head to head · open source
AdGuardHome vs mosdns
AdGuardHome has 37,045 GitHub stars, 2,524 forks, 1,253 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. mosdns has 3,749 stars, 486 forks, 118 open issues and last shipped 7 months ago. AdGuardHome leads on adoption by 888% (37,045 vs 3,749 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 | ★ 37K | ★ 3.7K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-23 | 2026-02-27 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.5K | ⑂ 486 |
| 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 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
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 mosdns
mosdns is a DNS forwarder written in Go, licensed under GPL 3.0, and aimed at people who want to run their own DNS forwarding and resolution path instead of relying on the resolver handed to them by a router, an ISP, or a third party service.
read the full mosdns overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is AdGuardHome or mosdns more popular?
AdGuardHome has 37,045 GitHub stars and mosdns has 3,749. 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 (37,045 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.