head to head · open source
frp vs cloudflared
frp has 109,530 GitHub stars, 15,215 forks, 48 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. cloudflared has 15,829 stars, 1,451 forks, 545 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. frp leads on adoption by 592% (109,530 vs 15,829 stars). frp is written in Go under Apache-2.0; cloudflared is written in Go under Apache-2.0. frp has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, cloudflared 9%. cloudflared 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 | cloudflared | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 110K | ★ 16K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-15 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 15K | ⑂ 1.5K |
| 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 cloudflared if
- You want the cloudflared feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and cloudflared 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 cloudflared
cloudflared is the open source command line client and tunneling daemon for Cloudflare Tunnel, a Go program under the Apache 2.0 licence that proxies traffic from the Cloudflare network to your origins so a webserver can stay closed to the public internet, and it is aimed at operators, platform teams and developers who need to publish HTTP services or reach private origins without opening inbound firewall ports.
read the full cloudflared overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is frp or cloudflared more popular?
frp has 109,530 GitHub stars and cloudflared has 15,829. frp has the larger community by that measure.
Are frp and cloudflared free?
Both are open source. frp is licensed under Apache-2.0 and cloudflared under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between frp and cloudflared?
frp is written in Go and cloudflared 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 cloudflared?
Choose frp if you want the larger community (109,530 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose cloudflared if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.