[opensourcedex]

best-of ranking · updated nightly

Best Open Source Networking & Connectivity Tools

Ranked by GitHub stars — actual adoption, not editorial taste. All 10 are free, open source and self-hostable; license and last activity on every entry.

  1. 1
    frp ★ 110K

    A fast reverse proxy to help you expose a local server behind a NAT or firewall to the internet.

    Apache-2.0 Go pushed 2026-09-15 details →
  2. 2
    caddy ★ 76K

    Fast and extensible multi-platform HTTP/1-2-3 web server with automatic HTTPS

    Apache-2.0 Go pushed 2026-09-17 details →
  3. 3
    traefik ★ 65K

    The Cloud Native Application Proxy

    MIT Go pushed 2026-09-18 details →
  4. 4
    AdGuardHome ★ 37K

    Network-wide ads & trackers blocking DNS server

    GPL-3.0 TypeScript pushed 2026-09-18 details →
  5. 5
    nginx ★ 32K

    The official NGINX Open Source repository.

    BSD-2-Clause C pushed 2026-09-16 details →
  6. 6
    algo ★ 30K

    Set up a personal VPN in the cloud

    AGPL-3.0 Python pushed 2026-09-09 details →
  7. 7
    openvpn-install ★ 16K

    Set up your own OpenVPN server on Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, CentOS, Arch Linux and more

    MIT Shell pushed 2026-09-16 details →
  8. 8
    amnezia-client ★ 15K

    Amnezia VPN Client (Desktop+Mobile)

    GPL-3.0 C++ pushed 2026-09-18 details →
  9. 9
    OpenVPN ★ 15K

    Zero Trust VPN solutions for secure business networking

    NOASSERTION C pushed 2026-09-18 details →
  10. 10
    coredns ★ 14K

    CoreDNS is a DNS server that chains plugins

    Apache-2.0 Go pushed 2026-09-17 details →
method stars desc · snapshot from github api refresh nightly related Backup & Recovery, Search Engines, Server & VM Management, Cloud Infrastructure Management, Monitoring & Observability, Storage Solutions

Related best-of lists

best Backup & Recovery →best Search Engines →best Server & VM Management →best Cloud Infrastructure Management →best Monitoring & Observability →best Storage Solutions →

last updated nightly · ranking method: github stars, live-tracked

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Frequently asked questions

What is the best open source Networking & Connectivity tool in 2026?

frp leads the ranking with 109,502 GitHub stars, ahead of caddy. Rankings use live GitHub star counts, refreshed nightly.

How is this list of Networking & Connectivity tools ranked?

By GitHub stars — a proxy for adoption and community size. Each entry also shows its licence, primary language and last commit date, so you can judge maintenance activity rather than trusting the ranking alone.

Are the best Networking & Connectivity tools free?

Every project on this list is open source and free to self-host. Some also offer paid managed hosting, but the software itself carries no licence fee.