head to head · open source
frp vs Plakar
frp has 109,524 GitHub stars, 15,214 forks, 48 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. Plakar has 2,064 stars, 92 forks, 123 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. frp leads on adoption by 5,206% (109,524 vs 2,064 stars). frp is written in Go under Apache-2.0; Plakar is written in Go under ISC. frp has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, Plakar 4%. Plakar 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 | Plakar | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 110K | ★ 2.1K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | ISC |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-15 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 15K | ⑂ 92 |
| 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 Plakar if
- You want the Plakar feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the ISC license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and Plakar 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 Plakar
Plakar is an open source backup engine written in Go for the infrastructure and operations ecosystem. It is powered by Kloset, an immutable data store, and it uses the ptar format for self contained archives. Plakar creates snapshots of data, stores them in encrypted and deduplicated repositories, and lets users inspect, verify, and restore the snapshots later.
read the full Plakar overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is frp or Plakar more popular?
frp has 109,524 GitHub stars and Plakar has 2,064. frp has the larger community by that measure.
Are frp and Plakar free?
Both are open source. frp is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Plakar under ISC. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between frp and Plakar?
frp is written in Go and Plakar 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 Plakar?
Choose frp if you want the larger community (109,524 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Plakar if its feature set, stack or ISC licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.