boringproxy vs NPS
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories — 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
NPS
Lightweight proxy server for intranet penetration
| Feature | boringproxy | NPS |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Remote Access & VPN | Reverse Proxy & Gateways |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | binary, docker | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,381 | ★ 34,157 |
| First released | 2020 | 2019 |
| 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 NPS if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 34.2k GitHub stars
- Written in Go
Frequently asked questions
Is boringproxy or NPS better?
Neither is universally better. NPS 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 NPS free and open-source?
Yes. boringproxy is licensed under MIT and NPS under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run boringproxy and NPS with Docker?
boringproxy: yes. NPS: yes.