Comparison

stunl vs Tailscale Funnel

Tailscale is a fantastic VPN. But if you just need to expose a local port, stunl does it without setting up a tailnet.

Feature Comparison

Feature stunl Tailscale Funnel
Price Free / $10/mo (Pro) Free (with Tailscale)
Setup Required None (one command) Tailnet + MagicDNS + Policy file
Port Restrictions Any port Only 443, 8443, 10000
Multi-port Tunnels Yes No
HTTP/HTTPS Yes Yes
TCP (raw) Yes HTTPS only (TLS required)
UDP Tunnels Yes No
WebSocket Yes Yes
Custom Subdomain Yes *.ts.net only
Use Case Tunneling only Part of VPN mesh

Why Developers Choose stunl

1.

Any Port, Not Just Three

Tailscale Funnel only works on ports 443, 8443, and 10000. stunl exposes any port — including 3000, 8080, 5432, or whatever your app uses.

stunl -port 3000
# Works. No port restrictions.
2.

No Tailnet Setup

Funnel requires you to install Tailscale, set up a tailnet, enable MagicDNS, and configure your policy file. stunl is one binary, one command.

3.

UDP Support

Tailscale Funnel is HTTPS-only (TLS-encrypted TCP). stunl handles UDP natively for game servers, VoIP, and real-time applications.

4.

Multi-port Tunnels

Expose frontend, API, and database through one URL. Funnel doesn't support this — you'd need separate configurations for each.

Different Tools, Different Purposes

Use stunl when:

  • + You just want to expose a local port quickly
  • + You need any port (not just 443/8443/10000)
  • + You need UDP tunneling
  • + You want multi-port on one URL
  • + You don't want to set up/manage a VPN

Use Tailscale Funnel when:

  • + You're already using Tailscale for VPN
  • + You need to share within your tailnet too
  • + Port 443/8443/10000 works for you
  • + You want policy-based access control
  • + You're OK with ts.net domains only

Bottom Line

Tailscale is a VPN with a tunneling feature. stunl is a tunneling tool — focused, simple, and powerful. If you need a VPN mesh, use Tailscale. If you need to expose localhost, use stunl.

Just tunneling. Nothing else.

No VPN setup. No policy files. One command, public URL.

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