Chisel 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.
zrok
Open-source sharing platform built on OpenZiti
| Feature | Chisel | zrok |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 95 · Excellent | 88 · Excellent |
| Category | Remote Access & VPN | Remote Access & VPN |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | binary, docker | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 16,571 | ★ 4,720 |
| First released | 2015 | 2022 |
| Replaces | ngrok | ngrok |
What are Chisel and zrok?
Chisel
Chisel is a fast TCP and UDP tunnel transported over HTTP and secured with SSH. It is a single executable that helps bypass firewalls and provide secure endpoints.
- TCP/UDP over HTTP
- SSH-secured tunnels
- Single binary
- Firewall traversal
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
Chisel vs zrok: key differences
Both projects are written in Go. Licensing differs — MIT for Chisel versus Apache-2.0 for zrok. Chisel is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 256 MB for zrok. Chisel is the more established project (first released 2015), while zrok arrived in 2022. Chisel has the considerably larger community, at 16,571 GitHub stars versus 4,720.
Why pick each one
Choose Chisel if…
- Single small binary
- SSH-encrypted tunnels
- Works over plain HTTP
Watch out for
- CLI configuration only
- Sparse documentation
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 Chisel or zrok better?
Neither is universally better. Chisel has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Chisel and zrok free and open-source?
Yes. Chisel is licensed under MIT and zrok under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Chisel and zrok with Docker?
Chisel: yes. zrok: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Chisel or zrok?
Chisel 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.