head to head · open source
cloudflared vs OpenVPN
cloudflared has 16,043 GitHub stars, 1,468 forks, 545 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. OpenVPN has 14,643 stars, 3,404 forks, 226 open issues and last shipped yesterday. cloudflared leads on adoption by 10% (16,043 vs 14,643 stars). cloudflared is written in Go under Apache-2.0; OpenVPN is written in C under a custom or non-standard licence. cloudflared has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, OpenVPN 23%. OpenVPN 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
| cloudflared | OpenVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 16K | ★ 15K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | Go | C |
| Last push | 2026-10-05 | 2026-10-06 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.5K | ⑂ 3.4K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick cloudflared if
- You weight community size — 16K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick OpenVPN if
- You want the OpenVPN feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and OpenVPN fits your workflow better
About cloudflared
cloudflared is the open source command line client and tunneling daemon for Cloudflare Tunnel, a Go program under the Apache 2.0 licence that proxies traffic from the Cloudflare network to your origins so a webserver can stay closed to the public internet, and it is aimed at operators, platform teams and developers who need to publish HTTP services or reach private origins without opening inbound firewall ports.
read the full cloudflared overview →
About OpenVPN
OpenVPN is open source VPN daemon. It provides secure tunneling for network connections. Project lives in Infrastructure & Operations / Networking & Connectivity ecosystem. Tagline says Zero Trust VPN solutions for secure business networking. GitHub description says OpenVPN is an open source VPN daemon. Repository language is C. GitHub license field says NOASSERTION, while README states GNU General Public License version 2. README states copyright 2002 2026 OpenVPN Inc.
read the full OpenVPN overview →
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 cloudflared or OpenVPN more popular?
cloudflared has 16,043 GitHub stars and OpenVPN has 14,643. cloudflared has the larger community by that measure.
Are cloudflared and OpenVPN free?
Both are open source. cloudflared is licensed under Apache-2.0, and OpenVPN has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between cloudflared and OpenVPN?
cloudflared is written in Go and OpenVPN 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, cloudflared or OpenVPN?
Choose cloudflared if you want the larger community (16,043 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose OpenVPN if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.