Lighttpd vs NPS
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?
Lighttpd
Secure, fast, compliant, and very flexible web server that has been
VS
NPS
Lightweight proxy server for intranet penetration
| Feature | Lighttpd | NPS |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Reverse Proxy & Gateways |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | C | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | docker | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | — | ★ 34,157 |
| First released | 2020 | 2019 |
| Replaces | — | ngrok |
Why pick each one
Choose Lighttpd if…
- Released under the BSD-3-Clause license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in C
- Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Choose NPS if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 34.2k GitHub stars
- Written in Go
Frequently asked questions
Is Lighttpd or NPS better?
Neither is universally better. NPS has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Lighttpd and NPS free and open-source?
Yes. Lighttpd is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and NPS under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Lighttpd and NPS with Docker?
Lighttpd: yes. NPS: yes.