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headscale vs DNClient: catalog facts
headscale	DNClient
Free Free and open source under a BSD 3-clause licence. The Tailscale clients it works with are…	Freemium Up to 100 devices free with no credit card; larger networks are paid.
macOS, Linux, Self-hosted	macOS
Removes the dependency on Tailscale's hosted control server Works with the standard Tailscale clients on every platform	Built on the widely used open-source Nebula overlay Peer-to-peer tunnels that pick the fastest route
Aimed at a single tailnet for self-hosters, not a multi-tenant deployment No graphical administration interface in the core project	Requires a Defined Networking account The managed service is not self-hosted; use plain Nebula for that
Self-hosted	Downloadable app, Hosted service
Open source	Closed source
License: BSD-3-Clause	License not stated
No account needed	Account needed
Works offline	Not stated if it works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 21, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked October 2, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.