head to head · open source
nginx vs DnsServer
nginx has 31,683 GitHub stars, 8,304 forks, 468 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. DnsServer has 9,921 stars, 785 forks, 187 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. nginx leads on adoption by 219% (31,683 vs 9,921 stars). nginx is written in C under BSD-2-Clause; DnsServer is written in C# under GPL-3.0. nginx has attracted 26% as many forks as stars, DnsServer 8%. nginx 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 | DnsServer | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 32K | ★ 9.9K |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C | C# |
| Last push | 2026-09-16 | 2026-09-12 |
| Forks | ⑂ 8.3K | ⑂ 785 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick nginx if
- You weight community size — 32K stars and counting
- You want the BSD-2-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick DnsServer if
- You want the DnsServer feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C#
- You evaluated both and DnsServer fits your workflow better
About nginx
NGINX is the official open source repository for the NGINX web server and its load balancer, reverse proxy, API gateway and content cache roles, written in C under the BSD 2 Clause licence and aimed at system administrators, DevOps engineers and platform teams who need to serve, balance and protect their own HTTP traffic.
read the full nginx overview →
About DnsServer
Technitium DNS Server is an open source, cross platform authoritative and recursive DNS server written in C under GPL 3.0, aimed at anyone who wants to self host DNS resolution for privacy and security — a home network on a Raspberry Pi, or an organisation that needs encrypted DNS, network wide block lists, and centralised management.
read the full DnsServer overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is nginx or DnsServer more popular?
nginx has 31,683 GitHub stars and DnsServer has 9,921. nginx has the larger community by that measure.
Are nginx and DnsServer free?
Both are open source. nginx is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and DnsServer under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between nginx and DnsServer?
nginx is written in C and DnsServer 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 or DnsServer?
Choose nginx if you want the larger community (31,683 stars) or its BSD-2-Clause licence terms. Choose DnsServer if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.