CrowdSec vs Shadowsocks-libev
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
Shadowsocks-libev
Lightweight encrypted SOCKS5 proxy
| Feature | CrowdSec | Shadowsocks-libev |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Reverse Proxy & Gateways |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | C |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 32 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | bare-metal, source, docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 14,461 | ★ 16,181 |
| First released | 2020 | 2014 |
| Replaces | Cloudflare WAF, Fail2ban | commercial VPN proxies |
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
Frequently asked questions
Is CrowdSec or Shadowsocks-libev better?
Neither is universally better. Shadowsocks-libev has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are CrowdSec and Shadowsocks-libev free and open-source?
Yes. CrowdSec is licensed under MIT and Shadowsocks-libev under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run CrowdSec and Shadowsocks-libev with Docker?
CrowdSec: yes. Shadowsocks-libev: yes.