head to head · open source
frp vs coredns
frp has 109,502 GitHub stars, 15,213 forks, 48 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. coredns has 14,329 stars, 2,532 forks, 282 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. frp leads on adoption by 664% (109,502 vs 14,329 stars). frp is written in Go under Apache-2.0; coredns is written in Go under Apache-2.0. frp has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, coredns 18%. coredns was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (go), 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 | coredns | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 110K | ★ 14K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-15 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 15K | ⑂ 2.5K |
| 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 coredns if
- You want the coredns 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 coredns 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 coredns
CoreDNS is a CNCF graduated DNS server and forwarder written in Go that resolves queries through a chain of plugins, aimed at platform and infrastructure engineers who run DNS for Kubernetes clusters, service discovery, or authoritative zones and need to extend its behaviour without forking the core.
read the full coredns overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is frp or coredns more popular?
frp has 109,502 GitHub stars and coredns has 14,329. frp has the larger community by that measure.
Are frp and coredns free?
Both are open source. frp is licensed under Apache-2.0 and coredns under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between frp and coredns?
frp is written in Go and coredns 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 coredns?
Choose frp if you want the larger community (109,502 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose coredns if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.