cephvsheadscale
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| ceph | headscale | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 78/100 | 82/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 7 in Distributed Storage | #1 of 31 in Networking |
| GitHub stars | 17 178 | 45 162 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +107 | +1 055 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 0 | 7 |
| Latest release | — | v0.29.6 · 24 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Advanced | Moderate |
| Official Docker image | Yes | Yes |
| License | Other | BSD-3-Clause |
| Main language | C | Go |
Which one should you pick?
headscale scores 82/100 against 78/100 for ceph, so it is the safer default.
headscale ships more often: 7 stable releases in the past year, against 0 for ceph.
If you want the quickest setup, headscale is easier to run; ceph needs more configuration.
headscale is growing faster right now (+1 055 stars in 30 days).
ceph details →headscale details →
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