Remote access to your self-hosted services is essential. Whether you’re checking on your media server from a coffee shop or managing your homelab while traveling, a VPN creates a secure tunnel back to your network. But which VPN should you run? The three dominant options — WireGuard, OpenVPN, and Tailscale — take very different approaches. This guide compares all three so you can make the right choice for your setup. ...
Tailscale is brilliant — it creates a zero-config mesh VPN using WireGuard that just works. But it routes all coordination through Tailscale’s servers. If you want that same magic while keeping full control, Headscale is the answer. Headscale is an open-source, self-hosted implementation of the Tailscale coordination server. Your devices still use the official Tailscale client, but they talk to your server instead of Tailscale’s cloud. Same great UX, complete sovereignty. ...
VPN Options for Accessing Your Home Server Remotely You’ve built an amazing home server with Nextcloud, Jellyfin, Home Assistant, and more. Now you want to access it securely from anywhere—coffee shops, hotels, your phone’s LTE connection. The solution: VPN (Virtual Private Network). A VPN creates an encrypted tunnel between your device and your home network, letting you access everything as if you were sitting at home. In this guide, we’ll compare the top VPN options for self-hosters and walk through setup for each. ...