MainsailvsNATS
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| Mainsail | NATS | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 65/100 | 80/100 |
| Rank in category | #3 of 22 in 3D Printing | #2 of 12 in Message Broker |
| GitHub stars | 2 236 | 20 954 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +20 | +192 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 8 | 18 |
| Latest release | v2.19.0 · 27 Aug 2026 | v2.14.9 · 26 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate | Moderate |
| Official Docker image | Yes | Yes |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Main language | Vue | Go |
Which one should you pick?
NATS scores 80/100 against 65/100 for Mainsail, so it is the safer default.
NATS ships more often: 18 stable releases in the past year, against 8 for Mainsail.
NATS is growing faster right now (+192 stars in 30 days).
Mainsail details →NATS details →