ESPHomevsTailscale
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| ESPHome | Tailscale | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 78/100 | 84/100 |
| Rank in category | #4 of 104 in Home Automation | #1 of 56 in VPN |
| GitHub stars | 11 978 | 38 257 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +256 | +1 415 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 46 | 14 |
| Latest release | 2026.10.1 · 27 Oct 2026 | v1.104.4 · 27 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate | Moderate |
| Official Docker image | Yes | No |
| License | Other | BSD-3-Clause |
| Main language | C | Go |
Which one should you pick?
Tailscale scores 84/100 against 78/100 for ESPHome, so it is the safer default.
ESPHome ships more often: 46 stable releases in the past year, against 14 for Tailscale.
Tailscale is growing faster right now (+1 415 stars in 30 days).
ESPHome details →Tailscale details →
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