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Comparison

Open source alternatives to Tailscale

We track 2 open-source Tailscale alternatives, of which 2 currently score 70 or above on Repoly's GitHub health scale and 2 ship a Docker image. Pangolin leads on health at 97/100 with 1058 commits in the last 90 days; across all 2 projects you are choosing between AGPL-3.0, Apache-2.0.

updated Oct 2026 2 alternatives best health 97 ★ 32k combined 2,328 commits / 90d 2 with Docker

Top picks to replace Tailscale

  • Healthiest

    Pangolin

    Health 97/100: 1,058 commits in 90 days, latest release 1.25.3, Docker image available.

  • Most active

    Firezone

    1,270 commits in the last 90 days, more than any other option here.

Licence family

Showing 2 of 2 tools

All 2 Tailscale alternatives, ranked by health

  • Top pick · highest health

    Pangolin

    Identity-aware tunneled reverse proxy with dashboard UI, access control, and WireGuard-based tunnels (alternative to Cloudflare Tunnel, Tailscale).

    ★ 23k⟳ yesterday1.25.3AGPL-3.0

    Docker
    Website ↗ Source ↗

  • Firezone

    Secure remote access gateway that supports the WireGuard protocol. It offers a Web GUI, 1-line install script, multi-factor auth (MFA), and SSO.

    ★ 9.1k⟳ todaygateway-1.6.4Apache-2.0

    DockerElixir
    Website ↗ Source ↗

Tailscale alternatives compared

Pangolin edges Firezone 97 to 96, and most of the difference is stars: 23k stars against 9.1k stars. Firezone is the busier codebase, though, with 1,270 commits in 90 days to 1,058.

The most recent release is Firezone gateway-1.6.4, published yesterday. None of the measured options scores under 40. By stack, Elixir (1) is the most common. Firezone is permissively licensed; Pangolin is copyleft.

Open source alternatives to Tailscale by health, stars, licence and last commit
Tool Health Stars Licence Last commit Docker
Pangolin Health 97 on 11 Sep, 97 nowSteady at 97 since 11 Sep 97 23k AGPL-3.0 yesterday Yes
Firezone Health 96 on 11 Sep, 96 nowSteady at 96 since 11 Sep 96 9.1k Apache-2.0 today Yes

Tailscale alternatives: common questions

What is the most maintained open source alternative to Tailscale?

Pangolin scores highest at 97/100, with 1058 commits in the last 90 days, 23k stars on GitHub and its latest release (1.25.3) published 7 days ago. Firezone has the most raw commit activity at 1270 commits in 90 days.

Which Tailscale alternatives use a permissive licence?

1 of 2 are permissively licensed (MIT, Apache, BSD or similar): Firezone (Apache-2.0). 1 use copyleft licences such as GPL or AGPL, which require you to publish changes if you distribute a modified version.

Which Tailscale alternatives run in Docker?

2 of 2 publish a Docker image or Compose file: Pangolin, Firezone. Docker support contributes 10 of the 100 available health points, because it is the clearest signal that self-hosting is a supported path rather than an afterthought.

Is Pangolin or Firezone the better Tailscale alternative?

On measured health Pangolin leads, 97 to 96. Pangolin has 1,058 commits in 90 days, 23k stars and 1.25.3 from 7 days ago; Firezone has 1,270 commits in 90 days, 9.1k stars and gateway-1.6.4 from yesterday. Pick Firezone if licensing matters: it is Apache-2.0, while Pangolin is AGPL-3.0.

Are the Tailscale alternatives still maintained?

2 of the 2 measured options score 70 or above. Every measured option had commits in the last 90 days. None scores under 40.

What languages are the Tailscale alternatives written in?

Elixir: Firezone. The stack matters if you plan to extend or patch the tool yourself.