head to head · open source
AdGuardHome vs trickster
AdGuardHome has 37,226 GitHub stars, 2,534 forks, 1,253 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. trickster has 2,092 stars, 190 forks, 6 open issues and last shipped yesterday. AdGuardHome leads on adoption by 1,679% (37,226 vs 2,092 stars). AdGuardHome is written in TypeScript under GPL-3.0; trickster is written in Go under Apache-2.0. AdGuardHome has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, trickster 9%. trickster 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 | trickster | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 37K | ★ 2.1K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-10-02 | 2026-10-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.5K | ⑂ 190 |
| 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 trickster if
- You want the trickster feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and trickster 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 trickster
Trickster is an open source Go HTTP reverse proxy cache and time series database query accelerator for operators who want faster dashboards and a hardened edge in front of HTTP services.
read the full trickster overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is AdGuardHome or trickster more popular?
AdGuardHome has 37,226 GitHub stars and trickster has 2,092. AdGuardHome has the larger community by that measure.
Are AdGuardHome and trickster free?
Both are open source. AdGuardHome is licensed under GPL-3.0 and trickster under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between AdGuardHome and trickster?
AdGuardHome is written in TypeScript and trickster 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 trickster?
Choose AdGuardHome if you want the larger community (37,226 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose trickster if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.