head to head · open source
AdGuardHome vs awl
AdGuardHome has 37,060 GitHub stars, 2,523 forks, 1,253 open issues and last shipped yesterday. awl has 684 stars, 45 forks, 35 open issues and last shipped 12 days ago. AdGuardHome leads on adoption by 5,318% (37,060 vs 684 stars). AdGuardHome is written in TypeScript under GPL-3.0; awl is written in Go under MPL-2.0. AdGuardHome has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, awl 7%. AdGuardHome was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (golang), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| AdGuardHome | awl | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 37K | ★ 684 |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MPL-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-24 | 2026-09-13 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.5K | ⑂ 45 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick AdGuardHome if
- You weight community size — 37K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick awl if
- You want the awl feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and awl fits your workflow better
About AdGuardHome
AdGuard Home is a free and open source, network wide DNS server that blocks ads and trackers for every device on a network, aimed at self hosters, homelab operators, and network administrators who want filtering without installing client side software on each device.
read the full AdGuardHome overview →
About awl
awl (Anywherelan) is an open source, fully peer to peer mesh VPN written in Go that gives your own devices stable .awl addresses so they can reach one another at the IP level from anywhere, aimed at self hosters, small groups of friends and personal device fleets of roughly tens of machines rather than at teams.
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Frequently asked questions
Is AdGuardHome or awl more popular?
AdGuardHome has 37,060 GitHub stars and awl has 684. AdGuardHome has the larger community by that measure.
Are AdGuardHome and awl free?
Both are open source. AdGuardHome is licensed under GPL-3.0 and awl under MPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between AdGuardHome and awl?
AdGuardHome is written in TypeScript and awl in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, AdGuardHome or awl?
Choose AdGuardHome if you want the larger community (37,060 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose awl if its feature set, stack or MPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.