head to head · open source
frp vs FastTunnel
frp has 109,775 GitHub stars, 15,236 forks, 48 open issues and last shipped 23 days ago. FastTunnel has 1,702 stars, 341 forks, 18 open issues and last shipped 22 days ago. frp leads on adoption by 6,350% (109,775 vs 1,702 stars). frp is written in Go under Apache-2.0; FastTunnel is written in C# under Apache-2.0. frp has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, FastTunnel 20%. FastTunnel was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 5 topic tags (http-proxy, nat, proxy, 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 | FastTunnel | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 110K | ★ 1.7K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | C# |
| Last push | 2026-09-15 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 15K | ⑂ 341 |
| 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 FastTunnel if
- You want the FastTunnel feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C#
- You evaluated both and FastTunnel 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 FastTunnel
FastTunnel is a cross platform intranet penetration framework written in C that lets developers and operators expose services running on machines behind NAT to the public internet.
read the full FastTunnel overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is frp or FastTunnel more popular?
frp has 109,775 GitHub stars and FastTunnel has 1,702. frp has the larger community by that measure.
Are frp and FastTunnel free?
Both are open source. frp is licensed under Apache-2.0 and FastTunnel under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between frp and FastTunnel?
frp is written in Go and FastTunnel 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 FastTunnel?
Choose frp if you want the larger community (109,775 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose FastTunnel if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.