head to head · open source
goproxy vs SoftEtherVPN
goproxy has 17,135 GitHub stars, 3,094 forks, 143 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. SoftEtherVPN has 13,571 stars, 2,781 forks, 296 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. goproxy leads on adoption by 26% (17,135 vs 13,571 stars). goproxy is written in Go under GPL-3.0; SoftEtherVPN is written in C under Apache-2.0. goproxy has attracted 18% as many forks as stars, SoftEtherVPN 20%. SoftEtherVPN 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 | SoftEtherVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 17K | ★ 14K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | C |
| Last push | 2026-08-17 | 2026-09-13 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.1K | ⑂ 2.8K |
| 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 SoftEtherVPN if
- You want the SoftEtherVPN feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and SoftEtherVPN 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 SoftEtherVPN
SoftEther VPN is an open source, cross platform, multi protocol VPN server and client, written in C and licensed under Apache 2.0, intended for administrators and self hosters who need one program to serve many VPN protocols instead of running several separate daemons.
read the full SoftEtherVPN overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is goproxy or SoftEtherVPN more popular?
goproxy has 17,135 GitHub stars and SoftEtherVPN has 13,571. goproxy has the larger community by that measure.
Are goproxy and SoftEtherVPN free?
Both are open source. goproxy is licensed under GPL-3.0 and SoftEtherVPN under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between goproxy and SoftEtherVPN?
goproxy is written in Go and SoftEtherVPN 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 SoftEtherVPN?
Choose goproxy if you want the larger community (17,135 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose SoftEtherVPN if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.