Pingap vs River
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted reverse proxy & gateways options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Pingap | River |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 84 · Excellent | 17 · At risk |
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Reverse Proxy & Gateways |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Rust | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,375 | ★ 2,353 |
| First released | 2024 | 2024 |
| Replaces | nginx | nginx, HAProxy |
What are Pingap and River?
Pingap
Pingap is a self-hosted reverse proxy built on the Pingora framework, configured via TOML files or a web admin UI with support for multiple locations and plugins. It targets high-performance HTTP routing.
- Pingora-based proxy
- TOML or web config
- Plugin support
- High performance
River
River is a reverse-proxy application built on Cloudflare's Pingora engine, providing a configurable binary for HTTP proxying and load balancing. It is self-hosted and configured through files.
- Pingora-based
- Load balancing
- File-driven config
- Memory-safe Rust
Pingap vs River: key differences
Both projects are written in Rust. Pingap lists first-class Docker deployment; River does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Pingap if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (1.4k GitHub stars)
- Written in Rust
Choose River if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- Active community (2.4k GitHub stars)
- Written in Rust
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Pingap or River better?
Neither is universally better. River has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Pingap and River free and open-source?
Yes. Pingap is licensed under Apache-2.0 and River under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Pingap and River with Docker?
Pingap: yes. River: check the project docs for container support.