Pingora vs Skipper
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
Skipper
HTTP router and reverse proxy for service composition
| Feature | Pingora | Skipper |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Reverse Proxy & Gateways |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Rust | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | kubernetes, docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 27,153 | ★ 3,311 |
| First released | 2024 | 2016 |
| Replaces | Nginx | Nginx, Traefik |
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
Choose Skipper if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
- Active community (3.3k GitHub stars)
Frequently asked questions
Is Pingora or Skipper better?
Neither is universally better. Pingora has the larger community, while Skipper is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Pingora and Skipper free and open-source?
Yes. Pingora is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Skipper under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Pingora and Skipper with Docker?
Pingora: check the project docs for container support. Skipper: yes.