headscalevsnylon
Two self-hosted Tailscale alternatives, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| headscale | nylon | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 82/100 | 51/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 31 in Networking | #34 of 56 in VPN |
| GitHub stars | 45 188 | 518 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +1 053 | +0 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 7 | 8 |
| Latest release | v0.29.6 · 24 Oct 2026 | v0.4.6 · 27 Aug 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate | Moderate |
| Official Docker image | Yes | No |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | Apache-2.0 |
| Main language | Go | Go |
Which one should you pick?
headscale scores 82/100 against 51/100 for nylon, so it is the safer default.
nylon ships more often: 8 stable releases in the past year, against 7 for headscale.
headscale is growing faster right now (+1 053 stars in 30 days).
headscale details →nylon details → All Tailscale alternatives →