boringproxy vs frp
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted remote access & vpn options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
boringproxy
Simple self-hosted reverse proxy and tunnel manager
VS
frp
Fast reverse proxy to expose local servers behind NAT
| Feature | boringproxy | frp |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Remote Access & VPN | Remote Access & VPN |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | binary, docker | binary, docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,381 | ★ 108,622 |
| First released | 2020 | 2016 |
| Replaces | ngrok | ngrok |
Why pick each one
Choose boringproxy if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (1.4k GitHub stars)
Choose frp if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 108.6k GitHub stars
- Written in Go
Frequently asked questions
Is boringproxy or frp better?
Neither is universally better. frp has the larger community, while boringproxy is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are boringproxy and frp free and open-source?
Yes. boringproxy is licensed under MIT and frp under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run boringproxy and frp with Docker?
boringproxy: yes. frp: yes.