bore vs zrok
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted remote access & vpn options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | bore | zrok |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 62 · Good | 88 · Excellent |
| Category | Remote Access & VPN | Remote Access & VPN |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Rust | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | binary, docker | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 11,506 | ★ 4,720 |
| First released | 2022 | 2022 |
| Replaces | ngrok | ngrok |
What are bore and zrok?
bore
bore is a modern, simple TCP tunnel tool that exposes local ports to a remote server. It is a tiny self-hostable alternative to ngrok with just a few hundred lines of code.
- Minimal TCP tunnel
- Self-hostable server
- Optional secret auth
- Tiny codebase
zrok
zrok is an open-source peer-to-peer sharing platform built on the OpenZiti zero-trust network. It lets you share local web servers, files, and TCP services with public or private access.
- Public and private sharing
- Built on OpenZiti
- Self-hostable instances
- Frontend for web and TCP
bore vs zrok: key differences
Bore is written in Rust, while zrok is built with Go. Licensing differs — MIT for bore versus Apache-2.0 for zrok. Bore is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 256 MB for zrok. Bore has the considerably larger community, at 11,506 GitHub stars versus 4,720.
Why pick each one
Choose bore if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 11.5k GitHub stars
Choose zrok if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (4.7k GitHub stars)
- Written in Go
Frequently asked questions
Is bore or zrok better?
bore is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider zrok if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are bore and zrok free and open-source?
Yes. bore is licensed under MIT and zrok under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run bore and zrok with Docker?
bore: yes. zrok: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, bore or zrok?
bore has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for zrok. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.