head to head · open source
traefik vs algo
traefik has 64,904 GitHub stars, 6,202 forks, 939 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. algo has 30,388 stars, 2,366 forks, 77 open issues and last shipped 11 days ago. traefik leads on adoption by 114% (64,904 vs 30,388 stars). traefik is written in Go under MIT; algo is written in Python under AGPL-3.0. traefik has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, algo 8%. traefik 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| traefik | algo | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 65K | ★ 30K |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Go | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-09 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.2K | ⑂ 2.4K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick traefik if
- You weight community size — 65K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick algo if
- You want the algo feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and algo fits your workflow better
About traefik
Traefik — pronounced traffic — is "The Cloud Native Application Proxy": an MIT licensed, Go based HTTP reverse proxy and load balancer that watches your orchestrator or service registry and generates its own routes, aimed at teams running microservices on Docker, Swarm, Kubernetes, Consul, Etcd, Rancher v2, or Amazon ECS.
read the full traefik overview →
About algo
Algo VPN is a set of Ansible scripts from Trail of Bits, written in Python and released under AGPL 3.0, that turns a fresh cloud virtual machine into a personal WireGuard and IPsec VPN server, and it is aimed at individuals and small teams who want to run their own VPN instead of trusting a hosted provider.
More in Infrastructure & Operations
Related comparisons
More Networking & Connectivity projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Networking & Connectivity field.
Frequently asked questions
Is traefik or algo more popular?
traefik has 64,904 GitHub stars and algo has 30,388. traefik has the larger community by that measure.
Are traefik and algo free?
Both are open source. traefik is licensed under MIT and algo under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between traefik and algo?
traefik is written in Go and algo 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, traefik or algo?
Choose traefik if you want the larger community (64,904 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose algo if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.