head to head · open source
Zen vs docker-nginx-certbot
Zen has 4,347 GitHub stars, 145 forks, 14 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. docker-nginx-certbot has 1,211 stars, 195 forks, 8 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Zen leads on adoption by 259% (4,347 vs 1,211 stars). Zen is written in Go under MIT; docker-nginx-certbot is written in Shell under MIT. Zen has attracted 3% as many forks as stars, docker-nginx-certbot 16%. Zen 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
| Zen | docker-nginx-certbot | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 4.3K | ★ 1.2K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Go | Shell |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 145 | ⑂ 195 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Zen if
- You weight community size — 4.3K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick docker-nginx-certbot if
- You want the docker-nginx-certbot feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Shell
- You evaluated both and docker-nginx-certbot fits your workflow better
About Zen
Zen: Your Comprehensive Ad Blocker and Privacy Guard There is, simply, no way, to ignore privacy. Because a citizenry’s freedoms are interdependent, to surrender your own privacy is really to surrender everyone’s. Edward Snowden, Permanent Record Website • Mastodon • Bluesky • Discord • Documentation Zen is an open source system wide ad blocker and privacy guard for Windows, macOS, and Linux. It works by setting up a proxy that intercepts HTTP requests from all applications, and blocks those serving ads, tracking scripts that monitor your behavior, malware, and other unwanted content. By operating at the system…
About docker-nginx-certbot
docker nginx certbot Automatically create and renew website SSL certificates using the [Let's Encrypt][1] free certificate authority and its client [ certbot ][2]. Built on top of the [official Nginx Docker images][9] (both Debian and Alpine), and uses OpenSSL/LibreSSL to automatically create the Diffie Hellman parameters used during the initial handshake of some ciphers. :information source: The very first time this container is started it might take a long time before it is ready to respond to requests. Read more about this in the Diffie Hellman parameters section. :information source: Please use a specific…
read the full docker-nginx-certbot overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Zen or docker-nginx-certbot more popular?
Zen has 4,347 GitHub stars and docker-nginx-certbot has 1,211. Zen has the larger community by that measure.
Are Zen and docker-nginx-certbot free?
Both are open source. Zen is licensed under MIT and docker-nginx-certbot under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Zen and docker-nginx-certbot?
Zen is written in Go and docker-nginx-certbot in Shell. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Zen or docker-nginx-certbot?
Choose Zen if you want the larger community (4,347 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose docker-nginx-certbot if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.