headscalevsSafeLine
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| headscale | SafeLine | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 82/100 | 81/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 31 in Networking | #1 of 3 in Web Application Firewall |
| GitHub stars | 45 140 | 23 065 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +1 070 | +395 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 7 | 11 |
| Latest release | v0.29.6 · 24 Oct 2026 | v9.4.3 · 21 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate | Moderate |
| Official Docker image | Yes | Yes |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | GPL-3.0 |
| Main language | Go | Go |
Which one should you pick?
headscale scores 82/100 against 81/100 for SafeLine, so it is the safer default.
SafeLine ships more often: 11 stable releases in the past year, against 7 for headscale.
headscale is growing faster right now (+1 070 stars in 30 days).
headscale details →SafeLine details →