head to head · open source
AdGuardHome vs mosdns
AdGuardHome has 38,244 GitHub stars, 2,606 forks, 1,253 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. mosdns has 3,775 stars, 495 forks, 118 open issues and last shipped 9 months ago. AdGuardHome leads on adoption by 913% (38,244 vs 3,775 stars). AdGuardHome is written in TypeScript under GPL-3.0; mosdns is written in Go under GPL-3.0. AdGuardHome has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, mosdns 13%. AdGuardHome was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 4 topic tags (dns, dns-over-https, dns-over-quic, dns-over-tls), 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 | mosdns | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 38K | ★ 3.8K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-05 | 2026-02-27 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.6K | ⑂ 495 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick AdGuardHome if
- You weight community size — 38K 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 mosdns if
- You want the mosdns feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and mosdns fits your workflow better
About AdGuardHome
Privacy protection center for you and your devices Free and open source, powerful network wide ads & trackers blocking DNS server. AdGuard.com Wiki Reddit Twitter Telegram AdGuard Home is a network wide software for blocking ads and tracking. After you set it up, it'll cover ALL your home devices, and you don't need any client side software for that. It operates as a DNS server that re routes tracking domains to a “black hole”, thus preventing your devices from connecting to those servers. It's based on software we use for our public [AdGuard DNS] servers, and both share a lot of code. [AdGuard DNS]: Getting…
read the full AdGuardHome overview →
About mosdns
mosdns 功能概述、配置方式、教程等，详见: wiki 下载预编译文件、更新日志，详见: release docker 镜像: docker hub
read the full mosdns overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is AdGuardHome or mosdns more popular?
AdGuardHome has 38,244 GitHub stars and mosdns has 3,775. AdGuardHome has the larger community by that measure.
Are AdGuardHome and mosdns free?
Both are open source. AdGuardHome is licensed under GPL-3.0 and mosdns under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between AdGuardHome and mosdns?
AdGuardHome is written in TypeScript and mosdns 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 mosdns?
Choose AdGuardHome if you want the larger community (38,244 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose mosdns if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.