Anubis vs SafeLine
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?
Anubis
Proof-of-work proxy to block AI scraper bots
VS
SafeLine
Self-hosted web application firewall with a web console
| Feature | Anubis | SafeLine |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Reverse Proxy & Gateways |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 21,230 | ★ 22,312 |
| First released | 2025 | 2023 |
| Replaces | Cloudflare Bot Management | Cloudflare WAF |
Why pick each one
Choose Anubis if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 21.2k GitHub stars
Choose SafeLine if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 22.3k GitHub stars
- Written in Go
Frequently asked questions
Is Anubis or SafeLine better?
Neither is universally better. SafeLine has the larger community, while Anubis is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Anubis and SafeLine free and open-source?
Yes. Anubis is licensed under MIT and SafeLine under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Anubis and SafeLine with Docker?
Anubis: yes. SafeLine: yes.