AdGuard Home vs River
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
River
Configurable reverse proxy from the Pingora project
| Feature | AdGuard Home | River |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Reverse Proxy & Gateways |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 35,977 | ★ 2,351 |
| First released | 2018 | 2024 |
| Replaces | Pi-hole, NextDNS | nginx, HAProxy |
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 River if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- Active community (2.4k GitHub stars)
- Written in Rust
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is AdGuard Home or River better?
AdGuard Home is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider River if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are AdGuard Home and River free and open-source?
Yes. AdGuard Home is licensed under GPL-3.0 and River under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run AdGuard Home and River with Docker?
AdGuard Home: yes. River: check the project docs for container support.