head to head · open source
goproxy vs OpenVPN
goproxy has 17,135 GitHub stars, 3,094 forks, 143 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. OpenVPN has 14,580 stars, 3,403 forks, 226 open issues and last shipped yesterday. goproxy leads on adoption by 18% (17,135 vs 14,580 stars). goproxy is written in Go under GPL-3.0; OpenVPN is written in C under a custom or non-standard licence. goproxy has attracted 18% as many forks as stars, OpenVPN 23%. OpenVPN 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
| goproxy | OpenVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 17K | ★ 15K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | Go | C |
| Last push | 2026-08-17 | 2026-09-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.1K | ⑂ 3.4K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick goproxy if
- You weight community size — 17K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick OpenVPN if
- You want the OpenVPN feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and OpenVPN fits your workflow better
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 →
About OpenVPN
OpenVPN is open source VPN daemon. It provides secure tunneling for network connections. Project lives in Infrastructure & Operations / Networking & Connectivity ecosystem. Tagline says Zero Trust VPN solutions for secure business networking. GitHub description says OpenVPN is an open source VPN daemon. Repository language is C. GitHub license field says NOASSERTION, while README states GNU General Public License version 2. README states copyright 2002 2026 OpenVPN Inc.
read the full OpenVPN overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is goproxy or OpenVPN more popular?
goproxy has 17,135 GitHub stars and OpenVPN has 14,580. goproxy has the larger community by that measure.
Are goproxy and OpenVPN free?
Both are open source. goproxy is licensed under GPL-3.0, and OpenVPN has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between goproxy and OpenVPN?
goproxy is written in Go and OpenVPN 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, goproxy or OpenVPN?
Choose goproxy if you want the larger community (17,135 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose OpenVPN if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.