head to head · open source
frp vs gdnsd
frp has 109,822 GitHub stars, 15,237 forks, 48 open issues and last shipped yesterday. gdnsd has 560 stars, 70 forks, 14 open issues and last shipped 5 months ago. frp leads on adoption by 19,511% (109,822 vs 560 stars). frp is written in Go under Apache-2.0; gdnsd is written in C under GPL-3.0. frp has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, gdnsd 13%. frp 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 | gdnsd | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 110K | ★ 560 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Go | C |
| Last push | 2026-10-10 | 2026-05-26 |
| Forks | ⑂ 15K | ⑂ 70 |
| 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 gdnsd if
- You want the gdnsd feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and gdnsd 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 gdnsd
gdnsd is an authoritative only DNS server written in C, intended for operators who need high performance name service with geographic balancing and failover rather than caching or recursion.
read the full gdnsd overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is frp or gdnsd more popular?
frp has 109,822 GitHub stars and gdnsd has 560. frp has the larger community by that measure.
Are frp and gdnsd free?
Both are open source. frp is licensed under Apache-2.0 and gdnsd under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between frp and gdnsd?
frp is written in Go and gdnsd 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 gdnsd?
Choose frp if you want the larger community (109,822 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose gdnsd if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.