head to head · open source
AdGuardHome vs node-dns
AdGuardHome has 37,259 GitHub stars, 2,534 forks, 1,253 open issues and last shipped yesterday. node-dns has 591 stars, 80 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. AdGuardHome leads on adoption by 6,204% (37,259 vs 591 stars). AdGuardHome is written in TypeScript under GPL-3.0; node-dns is written in JavaScript under MIT. AdGuardHome has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, node-dns 14%. 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 | node-dns | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 37K | ★ 591 |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-10-06 | 2026-07-26 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.5K | ⑂ 80 |
| 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 node-dns if
- You want the node-dns feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and node-dns 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 node-dns
node dns is a DNS server and client library in pure JavaScript with no dependencies, published on npm as dns2 , for Node.js developers who need to resolve or serve DNS records programmatically.
read the full node-dns overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is AdGuardHome or node-dns more popular?
AdGuardHome has 37,259 GitHub stars and node-dns has 591. AdGuardHome has the larger community by that measure.
Are AdGuardHome and node-dns free?
Both are open source. AdGuardHome is licensed under GPL-3.0 and node-dns under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between AdGuardHome and node-dns?
AdGuardHome is written in TypeScript and node-dns in JavaScript. 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 node-dns?
Choose AdGuardHome if you want the larger community (37,259 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose node-dns if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.