Skipper vs YARP
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted reverse proxy & gateways options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Skipper | YARP |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 88 · Excellent | 78 · Good |
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Reverse Proxy & Gateways |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | Go | C# |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | kubernetes, docker, binary | docker, binary, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,329 | ★ 9,616 |
| First released | 2016 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Nginx, Traefik | Nginx |
What are Skipper and YARP?
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
YARP
YARP, short for Yet Another Reverse Proxy, is a Microsoft open-source toolkit for building fast, customizable reverse proxy servers using ASP.NET Core. Developers configure it in code or config files.
- Build custom reverse proxies
- ASP.NET Core based
- Dynamic configuration
- Load balancing and health checks
Skipper vs YARP: key differences
Skipper is written in Go, while YARP is built with C#. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Skipper versus MIT for YARP. Skipper is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for YARP. Skipper is the more established project (first released 2016), while YARP arrived in 2021. YARP has the considerably larger community, at 9,616 GitHub stars versus 3,329.
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 YARP if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 9.6k GitHub stars
- Written in C#
Frequently asked questions
Is Skipper or YARP better?
Neither is universally better. YARP has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Skipper and YARP free and open-source?
Yes. Skipper is licensed under Apache-2.0 and YARP under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Skipper and YARP with Docker?
Skipper: yes. YARP: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Skipper or YARP?
Skipper has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for YARP. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.