head to head · open source
frp vs piko
frp has 109,722 GitHub stars, 15,231 forks, 48 open issues and last shipped 18 days ago. piko has 2,194 stars, 89 forks, 3 open issues and last shipped 11 days ago. frp leads on adoption by 4,901% (109,722 vs 2,194 stars). frp is written in Go under Apache-2.0; piko is written in Go under MIT. frp has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, piko 4%. piko was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (http-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 | piko | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 110K | ★ 2.2K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-15 | 2026-09-22 |
| Forks | ⑂ 15K | ⑂ 89 |
| 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 piko if
- You want the piko feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and piko 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 piko
Piko is an open source reverse proxy and tunneling server in Go that lets you reach services with no public route by having them open outbound connections, and it is aimed at teams that need to serve production traffic or expose internal services from Kubernetes.
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Frequently asked questions
Is frp or piko more popular?
frp has 109,722 GitHub stars and piko has 2,194. frp has the larger community by that measure.
Are frp and piko free?
Both are open source. frp is licensed under Apache-2.0 and piko under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between frp and piko?
frp is written in Go and piko 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 piko?
Choose frp if you want the larger community (109,722 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose piko if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.