dae vs Pi-hole
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?
dae
eBPF-based transparent proxy with traffic splitting
VS
Pi-hole
Blackhole for Internet advertisements with a GUI for management and
| Feature | dae | Pi-hole |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Reverse Proxy & Gateways |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | EUPL-1.2 |
| Language | Go | Shell |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 6,058 | ★ 60,247 |
| First released | 2023 | 2026 |
| Replaces | Clash | — |
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
Choose Pi-hole if…
- Released under the EUPL-1.2 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 60.2k GitHub stars
- Written in Shell
Frequently asked questions
Is dae or Pi-hole better?
Pi-hole is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider dae if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are dae and Pi-hole free and open-source?
Yes. dae is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Pi-hole under EUPL-1.2. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run dae and Pi-hole with Docker?
dae: check the project docs for container support. Pi-hole: yes.