head to head · open source
fastapi vs rustunnel
fastapi has 102,409 GitHub stars, 9,906 forks, 78 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. rustunnel has 656 stars, 48 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped 15 days ago. fastapi leads on adoption by 15,511% (102,409 vs 656 stars). fastapi is written in Python under MIT; rustunnel is written in Rust under AGPL-3.0. fastapi has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, rustunnel 7%. fastapi 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
| fastapi | rustunnel | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 102K | ★ 656 |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-09-14 | 2026-09-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.9K | ⑂ 48 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick fastapi if
- You weight community size — 102K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick rustunnel if
- You want the rustunnel feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and rustunnel fits your workflow better
About fastapi
FastAPI is an MIT licensed, high performance Python web framework for building APIs with standard Python type hints, aimed at Python developers and teams that need production ready HTTP services with automatic OpenAPI documentation.
read the full fastapi overview →
About rustunnel
rustunnel The open source tunnel that scales with you. Don't pay for idle time. Secure, Rust fast, and Pay as you go. Expose local services through a public server over encrypted WebSocket connections with TLS termination, HTTP/TCP proxying, a live dashboard, Prometheus metrics, and audit logging. You can self host or use our managed service. Using an AI agent? rustunnel ships an MCP server — one click setup for Cursor (then add your API token): For Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Windsurf, and others, see the agent integration guide or the agent manual at rustunnel.com/agents.md. Table of Contents Hosted service Ar…
read the full rustunnel overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is fastapi or rustunnel more popular?
fastapi has 102,409 GitHub stars and rustunnel has 656. fastapi has the larger community by that measure.
Are fastapi and rustunnel free?
Both are open source. fastapi is licensed under MIT and rustunnel under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between fastapi and rustunnel?
fastapi is written in Python and rustunnel in Rust. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, fastapi or rustunnel?
Choose fastapi if you want the larger community (102,409 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose rustunnel if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.