head to head · open source
frp vs bind9
frp has 109,748 GitHub stars, 15,233 forks, 48 open issues and last shipped 20 days ago. bind9 has 779 stars, 186 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped today. frp leads on adoption by 13,988% (109,748 vs 779 stars). frp is written in Go under Apache-2.0; bind9 is written in C under MPL-2.0. frp has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, bind9 24%. bind9 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
| frp | bind9 | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 110K | ★ 779 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MPL-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | C |
| Last push | 2026-09-15 | 2026-10-05 |
| Forks | ⑂ 15K | ⑂ 186 |
| 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 bind9 if
- You want the bind9 feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and bind9 fits your workflow better
About frp
frp is a fast reverse proxy written in Go that exposes a local server behind a NAT or firewall to the internet, built for operators and developers who need inbound access to machines they cannot port forward.
About bind9
BIND 9 is a complete, highly portable open source implementation of the Domain Name System protocol, written in C, for operators and organisations that need to run authoritative, recursive, or forwarding DNS infrastructure themselves.
read the full bind9 overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is frp or bind9 more popular?
frp has 109,748 GitHub stars and bind9 has 779. frp has the larger community by that measure.
Are frp and bind9 free?
Both are open source. frp is licensed under Apache-2.0 and bind9 under MPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between frp and bind9?
frp is written in Go and bind9 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, frp or bind9?
Choose frp if you want the larger community (109,748 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose bind9 if its feature set, stack or MPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.