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nebula vs headscale: catalog facts
nebula	headscale
Free The open-source software is available without a license fee. Hosting, hardware and…	Free Free and open source under a BSD 3-clause licence. The Tailscale clients it works with are…
Windows, macOS, Linux, Android	macOS, Linux, Self-hosted
Works across several desktop, server and mobile platforms.	Removes the dependency on Tailscale's hosted control server Works with the standard Tailscale clients on every platform
Requires certificate management and network configuration.	Aimed at a single tailnet for self-hosters, not a multi-tenant deployment No graphical administration interface in the core project
Downloadable app	Self-hosted
Open source	Open source
License: MIT	License: BSD-3-Clause
Not stated if an account is needed	No account needed
Not stated if it works offline	Works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 22, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 21, 2026

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