Angie vs Pingap
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted reverse proxy & gateways options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Angie | Pingap |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 87 · Excellent | 84 · Excellent |
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Reverse Proxy & Gateways |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | C | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,575 | ★ 1,375 |
| First released | 2022 | 2024 |
| Replaces | nginx | nginx |
What are Angie and Pingap?
Angie
Angie is a web server and reverse proxy created by former nginx developers, fully compatible with nginx configuration. It adds features such as dynamic upstream configuration and a built-in monitoring console.
- nginx-compatible config
- Dynamic upstream API
- Built-in status console
- Active maintenance
Pingap
Pingap is a self-hosted reverse proxy built on the Pingora framework, configured via TOML files or a web admin UI with support for multiple locations and plugins. It targets high-performance HTTP routing.
- Pingora-based proxy
- TOML or web config
- Plugin support
- High performance
Angie vs Pingap: key differences
Angie is written in C, while Pingap is built with Rust. Licensing differs — BSD-2-Clause for Angie versus Apache-2.0 for Pingap. Pingap is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 128 MB for Angie. Angie is the more established project (first released 2022), while Pingap arrived in 2024.
Why pick each one
Choose Angie if…
- Released under the BSD-2-Clause license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (2.6k GitHub stars)
- Written in C
Choose Pingap if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (1.4k GitHub stars)
- Written in Rust
Frequently asked questions
Is Angie or Pingap better?
Neither is universally better. Angie has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Angie and Pingap free and open-source?
Yes. Angie is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and Pingap under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Angie and Pingap with Docker?
Angie: yes. Pingap: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Angie or Pingap?
Pingap has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 128 MB for Angie. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.