headscalevsPulse
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| headscale | Pulse | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 82/100 | 71/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 31 in Networking | #2 of 19 in Infrastructure Monitoring |
| GitHub stars | 45 148 | 6 973 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +1 078 | +232 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 7 | 43 |
| Latest release | v0.29.6 · 24 Oct 2026 | helm-chart-6.6.0 · 25 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate | Easy |
| Official Docker image | Yes | Yes |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | MIT |
| Main language | Go | Go |
Which one should you pick?
headscale scores 82/100 against 71/100 for Pulse, so it is the safer default.
Pulse ships more often: 43 stable releases in the past year, against 7 for headscale.
If you want the quickest setup, Pulse is easier to run; headscale needs more configuration.
headscale is growing faster right now (+1 078 stars in 30 days).
headscale details →Pulse details →