AdGuard Home vs Vinyl Cache
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
Vinyl Cache
Web application accelerator/caching HTTP reverse proxy (formerly
| Feature | AdGuard Home | Vinyl Cache |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Reverse Proxy & Gateways |
| License | GPL-3.0 | BSD-2-Clause |
| Language | TypeScript | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 35,977 | — |
| First released | 2018 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Pi-hole, NextDNS | — |
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 Vinyl Cache if…
- Released under the BSD-2-Clause license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Go
- Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is AdGuard Home or Vinyl Cache better?
AdGuard Home is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Vinyl Cache if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are AdGuard Home and Vinyl Cache free and open-source?
Yes. AdGuard Home is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Vinyl Cache under BSD-2-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run AdGuard Home and Vinyl Cache with Docker?
AdGuard Home: yes. Vinyl Cache: yes.