FrankenPHP vs Pingap
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted reverse proxy & gateways options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | FrankenPHP | Pingap |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 93 · Excellent | 84 · Excellent |
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Reverse Proxy & Gateways |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Go | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 11,358 | ★ 1,375 |
| First released | 2022 | 2024 |
| Replaces | nginx, Apache HTTP Server | nginx |
What are FrankenPHP and Pingap?
FrankenPHP
FrankenPHP is a modern application server for PHP, built on top of the Caddy web server, that adds features like worker mode, real-time capabilities, and automatic HTTPS. It serves PHP apps directly.
- PHP app server on Caddy
- Worker mode performance
- Automatic HTTPS
- Built-in real-time support
Pingap
Pingap is a self-hosted reverse proxy built on the Pingora framework, configured via TOML files or a web admin UI with support for multiple locations and plugins. It targets high-performance HTTP routing.
- Pingora-based proxy
- TOML or web config
- Plugin support
- High performance
FrankenPHP vs Pingap: key differences
FrankenPHP is written in Go, while Pingap is built with Rust. Licensing differs — MIT for FrankenPHP versus Apache-2.0 for Pingap. Pingap is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 256 MB for FrankenPHP. FrankenPHP is the more established project (first released 2022), while Pingap arrived in 2024. FrankenPHP has the considerably larger community, at 11,358 GitHub stars versus 1,375.
Why pick each one
Choose FrankenPHP if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 11.4k GitHub stars
- Written in Go
Choose Pingap if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (1.4k GitHub stars)
- Written in Rust
Frequently asked questions
Is FrankenPHP or Pingap better?
Neither is universally better. FrankenPHP has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are FrankenPHP and Pingap free and open-source?
Yes. FrankenPHP is licensed under MIT and Pingap under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run FrankenPHP and Pingap with Docker?
FrankenPHP: yes. Pingap: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, FrankenPHP or Pingap?
Pingap has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for FrankenPHP. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.