head to head · open source
frp vs docktail
frp has 110,006 GitHub stars, 15,249 forks, 48 open issues and last shipped today. docktail has 1,287 stars, 49 forks, 5 open issues and last shipped 6 days ago. frp leads on adoption by 8,447% (110,006 vs 1,287 stars). frp is written in Go under Apache-2.0; docktail is written in Go under AGPL-3.0. frp has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, docktail 4%. frp was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (reverse-proxy), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
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
| frp | docktail | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 110K | ★ 1.3K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-10-20 | 2026-10-14 |
| Forks | ⑂ 15K | ⑂ 49 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick frp if
- You weight community size — 110K 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 docktail if
- You want the docktail feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and docktail fits your workflow better
About frp
frp README 中文文档 Sponsors frp is an open source project with its ongoing development made possible entirely by the support of our awesome sponsors. If you'd like to join them, please consider sponsoring frp's development. Gold Sponsors High performance residential and ISP proxies for developers 90M+ residential IPs worldwide. Rotating IPs, sticky sessions, and traffic that never expires. From $0.55/GB. Use RAPID10 for 10% off. Try it for free. The complete IDE crafted for professional Go developers The sovereign cloud that puts you in control An open source, self hosted alternative to public clouds, built for…
About docktail
🍸 DockTail Unleash your containers as Tailscale Services. DockTail watches Docker containers, reads docktail. labels, and exposes matching containers as Tailscale Services. App containers do not need published Docker ports by default; DockTail proxies directly to their Docker network IPs. Why DockTail? DockTail uses native Tailscale Services, not per container Tailscale devices. ¹ Depends on proxy and Docker network setup. ² Depends on the sidecar template and app network setup. ³ You configure how the service host reaches the backend yourself. ⁴ ScaleTail is template based, so each app usually starts from its…
read the full docktail overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is frp or docktail more popular?
frp has 110,006 GitHub stars and docktail has 1,287. frp has the larger community by that measure.
Are frp and docktail free?
Both are open source. frp is licensed under Apache-2.0 and docktail under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between frp and docktail?
frp is written in Go and docktail 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, frp or docktail?
Choose frp if you want the larger community (110,006 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose docktail if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.