head to head · open source
nginx vs tunnl.gg
nginx has 31,989 GitHub stars, 8,329 forks, 468 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. tunnl.gg has 681 stars, 53 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. nginx leads on adoption by 4,597% (31,989 vs 681 stars). nginx is written in C under BSD-2-Clause; tunnl.gg is written in Go under MIT. nginx has attracted 26% as many forks as stars, tunnl.gg 8%. nginx was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (reverse-proxy), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
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 | tunnl.gg | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 32K | ★ 681 |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | MIT |
| Written in | C | Go |
| Last push | 2026-10-27 | 2026-10-27 |
| Forks | ⑂ 8.3K | ⑂ 53 |
| 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 tunnl.gg if
- You want the tunnl.gg feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and tunnl.gg fits your workflow better
About nginx
NGINX (pronounced "engine x" or "en jin eks") is the world's most popular Web Server, high performance Load Balancer, Reverse Proxy, API Gateway and Content Cache. NGINX is free and open source software, distributed under the terms of a simplified 2 clause BSD like license. Enterprise distributions, commercial support and training are available from F5, Inc. [!IMPORTANT] The goal of this README is to provide a basic, structured introduction to NGINX for novice users. Please refer to the full NGINX documentation for detailed information on installing, building, configuring, debugging, and more. These…
read the full nginx overview →
About tunnl.gg
tunnl.gg Expose a local web server to the internet with one SSH command. Nothing to install, no account: you get a public HTTPS URL, and with stable@ the same URL every time. This repository is the open source (MIT) server behind tunnl.gg. Use the hosted service for free, or run your own. Website · Docs · Guides Contents Using tunnl.gg Features Quick start Keep the same URL Options JSON output for scripts and agents Recipes Limits and protection Running your own server How it works Before you start Install with Docker Install with systemd Configuration Behind a proxy Stats endpoint Troubleshooting Contributing…
read the full tunnl.gg overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is nginx or tunnl.gg more popular?
nginx has 31,989 GitHub stars and tunnl.gg has 681. nginx has the larger community by that measure.
Are nginx and tunnl.gg free?
Both are open source. nginx is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and tunnl.gg under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between nginx and tunnl.gg?
nginx is written in C and tunnl.gg 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 or tunnl.gg?
Choose nginx if you want the larger community (31,989 stars) or its BSD-2-Clause licence terms. Choose tunnl.gg if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.