CrowdSec vs NPS
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted reverse proxy & gateways options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
CrowdSec
Collaborative open-source intrusion prevention system
VS
NPS
Lightweight proxy server for intranet penetration
| Feature | CrowdSec | NPS |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Reverse Proxy & Gateways |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 14,461 | ★ 34,157 |
| First released | 2020 | 2019 |
| Replaces | Cloudflare WAF, Fail2ban | ngrok |
Why pick each one
Choose CrowdSec if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 14.5k GitHub stars
- Written in Go
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 CrowdSec or NPS better?
Neither is universally better. NPS has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are CrowdSec and NPS free and open-source?
Yes. CrowdSec is licensed under MIT and NPS under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run CrowdSec and NPS with Docker?
CrowdSec: yes. NPS: yes.