Pi-hole 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?
Pi-hole
Blackhole for Internet advertisements with a GUI for management and
VS
Shadowsocks-libev
Lightweight encrypted SOCKS5 proxy
| Feature | Pi-hole | Shadowsocks-libev |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Reverse Proxy & Gateways |
| License | EUPL-1.2 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Shell | C |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 32 MB |
| Deployment | docker | bare-metal, source, docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 60,247 | ★ 16,181 |
| First released | 2026 | 2014 |
| Replaces | — | commercial VPN proxies |
Why pick each one
Choose Pi-hole if…
- Released under the EUPL-1.2 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 60.2k GitHub stars
- Written in Shell
Frequently asked questions
Is Pi-hole or Shadowsocks-libev better?
Neither is universally better. Pi-hole has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Pi-hole and Shadowsocks-libev free and open-source?
Yes. Pi-hole is licensed under EUPL-1.2 and Shadowsocks-libev under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Pi-hole and Shadowsocks-libev with Docker?
Pi-hole: yes. Shadowsocks-libev: yes.