frp vs OpenZiti
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
OpenZiti
Programmable zero-trust networking platform
| Feature | frp | OpenZiti |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Remote Access & VPN | Remote Access & VPN |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | binary, docker | docker, kubernetes, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 108,622 | ★ 4,336 |
| First released | 2016 | 2020 |
| Replaces | ngrok | Cloudflare Access |
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 OpenZiti if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
- Active community (4.3k GitHub stars)
Frequently asked questions
Is frp or OpenZiti better?
frp is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider OpenZiti if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are frp and OpenZiti free and open-source?
Yes. frp is licensed under Apache-2.0 and OpenZiti under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run frp and OpenZiti with Docker?
frp: yes. OpenZiti: yes.