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.
| Feature | Pingora | Skipper |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 97 · Excellent | 88 · Excellent |
| 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 | ★ 27,517 | ★ 3,329 |
| First released | 2024 | 2016 |
| Replaces | Nginx | Nginx, Traefik |
What are Pingora and Skipper?
Pingora
Pingora is an open-source Rust framework from Cloudflare for building fast, secure, and programmable proxies and network services. It powers a large share of Cloudflare's traffic.
- Programmable proxy framework
- Memory-safe Rust core
- High performance
- Battle-tested at Cloudflare
Skipper
Skipper is an open-source HTTP router and reverse proxy from Zalando, designed for service composition and used as a Kubernetes ingress controller. It supports flexible route filters.
- Flexible route predicates
- Kubernetes ingress support
- Rich filter chain
- Used at Zalando scale
Pingora vs Skipper: key differences
Pingora is written in Rust, while Skipper is built with Go. Skipper is the more established project (first released 2016), while Pingora arrived in 2024. Pingora has the considerably larger community, at 27,517 GitHub stars versus 3,329. Skipper lists first-class Docker deployment; Pingora does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Pingora if…
- Battle-tested at Cloudflare
- Excellent performance
- Memory-safe Rust
Watch out for
- Rust coding required
- Not a turnkey proxy
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.