head to head · open source
nginx-proxy vs goproxy
nginx-proxy has 19,915 GitHub stars, 3,044 forks, 327 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. goproxy has 17,135 stars, 3,094 forks, 143 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. nginx-proxy leads on adoption by 16% (19,915 vs 17,135 stars). nginx-proxy is written in Python under MIT; goproxy is written in Go under GPL-3.0. nginx-proxy has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, goproxy 18%. nginx-proxy was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (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
| nginx-proxy | goproxy | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 20K | ★ 17K |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-16 | 2026-08-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.0K | ⑂ 3.1K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick nginx-proxy if
- You weight community size — 20K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick goproxy if
- You want the goproxy feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and goproxy fits your workflow better
About nginx-proxy
nginx proxy is an automated Nginx reverse proxy for Docker that watches containers start and stop and rewrites its own proxy configuration in response, and it is for anyone running containerised services who needs hostname based routing without hand editing nginx configuration files.
read the full nginx-proxy overview →
About goproxy
goproxy is a GPL 3.0 licensed, Go based proxy server that provides HTTP(S), SOCKS5, ss, WebSocket, TCP and UDP proxying from a single program, intended for operators and developers who need forward, reverse, transparent, chained and NAT traversal proxying without wiring together several separate tools.
read the full goproxy overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is nginx-proxy or goproxy more popular?
nginx-proxy has 19,915 GitHub stars and goproxy has 17,135. nginx-proxy has the larger community by that measure.
Are nginx-proxy and goproxy free?
Both are open source. nginx-proxy is licensed under MIT and goproxy under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between nginx-proxy and goproxy?
nginx-proxy is written in Python and goproxy 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, nginx-proxy or goproxy?
Choose nginx-proxy if you want the larger community (19,915 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose goproxy if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.