CrowdSec vs Pangolin
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
Pangolin
Self-hosted tunneled reverse proxy with identity access
| Feature | CrowdSec | Pangolin |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Reverse Proxy & Gateways |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 14,461 | ★ 22,062 |
| First released | 2020 | 2024 |
| Replaces | Cloudflare WAF, Fail2ban | Cloudflare Tunnel |
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 Pangolin if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 22.1k GitHub stars
- Written in TypeScript
Frequently asked questions
Is CrowdSec or Pangolin better?
Neither is universally better. Pangolin has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are CrowdSec and Pangolin free and open-source?
Yes. CrowdSec is licensed under MIT and Pangolin under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run CrowdSec and Pangolin with Docker?
CrowdSec: yes. Pangolin: yes.