head to head · open source
nginx-proxy vs SoftEtherVPN
nginx-proxy has 19,933 GitHub stars, 3,038 forks, 327 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. SoftEtherVPN has 13,705 stars, 2,804 forks, 296 open issues and last shipped 6 days ago. nginx-proxy leads on adoption by 45% (19,933 vs 13,705 stars). nginx-proxy is written in Python under MIT; SoftEtherVPN is written in C under Apache-2.0. nginx-proxy has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, SoftEtherVPN 20%. nginx-proxy 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 | SoftEtherVPN | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 20K | ★ 14K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | C |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-30 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.0K | ⑂ 2.8K |
| 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 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 nginx-proxy
nginx proxy nginx proxy sets up a container running nginx and docker gen. docker gen generates reverse proxy configs for nginx and reloads nginx when containers are started and stopped. See Automated Nginx Reverse Proxy for Docker for why you might want to use this. Usage To run it: Then start any containers (here an nginx container) you want proxied with an env var VIRTUAL HOST=subdomain.yourdomain.com Provided your DNS is setup to resolve foo.bar.com to the host running nginx proxy, a request to will then be routed to a container with the VIRTUAL HOST env var set to foo.bar.com (in this case, the your proxied…
read the full nginx-proxy overview →
About SoftEtherVPN
SoftEther VPN SoftEther VPN BOARD MEMBERS OF THIS REPOSITORY SOFTETHER VPN ADVANTAGES Installation For FreeBSD For Windows From binary installers (stable channel) Build from Source code Antivirus False Positive Detection About HTML5 based Modern Admin Console and JSON RPC API Suite Built in SoftEther VPN Server HTML5 Ajax based Web Administration Console Built in SoftEther Server VPN JSON RPC API Suite TO CIRCUMVENT YOUR GOVERNMENT'S FIREWALL RESTRICTION SOURCE CODE CONTRIBUTION DEAR SECURITY EXPERTS SoftEther VPN (Developer Edition Master Repository) An Open Source Cross platform Multi protocol VPN Program This…
read the full SoftEtherVPN overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is nginx-proxy or SoftEtherVPN more popular?
nginx-proxy has 19,933 GitHub stars and SoftEtherVPN has 13,705. nginx-proxy has the larger community by that measure.
Are nginx-proxy and SoftEtherVPN free?
Both are open source. nginx-proxy is licensed under MIT and SoftEtherVPN under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between nginx-proxy and SoftEtherVPN?
nginx-proxy is written in Python 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, nginx-proxy or SoftEtherVPN?
Choose nginx-proxy if you want the larger community (19,933 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose SoftEtherVPN if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.