/signal/relay/combined: AGPL-3.0 source |
| Language | Go (catalog) | Go (catalog) |
| GitHub activity | 44,763 stars in the catalog source | 30,050 stars in the catalog source |
| Self-host | Control server + official Tailscale clients. | NetBird management + their clients. Dashboard repo is AGPLv3. |
| Best for | A Tailscale-shaped mesh you coordinate. | A WireGuard mesh with NetBird's own UI. |
Self-hosting and resource needs
Headscale is BSD-3-Clause (juanfont/headscale). Point official Tailscale clients at your server; persist the node database. NetBird's root LICENSE keeps BSD-3-Clause except management/, signal/, relay/, and combined/, which are AGPL-3.0 (netbird.io AGPL announcement, Aug 2025). Public tunnels stay on /stacks/frp-tunnel. This is not every Tailscale ACL or exit-node SKU.
FAQ
- Do I keep the Tailscale app?
- With Headscale, yes — point the official client at your server. NetBird uses its own clients. That is the stack FAQ.
- Is this ngrok?
- No. frp is a public tunnel (/replace/ngrok). This pair is private mesh networking.
- Are these free?
- Headscale is BSD-3-Clause. NetBird's split is BSD-3 / AGPL-3.0 as listed. You pay the coordination box.
- How do I deploy Headscale?
- Open /stacks/headscale-vpn. Persist the database, issue a preauth key, join one client.
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