Skipper vs Tengine
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
Tengine
Nginx-derived web server with extra features
| Feature | Skipper | Tengine |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Reverse Proxy & Gateways |
| License | Apache-2.0 | BSD-2-Clause |
| Language | Go | C |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | kubernetes, docker, binary | docker, binary, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,311 | ★ 13,323 |
| First released | 2016 | 2011 |
| Replaces | Nginx, Traefik | 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 Tengine if…
- Released under the BSD-2-Clause license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 13.3k GitHub stars
- Written in C
Frequently asked questions
Is Skipper or Tengine better?
Neither is universally better. Tengine 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 Tengine free and open-source?
Yes. Skipper is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Tengine under BSD-2-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Skipper and Tengine with Docker?
Skipper: yes. Tengine: yes.