# headscale vs Nakama

> Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.

| | headscale | Nakama |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 82/100 ✓ | 76/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 31 in Networking | #3 of 62 in Game Servers |
| GitHub stars | 45 145 ✓ | 13 604 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +1 075 ✓ | +62 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 7 | 9 ✓ |
| Latest release | v0.29.6 · 24 Oct 2026 ✓ | v3.41.0 · 18 Sept 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate ✓ | Moderate |
| 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 76/100 for Nakama, so it is the safer default.

Nakama ships more often: 9 stable releases in the past year, against 7 for headscale.

headscale is growing faster right now (+1 075 stars in 30 days).

## Details

- [headscale](https://selfhost.directory/project/headscale) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/headscale.md)
- [Nakama](https://selfhost.directory/project/nakama) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/nakama.md)

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Source: https://selfhost.directory/compare/headscale-vs-nakama