head to head · open source
AdGuardHome vs DnsClient.NET
AdGuardHome has 37,186 GitHub stars, 2,531 forks, 1,253 open issues and last shipped yesterday. DnsClient.NET has 880 stars, 149 forks, 21 open issues and last shipped 7 months ago. AdGuardHome leads on adoption by 4,126% (37,186 vs 880 stars). AdGuardHome is written in TypeScript under GPL-3.0; DnsClient.NET is written in C# under Apache-2.0. AdGuardHome has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, DnsClient.NET 17%. AdGuardHome was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (dns), 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 | DnsClient.NET | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 37K | ★ 880 |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | C# |
| Last push | 2026-10-02 | 2026-03-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.5K | ⑂ 149 |
| 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 DnsClient.NET if
- You want the DnsClient.NET feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C#
- You evaluated both and DnsClient.NET 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 DnsClient.NET
DnsClient.NET is a high performance open source DNS lookup library for .NET developers who need to query DNS records programmatically from C applications.
read the full DnsClient.NET overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is AdGuardHome or DnsClient.NET more popular?
AdGuardHome has 37,186 GitHub stars and DnsClient.NET has 880. AdGuardHome has the larger community by that measure.
Are AdGuardHome and DnsClient.NET free?
Both are open source. AdGuardHome is licensed under GPL-3.0 and DnsClient.NET under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between AdGuardHome and DnsClient.NET?
AdGuardHome is written in TypeScript and DnsClient.NET in C#. 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 DnsClient.NET?
Choose AdGuardHome if you want the larger community (37,186 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose DnsClient.NET if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.