head to head · open source
nginx-proxy vs coredns
nginx-proxy has 19,915 GitHub stars, 3,044 forks, 327 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. coredns has 14,330 stars, 2,533 forks, 282 open issues and last shipped yesterday. nginx-proxy leads on adoption by 39% (19,915 vs 14,330 stars). nginx-proxy is written in Python under MIT; coredns is written in Go under Apache-2.0. nginx-proxy has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, coredns 18%. coredns 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
| nginx-proxy | coredns | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 20K | ★ 14K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-16 | 2026-09-20 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.0K | ⑂ 2.5K |
| 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 coredns if
- You want the coredns feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and coredns 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 coredns
CoreDNS is a CNCF graduated DNS server and forwarder written in Go that resolves queries through a chain of plugins, aimed at platform and infrastructure engineers who run DNS for Kubernetes clusters, service discovery, or authoritative zones and need to extend its behaviour without forking the core.
read the full coredns overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is nginx-proxy or coredns more popular?
nginx-proxy has 19,915 GitHub stars and coredns has 14,330. nginx-proxy has the larger community by that measure.
Are nginx-proxy and coredns free?
Both are open source. nginx-proxy is licensed under MIT and coredns under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between nginx-proxy and coredns?
nginx-proxy is written in Python and coredns 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 coredns?
Choose nginx-proxy if you want the larger community (19,915 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose coredns if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.