Pangolin vs Shadowsocks-libev
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?
Pangolin
Self-hosted tunneled reverse proxy with identity access
VS
Shadowsocks-libev
Lightweight encrypted SOCKS5 proxy
| Feature | Pangolin | Shadowsocks-libev |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Reverse Proxy & Gateways |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | C |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 32 MB |
| Deployment | docker | bare-metal, source, docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 22,062 | ★ 16,181 |
| First released | 2024 | 2014 |
| Replaces | Cloudflare Tunnel | commercial VPN proxies |
Why pick each one
Choose Pangolin if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 22.1k GitHub stars
- Written in TypeScript
Frequently asked questions
Is Pangolin or Shadowsocks-libev better?
Neither is universally better. Pangolin has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Pangolin and Shadowsocks-libev free and open-source?
Yes. Pangolin is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Shadowsocks-libev under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Pangolin and Shadowsocks-libev with Docker?
Pangolin: yes. Shadowsocks-libev: yes.