SHSelfHostIndex

dae vs Nginx Proxy Manager

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?
DA dae eBPF-based transparent proxy with traffic splitting VS NG Nginx Proxy Manager Easy reverse proxy management with a web UI and free SSL
FeaturedaeNginx Proxy Manager
CategoryReverse Proxy & GatewaysReverse Proxy & Gateways
LicenseAGPL-3.0MIT
LanguageGoTypeScript
Setup difficultyHardEasy
Min. RAM128 MB256 MB
Deploymentbinary, sourcedocker
GitHub stars★ 6,058★ 33,804
First released20232019
ReplacesClashCloudflare

Why pick each one

Choose dae if…

  • Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
  • Mature project with 6.1k GitHub stars
  • Written in Go
  • Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
dae details

Choose Nginx Proxy Manager if…

  • Beginner-friendly
  • Free certificates built in
Nginx Proxy Manager details

Frequently asked questions

Is dae or Nginx Proxy Manager better?

Nginx Proxy Manager is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider dae if its specific feature set fits your needs better.

Are dae and Nginx Proxy Manager free and open-source?

Yes. dae is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Nginx Proxy Manager under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run dae and Nginx Proxy Manager with Docker?

dae: check the project docs for container support. Nginx Proxy Manager: yes.

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