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Networking · head to head

Headscale vs Eclipse Mosquitto

Headscale logo

Headscale

Networking

Open source reimplementation of the Tailscale coordination server for a single organisation

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Eclipse Mosquitto logo

Eclipse Mosquitto

Networking

Small, EPL-licensed MQTT broker that runs on hardware other brokers cannot

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Headscale the clients are proprietary software maintained by a company with no obligation to Headscale, so a client update can change protocol behaviour and break your control server until volunteers catch up.; Eclipse Mosquitto there is no clustering: Mosquitto is a single process, so high availability means building your own failover and accepting session loss on switchover.
  • They diverge on capability: Headscale covers Self hosted control server, Eclipse Mosquitto covers MQTT 5.0 support.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Headscale and Eclipse Mosquitto actually diverge.

Attributes where Headscale and Eclipse Mosquitto differ
AttributeHeadscaleEclipse Mosquitto
PlatformsLinux, DockerLinux, Windows, macOS, Docker

Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (Open source, no licence fee), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Networking).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Headscale

  • Self hosted control server
  • Access control policies
  • User separation
  • Pre-authentication keys
  • Subnet routers and exit nodes
  • Own or shared DERP

Only in Eclipse Mosquitto

  • MQTT 5.0 support
  • Very small footprint
  • Bridging
  • WebSockets listener
  • Command line clients
  • Dynamic security plugin

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Headscale

  • Running a mesh network where no third party may hold the device registrynot Eclipse Mosquitto
  • A homelab or personal fleet where paying per user for a hosted control plane is not worth itnot Eclipse Mosquitto
  • Air gapped or restricted environments that cannot reach an external coordination servicenot Eclipse Mosquitto
  • Keeping the Tailscale client experience while removing the vendor from the trust pathnot Eclipse Mosquitto

Eclipse Mosquitto

  • A home or building automation stack where the broker must run on the same small computer as everything elsenot Headscale
  • An industrial gateway that buffers local telemetry and bridges selected topics to a cloud brokernot Headscale
  • Local development and testing of MQTT clients without provisioning a cloud IoT servicenot Headscale
  • An air-gapped deployment where a broker with no licence server and no phone-home behaviour is a requirementnot Headscale

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Headscale

  • The clients are proprietary software maintained by a company with no obligation to Headscale, so a client update can change protocol behaviour and break your control server until volunteers catch up.
  • Features that live on the vendor side, including the admin console, Funnel and app connectors, do not exist here and cannot be added, so feature comparisons against Tailscale are misleading.
  • There is no official web interface, so day to day administration is a command line tool or one of several unofficial front ends of varying quality and maintenance.
  • It is deliberately single tenant, so a managed service provider cannot use one deployment to serve several customer networks.
  • Upgrades have required database migrations and policy format changes between releases, and with no support contract a failed migration on the control server is your problem alone.

Eclipse Mosquitto

  • There is no clustering: Mosquitto is a single process, so high availability means building your own failover and accepting session loss on switchover.
  • Persistence is a local file rather than a replicated store, so a disk failure or an unclean shutdown can lose retained messages and queued QoS traffic.
  • Practical capacity is a few thousand concurrent clients on typical hardware, so a growing device fleet eventually forces a migration to a clustered broker.
  • The Eclipse Public Licence is weak copyleft rather than permissive, which some legal teams treat as a blocker when embedding the broker in a shipped commercial product.
  • There is no commercial support to buy from the project, so production incidents rely on community mailing lists or on paying a third party who happens to know the codebase.

Pricing, plan by plan

Headscale

Free
  • HeadscaleFree
    • Full functionality, no node limit
    • Official Tailscale clients on every platform
    • No vendor account required

Eclipse Mosquitto

Free
  • Eclipse MosquittoFree
    • Eclipse Public License 2.0 with Eclipse Distribution Licence
    • MQTT 5.0, 3.1.1 and 3.1
    • No client or message limits beyond your hardware

Which should you pick?

Choose Headscale if

  • You need self hosted control server.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Docker.
  • You also want access control policies.
Headscale review

Choose Eclipse Mosquitto if

  • You need mqtt 5.0 support.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Windows, macOS, Docker.
  • You also want very small footprint.
Eclipse Mosquitto review

Questions people ask

Is Headscale or Eclipse Mosquitto better?
Neither clearly leads. Headscale starts at Free and Eclipse Mosquitto at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Headscale or Eclipse Mosquitto?
Headscale starts at Free and Eclipse Mosquitto at Free.
Does Headscale or Eclipse Mosquitto run on more platforms?
Headscale runs on Linux, Docker. Eclipse Mosquitto runs on Linux, Windows, macOS, Docker.
Can I use Headscale for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Headscale best used for?
Headscale is most often used for running a mesh network where no third party may hold the device registry, a homelab or personal fleet where paying per user for a hosted control plane is not worth it, air gapped or restricted environments that cannot reach an external coordination service, keeping the tailscale client experience while removing the vendor from the trust path. Of those, running a mesh network where no third party may hold the device registry and a homelab or personal fleet where paying per user for a hosted control plane is not worth it are not what Eclipse Mosquitto is typically brought in for.
What can Headscale do that Eclipse Mosquitto cannot?
Headscale covers Self hosted control server, Access control policies, User separation, Pre-authentication keys. Eclipse Mosquitto covers MQTT 5.0 support, Very small footprint, Bridging, WebSockets listener.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Headscale: Is Headscale made by Tailscale?

No. It is an independent community project. Tailscale acknowledges it but does not support it, and the clients it relies on are the vendor ones.

Eclipse Mosquitto: Can Mosquitto be clustered?

No. It is a single process. High availability requires an external failover arrangement you build yourself.

Headscale: What do I lose compared with the hosted service?

The admin console, the vendor relay network unless you use the public DERP servers, and hosted only features such as Funnel and app connectors.

Eclipse Mosquitto: What licence is it?

Eclipse Public License 2.0 alongside the Eclipse Distribution License, a weak copyleft rather than a permissive licence.

Headscale: Can I still use the public relay servers?

Yes, the default configuration can use them, though many self hosters run their own DERP to remove that dependency.

Eclipse Mosquitto: How many clients can it handle?

A few thousand concurrent connections on ordinary hardware; beyond that, use a clustered broker.

Headscale: Is it suitable for a company network?

For a technical team, yes. There is no vendor to escalate to, so it needs someone on staff who is willing to own the control server.

Eclipse Mosquitto: Does it support MQTT 5?

Yes, along with 3.1.1 and 3.1.

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