What is the difference between Headscale vs Windscribe VPN?

**Headscale**: An open source, self-hosted implementation of the Tailscale control server.. **Windscribe VPN**: VPN service with apps for desktop, mobile, browser, and TV platforms. built by Windscribe. Core capabilities include Servers in 69+ countries and 115+ cities, 6 VPN protocols and 11 ports support, Network and per-app split tunneling.. Both serve the VPN market but differ in approach, feature depth, and target audience.

Who makes Headscale vs Windscribe VPN?

**Headscale** is open-source with 36,500 GitHub stars. **Windscribe VPN** is developed by Windscribe. Vendor maturity, funding stage, and team size can be important factors when evaluating long-term viability and support quality.

Is Headscale a good alternative to Windscribe VPN?

Headscale and Windscribe VPN serve similar VPN use cases: both are VPN tools, both cover Open Source. Key differences: Headscale is Free while Windscribe VPN is Commercial, Headscale is open-source. Review the feature comparison above to determine which fits your requirements.

Headscale vs Windscribe VPN: 2026 Comparison Guide | CybersecTools

Headscale vs Windscribe VPN: Side-by-Side Comparison (2026)

Features, pricing, ratings, and pros & cons — compared head-to-head.

Headscale is a free vpn tool. Windscribe VPN is a commercial vpn tool by Windscribe. Compare features, ratings, integrations, and community reviews side by side to find the best vpn fit for your security stack.

CST Verdict

Based on our analysis of NIST CSF 2.0 coverage, core features, company size fit, deployment model, here is our conclusion:

Headscale

Teams managing distributed workforces or branch offices who want to eliminate VPN infrastructure costs should evaluate Headscale; it gives you Tailscale's zero-trust networking model without monthly per-device licensing or vendor lock-in, since you control the control plane. The 36,500 GitHub stars and active maintainer community signal production-ready code, though you're taking on operational overhead for patching and availability that Tailscale handles for you. Skip this if your organization lacks the engineering capacity to self-host critical network infrastructure or needs vendor-backed SLAs for compliance audits.

Data verified May 2026