River vs Sozu
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted reverse proxy & gateways options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | River | Sozu |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 17 · At risk | 88 · Excellent |
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Reverse Proxy & Gateways |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Rust | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,353 | ★ 3,734 |
| First released | 2024 | 2016 |
| Replaces | nginx, HAProxy | HAProxy, Nginx |
What are River and Sozu?
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
Sozu
Sozu is an open-source HTTP reverse proxy written in Rust that can be reconfigured at runtime without dropping connections. It is built for safety and zero-downtime configuration changes.
- Hot configuration reload
- Memory-safe Rust core
- Zero-downtime changes
- Runtime control API
River vs Sozu: key differences
Both projects are written in Rust. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for River versus AGPL-3.0 for Sozu. River is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 128 MB for Sozu. Sozu is the more established project (first released 2016), while River arrived in 2024. Sozu lists first-class Docker deployment; River does not.
Why pick each one
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
Choose Sozu if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (3.7k GitHub stars)
- Written in Rust
Frequently asked questions
Is River or Sozu better?
Neither is universally better. Sozu has the larger community, while River is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are River and Sozu free and open-source?
Yes. River is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Sozu under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run River and Sozu with Docker?
River: check the project docs for container support. Sozu: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, River or Sozu?
River has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 128 MB for Sozu. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.