AdGuard Home vs Sozu
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
Sozu
Hot-reconfigurable HTTP reverse proxy in Rust
| Feature | AdGuard Home | Sozu |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Reverse Proxy & Gateways |
| License | GPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 35,977 | ★ 3,715 |
| First released | 2018 | 2016 |
| Replaces | Pi-hole, NextDNS | HAProxy, Nginx |
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 Sozu if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (3.7k GitHub stars)
- Written in Rust
Frequently asked questions
Is AdGuard Home or Sozu better?
AdGuard Home is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Sozu if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are AdGuard Home and Sozu free and open-source?
Yes. AdGuard Home is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Sozu under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run AdGuard Home and Sozu with Docker?
AdGuard Home: yes. Sozu: yes.