# polar vs Tailscale

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

| | polar | Tailscale |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 71/100 | 84/100 ✓ |
| Rank in category | #1 of 13 in Billing | #1 of 56 in VPN |
| GitHub stars | 10 436 | 38 286 ✓ |
| Stars, last 30 days | +157 | +1 444 ✓ |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 1 | 14 ✓ |
| Latest release | @polar-sh/cli@3.0.0 · 16 Oct 2026 | v1.104.4 · 27 Oct 2026 ✓ |
| Setup | Advanced | Moderate ✓ |
| Official Docker image | No | No |
| License | Apache-2.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| Main language | Python | Go |

## Which one should you pick?

Tailscale scores 84/100 against 71/100 for polar, so it is the safer default.

Tailscale ships more often: 14 stable releases in the past year, against 1 for polar.

If you want the quickest setup, Tailscale is easier to run; polar needs more configuration.

Tailscale is growing faster right now (+1 444 stars in 30 days).

## Details

- [polar](https://selfhost.directory/project/polar) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/polar.md)
- [Tailscale](https://selfhost.directory/project/tailscale) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/tailscale.md)

---
Source: https://selfhost.directory/compare/polar-vs-tailscale