headscalevsIncus
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| headscale | Incus | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 82/100 | 75/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 31 in Networking | #3 of 44 in Container Management |
| GitHub stars | 45 145 | 6 517 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +1 075 | +277 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 7 | 16 |
| Latest release | v0.29.6 · 24 Oct 2026 | v7.0.2 · 16 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate | Advanced |
| Official Docker image | Yes | Yes |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | Apache-2.0 |
| Main language | Go | Go |
Which one should you pick?
headscale scores 82/100 against 75/100 for Incus, so it is the safer default.
Incus ships more often: 16 stable releases in the past year, against 7 for headscale.
If you want the quickest setup, headscale is easier to run; Incus needs more configuration.
headscale is growing faster right now (+1 075 stars in 30 days).
headscale details →Incus details →