Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Headscale VS Netmaker

Compare Headscale VS Netmaker and see what are their differences

Headscale logo Headscale

An open source, self-hosted implementation of the Tailscale control server

Netmaker logo Netmaker

Netmaker automates mesh VPN's and software-defined networks using WireGuard.
  • Headscale Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-20
  • Netmaker Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-06-12

Headscale features and specs

  • Open Source
    Headscale is open-source, meaning it is free to use, modify, and distribute. This promotes transparency and encourages community collaboration.
  • Tailscale Compatibility
    Headscale is designed to be compatible with the Tailscale client, allowing users to leverage their existing Tailscale configurations in an alternative backend.
  • Self-Hosted
    Headscale allows users to self-host their own coordination server, providing greater control over their network and data privacy.
  • Community Support
    Being an open-source project, Headscale benefits from community-driven support and contributions, which may lead to rapid feature development and issue resolution.
  • Scalability
    Users can scale their deployments according to their needs without being restricted by commercial licensing models.

Possible disadvantages of Headscale

  • Technical Expertise Required
    Implementing and maintaining a self-hosted solution like Headscale requires a certain level of technical knowledge and expertise, potentially limiting its accessibility to less technical users.
  • Limited Official Support
    Being a community-driven project, Headscale may not have the same level of official support or comprehensive documentation as some commercial alternatives.
  • Configuration Complexity
    Configuring and managing a self-hosted Headscale server can be more complex compared to using managed solutions like Tailscale, potentially posing a challenge for some users.
  • Feature Parity
    While Headscale aims to be compatible with Tailscale, there may be some features or updates that are not immediately available or fully supported.
  • Development Reliance
    As an independent project, Headscale's development relies heavily on community contributions, which can affect the speed of updates or new feature integrations.

Netmaker features and specs

  • Scalability
    Netmaker is designed to easily scale with growing network demands, making it suitable for both small businesses and large enterprises.
  • Performance
    The platform optimizes for speed and low-latency connections, which enhances overall network efficiency and user experience.
  • Security
    Netmaker provides robust security features, including encryption and controlled access, which help protect network data and reduce vulnerabilities.
  • Automation
    Automated network management features simplify the process of setting up and maintaining virtual networks, reducing manual work and potential errors.
  • Cross-Platform Compatibility
    Netmaker supports a wide range of operating systems, allowing seamless integration across diverse device landscapes.

Possible disadvantages of Netmaker

  • Complexity
    Initial setup and configuration can be complex, requiring a certain level of technical knowledge, which might be challenging for non-technical users.
  • Cost
    While offering a free tier, the advanced features and enterprise-level services come at a cost that might not fit within all organizations' budgets.
  • Limited Support
    As of now, support options may be limited, which could be a drawback for users who require extensive customer service or immediate assistance.
  • Learning Curve
    Due to its comprehensive features and capabilities, new users might experience a steep learning curve when adapting to the platform.
  • Resource Intensive
    Running the software might be resource-intensive on certain systems, potentially requiring upgrades or additional hardware investment.

Headscale videos

Testing out headscale locally for homelab setup

More videos:

  • Review - Tutorial: Using Tailscale Overlay Network VPN with the Self Hosted Headscale Controller

Netmaker videos

免费开源的组网神器NetMaker,wireguard协议LAN to LAN对等网络

More videos:

  • Tutorial - Netmaker v0.2 - Site to Site and Gateway over WireGuard Tutorial
  • Review - Netmaker - A powerful, open source, self hosted, GUI for setting up Wireguard networks and VPNs.
  • Review - Automated Failover / Relay for WireGuard ® Networks with Netmaker EE

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Headscale and Netmaker)
VPN
59 59%
41% 41
Cloud VPN
100 100%
0% 0
Cloud Infrastructure
0 0%
100% 100
Security & Privacy
64 64%
36% 36

Questions and Answers

As answered by people managing Headscale and Netmaker.

What makes your product unique?

Netmaker's answer:

  1. Netmaker uses kernel WireGuard, which makes it way faster and more modern than the alternatives.
  2. Netmaker can also be fully "self-hosted" so you don't have to rely on a 3rd party with potential access to your sensitive data. 3 Netmaker creates a Mesh VPN, which is like the best of software-defined networking, zero trust, and VPNs all combined into one.

Why should a person choose your product over its competitors?

Netmaker's answer:

Netmaker is faster, more configurable, cheaper, and can be fully-self hosted. With Netmaker, you're in control.

How would you describe your primary audience?

Netmaker's answer:

IT admins, sysadmins, DevOps, InfraOps, platform engineers, and developers.

Which are the primary technologies used for building your product?

Netmaker's answer:

WireGuard, Golang, and Docker.

User comments

Share your experience with using Headscale and Netmaker. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Social recommendations and mentions

Netmaker might be a bit more popular than Headscale. We know about 63 links to it since March 2021 and only 45 links to Headscale. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Headscale mentions (45)

  • Set up: VPN - Part 1
    Root@hz-headscale-tmp-1:~# export HEADSCALE_VERSION="0.23.0" \ && export HEADSCALE_ARCH="arm64" \ && wget --output-document=headscale.deb "https://github.com/juanfont/headscale/releases/download/v${HEADSCALE_VERSION}/headscale_${HEADSCALE_VERSION}_linux_${HEADSCALE_ARCH}.deb" <...redacted for brevity..> 2024-09-28 12:24:54 (189 MB/s) - ‘headscale.deb’ saved [17022910/17022910]. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • The New Internet
    > I still have to rely on a landlord. This is a very good point. Counterpoint is self-hosting Headscale which I mentioned in another comment here: https://github.com/juanfont/headscale Works with native Tailscale clients with a few config changes. I use it myself. - Source: Hacker News / 6 months ago
  • SSH has become our universal (Unix) external access protocol
    Tailscale is just a commercial service that builds upon wireguard. It automatically generates certificates for each of your devices, ensures they're rotated and up to date, automatically configures routing and DNS between your devices and offers some additional functionality. Tailscale has open source clients but a proprietary server to do this, but you can use the open source alternative headscale instead: - Source: Hacker News / 6 months ago
  • List of ngrok/Cloudflare Tunnel alternatives and other tunneling software and services. Focus on self-hosting.
    Headscale - Open source implementation of Tailscale control server. Can be used with Tailscale's official open source client. Written in Go. - Source: dev.to / 8 months ago
  • Securely Accessing Private AWS Resources from GitHub Actions with TailScale
    One more thing, you can host Tailscale Control Server yourself if you want, which is a plus. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
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Netmaker mentions (63)

  • PrivateVPN is horrible. Don't do it.
    With Netmaker, you can have greater control and customization by assigning dedicated IP addresses to specific nodes within your network. I just stumble upon it yesterday, check it out. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Benefit of connect device under NAT to VPN network
    These days, I'm trying to deploy full mesh VPN network with netmaker. It is really easy to use and manage. However there are something makes me confused. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Web based self service CA for OpenVPN
    If a TCP based protocol isn't an absolute must have, I'd ditch OpenVPN for Wireguard with some kind of management overlay. e.g netmaker. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Tailscale increased free plan user limit form 1 to 3 and device cap to 100 also... unlimited subnets
    Do the net maker https://github.com/gravitl/netmaker worth trying to use instead of Tailscale? Tailscale is good, but I can watch YouTube over Wi-Fi in another country, but when I try to use Jellyfin to watch movies it’s not loading well. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Tips & Tricks for Productivity with Android E-Ink Devices (Obsidian, Syncthing, Weylus, RustDesk, Termux, KDE Connect, ZeroTier)
    Very relatable! At first, I struggled for days trying to make Netmaker or Innernet functional for my personal home server (Raspberry Pi behind multiple routers). But then I stumbled upon ZeroTier, and everything worked seamlessly within a couple of hours. Tailscale was actually the next one on my list because I heard many positive things about it over at r/selfhosted (especially about headscale). However, I did... Source: over 1 year ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Headscale and Netmaker, you can also consider the following products

TailScale - Private networks made easy Connect all your devices using WireGuard, without the hassle. Tailscale makes it as easy as installing an app and signing in.

NetBird - Connect your devices into a single secure private WireGuard®-based mesh network with SSO/MFA and manage access with just a few clicks.

ZeroTier - Extremely simple P2P Encrypted VPN

zrok - Next-generation sharing platform built on top of OpenZiti

WireGuard - Fast, Modern, Secure VPN Tunnel

OpenVPN - OpenVPN - The Open Source VPN