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Envoy 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?
EN Envoy Cloud-native high-performance edge and service proxy VS NG Nginx Proxy Manager Easy reverse proxy management with a web UI and free SSL
FeatureEnvoyNginx Proxy Manager
CategoryReverse Proxy & GatewaysReverse Proxy & Gateways
LicenseApache-2.0MIT
LanguageC++TypeScript
Setup difficultyHardEasy
Min. RAM512 MB256 MB
Deploymentdocker, kubernetes, binarydocker
GitHub stars★ 28,735★ 33,804
First released20162019
ReplacesNginx, HAProxyCloudflare

Why pick each one

Choose Envoy if…

  • Released under the Apache-2.0 license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
  • Mature project with 28.7k GitHub stars
Envoy details

Choose Nginx Proxy Manager if…

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

Frequently asked questions

Is Envoy 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 Envoy if its specific feature set fits your needs better.

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

Yes. Envoy is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Nginx Proxy Manager under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Envoy and Nginx Proxy Manager with Docker?

Envoy: yes. Nginx Proxy Manager: yes.

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