AdGuard Home vs Emissary-ingress
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted reverse proxy & gateways options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
AdGuard Home
Network-wide DNS ad and tracker blocker
VS
Emissary-ingress
Kubernetes-native API gateway built on Envoy
| Feature | AdGuard Home | Emissary-ingress |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Reverse Proxy & Gateways |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | kubernetes, helm |
| GitHub stars | ★ 35,977 | ★ 4,518 |
| First released | 2018 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Pi-hole, NextDNS | AWS API Gateway, Kong |
Why pick each one
Choose AdGuard Home if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 36k GitHub stars
Choose Emissary-ingress if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
- Active community (4.5k GitHub stars)
- Written in Python
Frequently asked questions
Is AdGuard Home or Emissary-ingress better?
AdGuard Home is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Emissary-ingress if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are AdGuard Home and Emissary-ingress free and open-source?
Yes. AdGuard Home is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Emissary-ingress under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run AdGuard Home and Emissary-ingress with Docker?
AdGuard Home: yes. Emissary-ingress: check the project docs for container support.