head to head · open source
traefik vs lightway-core
traefik has 65,531 GitHub stars, 6,313 forks, 939 open issues and last shipped yesterday. lightway-core has 627 stars, 74 forks, 6 open issues and last shipped 7 months ago. traefik leads on adoption by 10,352% (65,531 vs 627 stars). traefik is written in Go under MIT; lightway-core is written in C under GPL-2.0. traefik has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, lightway-core 12%. traefik 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
| traefik | lightway-core | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 66K | ★ 627 |
| License | MIT | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | C |
| Last push | 2026-11-11 | 2026-04-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.3K | ⑂ 74 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick traefik if
- You weight community size — 66K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick lightway-core if
- You want the lightway-core feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and lightway-core fits your workflow better
About traefik
Traefik (pronounced traffic ) is a modern HTTP reverse proxy and load balancer that makes deploying microservices easy. Traefik integrates with your existing infrastructure components (Docker, Swarm mode, Kubernetes, Consul, Etcd, Rancher v2, Amazon ECS, ...) and configures itself automatically and dynamically. Pointing Traefik at your orchestrator should be the only configuration step you need. . Overview . Features . Supported backends . Quickstart . Web UI . Documentation . . Support . Release cycle . Contributing . Maintainers . Credits . :warning: When migrating to a new major version of Traefik, please…
read the full traefik overview →
About lightway-core
= Lightway Core ifdef::env github[] :warning caption: :warning: endif::[] [WARNING] ==== Lightway C is no longer under active development. The repository remains unarchived for those who wish to use it for research purposes, but we strongly encourage the use of Rust], as it continues to be actively maintained and improved. ==== Lightway Core is a modern VPN protocol by ExpressVPN, to deliver a VPN experience that’s faster, more secure, and more reliable. == ExpressVPN One of the world’s largest providers of VPN services, ExpressVPN enables users to protect their privacy and security online with just a few…
read the full lightway-core overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is traefik or lightway-core more popular?
traefik has 65,531 GitHub stars and lightway-core has 627. traefik has the larger community by that measure.
Are traefik and lightway-core free?
Both are open source. traefik is licensed under MIT and lightway-core under GPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between traefik and lightway-core?
traefik is written in Go and lightway-core 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, traefik or lightway-core?
Choose traefik if you want the larger community (65,531 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose lightway-core if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.