Skipper 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.
Not the right match-up?
Skipper
HTTP router and reverse proxy for service composition
VS
Sozu
Hot-reconfigurable HTTP reverse proxy in Rust
| Feature | Skipper | Sozu |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Reverse Proxy & Gateways |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | kubernetes, docker, binary | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,311 | ★ 3,715 |
| First released | 2016 | 2016 |
| Replaces | Nginx, Traefik | HAProxy, Nginx |
Why pick each one
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)
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 Skipper or Sozu better?
Neither is universally better. Sozu 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 Skipper and Sozu free and open-source?
Yes. Skipper is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Sozu under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Skipper and Sozu with Docker?
Skipper: yes. Sozu: yes.