head to head · open source
Zen vs docker-nginx-certbot
Zen has 4,225 GitHub stars, 143 forks, 14 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. docker-nginx-certbot has 1,205 stars, 195 forks, 8 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Zen leads on adoption by 251% (4,225 vs 1,205 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 | ★ 4.2K | ★ 1.2K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Go | Shell |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 143 | ⑂ 195 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Zen if
- You weight community size — 4.2K 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 is an open source desktop application written in Go for Windows, macOS, and Linux under the MIT license. It operates as a system wide ad blocker and privacy guard, so it applies to traffic from applications on the machine rather than only to browser tabs. It lives in the desktop security and privacy ecosystem, where users want filtering without browser extensions.
About docker-nginx-certbot
docker nginx certbot is an MIT licensed Docker image that bundles Nginx with the certbot ACME client so that websites automatically obtain and renew free Let's Encrypt TLS certificates, and it is aimed at self hosters and small teams who run their own Nginx servers.
read the full docker-nginx-certbot overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Zen or docker-nginx-certbot more popular?
Zen has 4,225 GitHub stars and docker-nginx-certbot has 1,205. 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 (4,225 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose docker-nginx-certbot if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.