boringproxy vs Sunshine
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
Sunshine
Self-hosted game-stream host for Moonlight clients
| Feature | boringproxy | Sunshine |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Remote Access & VPN | Remote Access & VPN |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | C++ |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | binary, docker | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,381 | ★ 39,962 |
| First released | 2020 | 2020 |
| Replaces | ngrok | NVIDIA GameStream, Parsec |
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 Sunshine if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 40k GitHub stars
- Written in C++
Frequently asked questions
Is boringproxy or Sunshine better?
Neither is universally better. Sunshine 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 Sunshine free and open-source?
Yes. boringproxy is licensed under MIT and Sunshine under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run boringproxy and Sunshine with Docker?
boringproxy: yes. Sunshine: yes.