head to head · open source
AdGuardHome vs smartdns
AdGuardHome has 36,970 GitHub stars, 2,520 forks, 1,253 open issues and last shipped yesterday. smartdns has 11,312 stars, 1,247 forks, 320 open issues and last shipped 20 days ago. AdGuardHome leads on adoption by 227% (36,970 vs 11,312 stars). AdGuardHome is written in TypeScript under GPL-3.0; smartdns is written in C under GPL-3.0. AdGuardHome has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, smartdns 11%. AdGuardHome was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (dns, dns-over-https, 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 | smartdns | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 37K | ★ 11K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | C |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-08-30 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.5K | ⑂ 1.2K |
| 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 smartdns if
- You want the smartdns feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and smartdns 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 smartdns
SmartDNS is a local DNS server, written in C and licensed under GPL 3.0, that accepts DNS queries from local clients, asks multiple upstream DNS servers, and returns the IP address with the fastest measured access speed — built for self hosters, router owners, and network operators who want faster name resolution and stronger privacy.
read the full smartdns overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is AdGuardHome or smartdns more popular?
AdGuardHome has 36,970 GitHub stars and smartdns has 11,312. AdGuardHome has the larger community by that measure.
Are AdGuardHome and smartdns free?
Both are open source. AdGuardHome is licensed under GPL-3.0 and smartdns under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between AdGuardHome and smartdns?
AdGuardHome is written in TypeScript and smartdns 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 smartdns?
Choose AdGuardHome if you want the larger community (36,970 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose smartdns if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.