River vs sslh
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 | sslh |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 17 · At risk | 87 · Excellent |
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Reverse Proxy & Gateways |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | Rust | C |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 32 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | docker, bare-metal, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,353 | ★ 5,117 |
| First released | 2024 | 2008 |
| Replaces | nginx, HAProxy | HAProxy |
What are River and sslh?
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
sslh
sslh is an applicative protocol multiplexer that lets HTTPS, SSH, OpenVPN, and other services share the same TCP port. It inspects the first bytes of a connection and forwards it to the right server.
- Share one port across protocols
- SSH and HTTPS on port 443
- Tiny resource footprint
- Probe-based routing
River vs sslh: key differences
River is written in Rust, while sslh is built with C. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for River versus GPL-2.0 for sslh. Sslh is the lighter option, starting around 32 MB of RAM against 64 MB for River. Sslh is the more established project (first released 2008), while River arrived in 2024. Sslh has the considerably larger community, at 5,117 GitHub stars versus 2,353. Sslh 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 sslh if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 5.1k GitHub stars
Frequently asked questions
Is River or sslh better?
sslh is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider River if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are River and sslh free and open-source?
Yes. River is licensed under Apache-2.0 and sslh under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run River and sslh with Docker?
River: check the project docs for container support. sslh: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, River or sslh?
sslh has the smaller minimum footprint at 32 MB of RAM, compared to about 64 MB for River. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.