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SECURITY & PRIVACY · PRO TIER

Headscalepro

Headscale is an open-source implementation of the Tailscale control server — coordinate your own private mesh VPN without Tailscale's cloud control plane. Use Tailscale clients (Linux, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android), but with full control over coordination, keys, and policies.

Install via WHMCS → Visit github.com ↗

🔒 Security & Privacy Min 256 MB RAM Port 8080 (http) Tier pro

// What it is

A closer look.

For privacy-bound orgs wanting Tailscale's UX without trusting Tailscale Inc., Headscale is the official-blessed self-hosted answer.

// Use cases

What it's for.

Concrete scenarios where teams pick Headscale over the SaaS alternative.

◆

Self-hosted mesh VPN coordination

alternative to Tailscale control server

◈

Private device network

connect your devices privately

◇

Site-to-site VPN

branch office connectivity

▣

Privacy-bound networking

VPN coordination on your infrastructure

▦

Multi-user network

invite team members to network

// Who it's for

Built for these teams.

If your team profile matches one of these, Headscale is a strong fit out of the box.

Profile A

Privacy-bound orgs

wanting Tailscale UX without trusting cloud control

Profile B

DevOps teams

building secure inter-service VPN

Profile C

Remote-first companies

giving employees secure access

Profile D

Self-hosters

building secure personal infrastructure

Profile E

Tailscale power users

wanting more control

// Differentiators

Why teams pick Headscale.

When evaluating self-hosted options for this category, here are the dimensions on which Headscale consistently lands above the alternatives.

✓BSD-3 — fully open
✓Tailscale clients work — official iOS, Android, Linux, macOS, Windows
✓Coordination on your infra — no cloud dependency
✓WireGuard underneath — battle-tested encryption
✓Active development — community-driven
✓Multi-user / multi-namespace — proper team support

// Integrations

Connects to.

The stack you'll plug Headscale into — services, protocols, and adjacent apps in the BluixApps catalog.

◇

VPN protocols

WireGuard (Tailscale uses)

◈

Clients

official Tailscale clients (all platforms)

◆

Authentication

OIDC (any provider), HTTP-Basic, manual approval

▣

DERP

embedded or external DERP relays

▦

DNS

MagicDNS (Tailscale's DNS feature)

▩

ACLs

Tailscale-style ACL language for access control

▼

API

REST API for programmatic node management

// Adoption & deployment

Notable users & community

25k+ GitHub stars
Active community on Discord
Recognized by Tailscale (compatible with their clients)
Featured in self-hosted VPN guides
Strong release cadence

What we ship

Docker compose: Headscale + persistent state volume
Pinned headscale/headscale:0.23 (release-tagged)
HTTPS via Let's Encrypt
Embedded DERP relay enabled
Admin user via CLI on first run
Persistent volumes for state
Backup hook covers config + state

// Tips & operations

Run it properly.

Operational guidance from running this in production — what to do before you scale, what to lock down, what surprises people.

// PERFORMANCE

OIDC auth recommended

beats local user management

// SECURITY

DERP relays

embedded fine for small; external for scale

// OPERATIONS

Persistent volume

node state + keys + config

// RELIABILITY

Backup is critical

lose state = re-onboard all devices

// DEPLOYMENT

ACL discipline

define policies upfront

// SCALING

TLS for control endpoint

Headscale needs HTTPS

256

// min ram (MB)

// min disk (GB)

8080

// access port

http

// protocol

pro

// bluixapps tier

8080:8080 · headscale/headscale:0.26.1

// docker image

Project resources

Official sitegithub.com ↗

// Alternatives in Security & Privacy

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