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headscale vs Tailscale: catalog facts
headscale	Tailscale
Free Free and open source under a BSD 3-clause licence. The Tailscale clients it works with are…	Freemium The Personal plan is free forever with unlimited devices for up to 6 users. Paid plans…
macOS, Linux, Self-hosted	Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, Command line
Removes the dependency on Tailscale's hosted control server Works with the standard Tailscale clients on every platform	Devices reach each other through NAT and firewalls without port forwarding or a public IP Free Personal plan with unlimited user devices for up to 6 users
Aimed at a single tailnet for self-hosters, not a multi-tenant deployment No graphical administration interface in the core project	Sign-in goes through an identity provider, so an account is required The coordination server is a hosted service; running your own means using a separate project such as Headscale
Self-hosted	Downloadable app, Hosted service
Open source	Open source
License: BSD-3-Clause	License: BSD-3-Clause
No account needed	Account needed
Works offline	Needs internet
Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 21, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 20, 2026

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