head to head · open source
Tailscale vs Pangolin
Tailscale has 36,587 GitHub stars, 3,218 forks, 4,569 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Pangolin has 22,792 stars, 788 forks, 128 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Tailscale leads on adoption by 61% (36,587 vs 22,792 stars). Tailscale is written in Go under BSD-3-Clause; Pangolin is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence. Tailscale has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, Pangolin 3%. Tailscale was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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 | Pangolin | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 37K | ★ 23K |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | Custom / other |
| Written in | Go | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.2K | ⑂ 788 |
| 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 Pangolin if
- You want the Pangolin feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Pangolin 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 Pangolin
Pangolin is an open source SASE platform written in TypeScript and built on WireGuard. It provides secure access and connectivity to applications, infrastructure, and AI workloads by combining a zero trust VPN, a zero trust reverse proxy, privileged access management, and an identity aware AI gateway under one identity and policy model. It belongs to the network security ecosystem, specifically self hosted remote access and SASE tooling.
read the full Pangolin overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Tailscale or Pangolin more popular?
Tailscale has 36,587 GitHub stars and Pangolin has 22,792. Tailscale has the larger community by that measure.
Are Tailscale and Pangolin free?
Both are open source. Tailscale is licensed under BSD-3-Clause, and Pangolin has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Tailscale and Pangolin?
Tailscale is written in Go and Pangolin in TypeScript. 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 Pangolin?
Choose Tailscale if you want the larger community (36,587 stars) or its BSD-3-Clause licence terms. Choose Pangolin if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.