lego 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?
lego
Let's Encrypt and ACME client written in Go
VS
Nginx Proxy Manager
Easy reverse proxy management with a web UI and free SSL
| Feature | lego | Nginx Proxy Manager |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Reverse Proxy & Gateways |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | Go | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | binary, docker | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 9,789 | ★ 33,804 |
| First released | 2015 | 2019 |
| Replaces | Certbot | Cloudflare |
Why pick each one
Choose lego if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 9.8k GitHub stars
Choose Nginx Proxy Manager if…
- Beginner-friendly
- Free certificates built in
Frequently asked questions
Is lego or Nginx Proxy Manager better?
Neither is universally better. Nginx Proxy Manager has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are lego and Nginx Proxy Manager free and open-source?
Yes. lego is licensed under MIT and Nginx Proxy Manager under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run lego and Nginx Proxy Manager with Docker?
lego: yes. Nginx Proxy Manager: yes.