Pingora 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?
Pingora
Rust framework to build fast, reliable network services
VS
Shadowsocks-libev
Lightweight encrypted SOCKS5 proxy
| Feature | Pingora | Shadowsocks-libev |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Reverse Proxy & Gateways |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Rust | C |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 32 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | bare-metal, source, docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 27,153 | ★ 16,181 |
| First released | 2024 | 2014 |
| Replaces | Nginx | commercial VPN proxies |
Why pick each one
Choose Pingora if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- Mature project with 27.2k GitHub stars
- Written in Rust
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Pingora or Shadowsocks-libev better?
Neither is universally better. Pingora has the larger community, while Shadowsocks-libev is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Pingora and Shadowsocks-libev free and open-source?
Yes. Pingora is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Shadowsocks-libev under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Pingora and Shadowsocks-libev with Docker?
Pingora: check the project docs for container support. Shadowsocks-libev: yes.