frp-panel vs rathole
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
frp-panel
Web management panel for the frp reverse proxy
VS
rathole
Lightweight and high-performance reverse proxy for NAT traversal
| Feature | frp-panel | rathole |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Remote Access & VPN |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | binary, docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,796 | ★ 13,999 |
| First released | 2023 | 2021 |
| Replaces | ngrok | ngrok, frp |
Why pick each one
Choose frp-panel if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (1.8k GitHub stars)
- Written in TypeScript
Choose rathole if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 14k GitHub stars
- Written in Rust
Frequently asked questions
Is frp-panel or rathole better?
Neither is universally better. rathole has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are frp-panel and rathole free and open-source?
Yes. frp-panel is licensed under Apache-2.0 and rathole under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run frp-panel and rathole with Docker?
frp-panel: yes. rathole: yes.