frp vs Moonlight
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted remote access & vpn options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
frp
Fast reverse proxy to expose local servers behind NAT
VS
Moonlight
Open-source game streaming client for low-latency desktops
| Feature | frp | Moonlight |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Remote Access & VPN | Remote Access & VPN |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | C++ |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | binary, docker | binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 108,622 | ★ 18,184 |
| First released | 2016 | 2015 |
| Replaces | ngrok | Parsec, Steam Remote Play |
Why pick each one
Choose frp if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 108.6k GitHub stars
- Written in Go
Choose Moonlight if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Mature project with 18.2k GitHub stars
- Written in C++
Frequently asked questions
Is frp or Moonlight better?
Neither is universally better. frp has the larger community, while Moonlight is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are frp and Moonlight free and open-source?
Yes. frp is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Moonlight under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run frp and Moonlight with Docker?
frp: yes. Moonlight: check the project docs for container support.