head to head · open source
Tailscale vs Defguard
Tailscale has 38,534 GitHub stars, 3,411 forks, 4,569 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Defguard has 2,894 stars, 121 forks, 308 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Tailscale leads on adoption by 1,232% (38,534 vs 2,894 stars). Tailscale is written in Go under BSD-3-Clause; Defguard is written in Rust under a custom or non-standard licence. Tailscale has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, Defguard 4%. Tailscale was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (oauth), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Tailscale | Defguard | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 39K | ★ 2.9K |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | Custom / other |
| Written in | Go | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.4K | ⑂ 121 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Tailscale if
- You weight community size — 39K stars and counting
- You want the BSD-3-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Defguard if
- You want the Defguard feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and Defguard fits your workflow better
About Tailscale
Tailscale Private WireGuard® networks made easy Overview This repository contains the majority of Tailscale's open source code. Notably, it includes the tailscaled daemon and the tailscale CLI tool. The tailscaled daemon runs on Linux, Windows, macOS, and to varying degrees on FreeBSD and OpenBSD. The Tailscale iOS and Android apps use this repo's code, but this repo doesn't contain the mobile GUI code. Other Tailscale repos of note: the Android app is at the Synology package is at the QNAP package is at the Chocolatey packaging is at For background on which parts of Tailscale are open source and why, see Using…
read the full Tailscale overview →
About Defguard
Defguard is a self hosted secure remote access platform that combines WireGuard VPN, identity and access management, multi factor authentication, and network access control in a single solution. Built with a security first architecture, Defguard helps organizations securely manage access to infrastructure, applications, and private networks while maintaining full control over their environment. Why Defguard? Modern organizations often rely on multiple disconnected tools to manage identity, VPN access, authentication, and network permissions. Defguard brings these capabilities together into a unified platform…
read the full Defguard overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Tailscale or Defguard more popular?
Tailscale has 38,534 GitHub stars and Defguard has 2,894. Tailscale has the larger community by that measure.
Are Tailscale and Defguard free?
Both are open source. Tailscale is licensed under BSD-3-Clause, and Defguard has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Tailscale and Defguard?
Tailscale is written in Go and Defguard in Rust. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Tailscale or Defguard?
Choose Tailscale if you want the larger community (38,534 stars) or its BSD-3-Clause licence terms. Choose Defguard if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.