head to head · open source
Tailscale vs Defguard
Tailscale has 36,587 GitHub stars, 3,218 forks, 4,569 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Defguard has 2,841 stars, 115 forks, 308 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Tailscale leads on adoption by 1,188% (36,587 vs 2,841 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 | ★ 37K | ★ 2.8K |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | Custom / other |
| Written in | Go | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.2K | ⑂ 115 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Tailscale if
- You weight community size — 37K 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 is an open source implementation of a zero configuration VPN built on WireGuard, designed to simplify secure network connectivity across devices. It lives in the network security ecosystem and provides private, encrypted networks without manual firewall or IP management. The project delivers both a daemon ( tailscaled ) and CLI tool ( tailscale ) that enable peer to peer connectivity using WireGuard, augmented with identity based access controls and optional cloud managed features.
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. It lives in the Rust based open source network security ecosystem and presents itself as zero trust access management with true WireGuard 2FA/MFA. The project uses an AGPL open source core, while Enterprise components are described as open code.
read the full Defguard overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Tailscale or Defguard more popular?
Tailscale has 36,587 GitHub stars and Defguard has 2,841. 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 (36,587 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.