NPS vs SWAG
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?
NPS
Lightweight proxy server for intranet penetration
VS
SWAG
Secure web application gateway with Nginx and Certbot
| Feature | NPS | SWAG |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Reverse Proxy & Gateways |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | Dockerfile |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 34,157 | ★ 3,709 |
| First released | 2019 | 2020 |
| Replaces | ngrok | Cloudflare |
Why pick each one
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
Choose SWAG if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (3.7k GitHub stars)
Frequently asked questions
Is NPS or SWAG better?
Neither is universally better. NPS has the larger community, while SWAG is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are NPS and SWAG free and open-source?
Yes. NPS is licensed under GPL-3.0 and SWAG under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run NPS and SWAG with Docker?
NPS: yes. SWAG: yes.