head to head · open source
AdGuardHome vs nginx-proxy
AdGuardHome has 38,073 GitHub stars, 2,589 forks, 1,253 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. nginx-proxy has 19,933 stars, 3,037 forks, 327 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. AdGuardHome leads on adoption by 91% (38,073 vs 19,933 stars). AdGuardHome is written in TypeScript under GPL-3.0; nginx-proxy is written in Python under MIT. AdGuardHome has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, nginx-proxy 15%. AdGuardHome was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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 | nginx-proxy | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 38K | ★ 20K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.6K | ⑂ 3.0K |
| 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 nginx-proxy if
- You want the nginx-proxy feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and nginx-proxy 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 nginx-proxy
nginx proxy nginx proxy sets up a container running nginx and docker gen. docker gen generates reverse proxy configs for nginx and reloads nginx when containers are started and stopped. See Automated Nginx Reverse Proxy for Docker for why you might want to use this. Usage To run it: Then start any containers (here an nginx container) you want proxied with an env var VIRTUAL HOST=subdomain.yourdomain.com Provided your DNS is setup to resolve foo.bar.com to the host running nginx proxy, a request to will then be routed to a container with the VIRTUAL HOST env var set to foo.bar.com (in this case, the your proxied…
read the full nginx-proxy overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is AdGuardHome or nginx-proxy more popular?
AdGuardHome has 38,073 GitHub stars and nginx-proxy has 19,933. AdGuardHome has the larger community by that measure.
Are AdGuardHome and nginx-proxy free?
Both are open source. AdGuardHome is licensed under GPL-3.0 and nginx-proxy under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between AdGuardHome and nginx-proxy?
AdGuardHome is written in TypeScript and nginx-proxy in Python. 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 nginx-proxy?
Choose AdGuardHome if you want the larger community (38,073 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose nginx-proxy if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.