Open-source alternatives to Hosts

Dokploy is a self-hosted platform-as-a-service designed to simplify the deployment and management of containerized applications and databases. It provides a centralized control plane that decouples administrative management from application workloads, allowing users to oversee infrastructure across multiple server nodes through a unified web interface or a command-line tool. The platform distinguishes itself through an extensive library of pre-configured application templates, enabling the rapid deployment of databases, identity providers, and various productivity or development tools. It sup

AdAway is an Android network firewall and DNS traffic filter that functions as a local VPN ad blocker. It intercepts network requests to prevent advertisements and tracking domains from reaching the device by filtering traffic against host lists. The project features a host file manager capable of importing and converting blocklists from external third-party providers. It includes a system for managing both blocked and allowed domains, allowing for the creation of custom rules to permit specific trusted sites or block individual domains. The tool provides granular traffic control through app

This project is an adblock filter list aggregator and DNS blocklist generator. It merges multiple blocking rule sources into a single deduplicated set and processes these rules into formatted lists compatible with DNS servers, browser extensions, and network proxy tools. The system includes a domain resolvability validator that checks filter lists against global DNS services to remove unreachable or invalid domains. It also features a filter rule parser that extracts target domains and IP addresses from complex syntaxes while removing comments. The project covers rule aggregation, syntax-awa

NextDNS is a network DNS client and proxy that functions as a local resolver, forwarder, and DNS-over-HTTPS proxy. Its primary purpose is to route local name resolution requests to external providers using encrypted HTTPS traffic to improve privacy and bypass network restrictions. The service distinguishes itself by embedding client identity metadata—collected via mDNS or DHCP—into outgoing queries, allowing for per-device tracking and the application of unique filtering profiles. It features advanced routing logic, including split-horizon DNS for balancing public and private resolution, doma

SmartDNS is a local recursive DNS resolver and server that manages granular query rules, dual-stack networking, and encrypted gateway proxying. It functions as a DNS traffic filter and DNS64 translator, allowing IPv6-only clients to communicate with IPv4 servers. The project distinguishes itself through parallel upstream querying, which sends requests to multiple servers simultaneously to return the response with the lowest network latency. It supports DNS server virtualization, enabling the operation of multiple independent server instances on different ports, each with its own configuration

This project is an ad-blocking filter list and DNS blocklist collection designed to prevent advertisement and tracking servers from loading content across devices. It functions as a network-layer ad filter by providing a curated set of domain patterns and URLs that network components use to block known advertising and big data statistics domains. The collection focuses on privacy-focused domain filtering to stop the unauthorized collection of personal information and user tracking. It identifies and blocks domains associated with telemetry, analytics, and log collection to prevent the upload

AdRules is a collection of ad-blocking rule sets and DNS filter lists designed to identify and block malicious domains, trackers, and PCDN services. It functions as a DNS sinkhole filter and a malware domain blocklist used by DNS servers and network proxies to stop advertisements and harmful content from loading. The project provides regional network optimization, utilizing rule sets tailored to specific geographic regions, languages, and mobile device conditions to target local advertising networks. The system covers DNS traffic filtering and malware domain blocking through suffix-based dom

Portmaster is a host-based network firewall and privacy tool that monitors and controls all system network traffic. It operates by intercepting data packets at the operating system level, allowing it to observe and manage every connection made by local software in real time. The software distinguishes itself through process-aware connection mapping, which correlates active network sockets with specific local applications to provide visibility into data transfers. It utilizes a user-space policy engine to enforce granular security rules, enabling users to restrict internet access, block specif

Lists is a curated collection of DNS blocklists, a domain blocklist generator, and a categorized library of domains used for network content filtering. The project provides a command-line pipeline that aggregates upstream sources to build and validate blocklists used to redirect unwanted traffic to null addresses. The project distinguishes itself through a CLI-driven build pipeline that automates the fetching, validation, and daily regeneration of datasets. It organizes domains into discrete functional categories rather than a single monolithic list and exports them in multiple syntaxes, incl

This project provides a containerized DNS sinkhole and network-wide traffic filtering solution. It functions as a central network resolver that intercepts domain queries, allowing users to block advertisements, trackers, and malicious domains by returning null responses to connected devices. The platform distinguishes itself through its integrated DHCP server and comprehensive management capabilities, which allow for automated IP address allocation and granular control over network traffic. It supports complex filtering through regular expression matching, hierarchical rule prioritization, an

This project is a network security tool providing an application network firewall, a DNS blocklist manager, and a VPN client with multi-hop capabilities. It functions as a traffic controller that allows or blocks internet access for specific applications on a device. The system distinguishes itself through a DNS-over-HTTPS firewall and traffic obfuscation tools that inject random packets to mask communication patterns and bypass regional internet censorship. It utilizes multi-hop routing to hide the origin of network traffic by chaining connections through multiple remote servers. The softwa

Mac-CLI is a collection of terminal commands and utilities designed for automating system management, hardware monitoring, and software configuration on macOS. It serves as a developer utility and automation tool for manipulating files, managing version control, and auditing installed packages from the command line. The project provides hardware monitoring capabilities to track real-time battery health, CPU temperature, and fan speeds. It also includes system automation tools for managing power states, disk usage, and network settings through a unified interface. The utility covers several f

This project is a community-curated directory of open-source software designed for deployment in private server environments and home labs. It serves as a comprehensive resource for discovering independent, self-hosted alternatives to mainstream cloud services, enabling users to maintain full data ownership and control over their digital infrastructure. The directory is structured through a hierarchical taxonomy that organizes a vast collection of applications into logical categories, ranging from media management and data analytics to private communication and team productivity tools. It dis

ShareX is a desktop utility designed for screen capture, image annotation, and automated file sharing. It provides a comprehensive suite of tools for capturing screen regions, windows, or scrolling content, and includes a layered image editor that allows users to manipulate, scale, and transform graphical elements and annotations directly on captured media. The application distinguishes itself through an event-driven post-capture pipeline that triggers automated workflows, such as image processing, external command execution, or file uploads, immediately after a capture event. Users can exten

SelfControl is a macOS website blocker and time-locked productivity tool. It functions as a persistent content filter that restricts access to specified websites and email servers for a fixed duration. The application enforces these restrictions through a countdown timer that cannot be bypassed by restarting the computer or deleting the application. It ensures block persistence until the predetermined time expires. The tool manages digital distractions by modifying the system hosts file and utilizing a privileged background daemon. The user interface supports multiple languages through local

This project provides a collection of domain blocklists designed to prevent network requests from reaching specific destinations. These lists function as databases of problematic and corporate web addresses that can be imported into content filters, network security tools, and system-level hosts files. The lists focus on blocking known malicious domains and corporate web services to control network access. These curated sets are organized to filter harmful websites and company-owned domains across local devices or networks. The project manages these entries through flat-file storage and stat

dnscrypt-proxy is an anonymizing DNS proxy and encrypted DNS resolver. It acts as a local DNS forwarder that secures internet lookups by wrapping standard DNS queries in encrypted tunnels using the DNSCrypt and DNS-over-HTTPS protocols to prevent eavesdropping and tampering. The project provides network privacy protection by routing DNS requests through anonymized relays to obfuscate the client's original IP address. It further distinguishes itself through traffic management capabilities, such as mapping specific domains to designated resolvers and distributing queries across multiple servers

wool_scripts is a collection of HTTP proxy rule sets, network traffic filters, and automation scripts designed for mobile applications. It functions as an application proxy router to reroute specific traffic and AI model requests through proxy servers to change IP addresses. The project provides a system for intercepting network requests to remove embedded advertisements from mobile applications and mini-programs. It also includes filters to suppress operating system update notifications and automatic software downloads by blocking requests to update servers. Beyond traffic filtering, the re

This project is a serverless DNS resolver and DNS over HTTPS gateway that translates domain names into IP addresses. It functions as an edge computing DNS filter designed to encrypt queries, prevent tampering, and improve user privacy on browsers and mobile devices. The system distinguishes itself by operating as an edge DNS traffic monitor that logs and analyzes request patterns in real time. It utilizes curated blocklists at the network edge to block malicious domains and trackers. The software provides capabilities for private DNS filtering, network traffic monitoring, and the management

Surge is a network traffic routing and configuration system designed to categorize and steer network requests using curated rule sets, domain lists, and IP databases. It provides the data structures and filtering logic necessary to manage how application traffic is directed across proxies, direct connections, or regional gateways. The project distinguishes itself through granular traffic identification and steering. It identifies network requests by matching them against system process names, user-agent strings, and geographic IP ranges to apply specific routing policies. This allows for the

dnsmasq-china-list is a configuration generator and a set of DNS filter and routing lists. It converts curated domain lists into configuration files for dnsmasq to optimize regional name resolution and direct specific domain requests to regional servers. The project focuses on reducing latency and avoiding DNS hijacking for users in China by routing traffic through regional servers and directing requests to the nearest content delivery network nodes. It also provides rules to block malicious domains and advertisements by returning failure responses to prevent network injection. The system ma

This project provides an iOS app ad-blocking ruleset, consisting of network traffic filter lists and proxy-based content filters. It functions as a collection of rewrite rules and scripts designed to intercept and modify network requests to remove advertisements from mobile applications. The system utilizes HTTP response modification scripts to alter the bodies of network responses. Beyond ad blocking, these scripts enable in-app content translation, such as providing translated song lyrics within music applications. The ruleset employs a pattern-matching engine using regular expressions and

This project is a comprehensive security hardening and privacy management guide for macOS. It provides a set of instructions and checklists for reducing the system attack surface through manual configuration, policy enforcement, and a layered defense strategy. The guide emphasizes a system auditing framework, using binary analysis, system logs, and packet inspection to verify that security controls and application sandboxing are functioning as intended. It offers tool-agnostic recommendations, defining security goals while allowing users to select their own third-party software for implementa

Simplewall is an application firewall manager and network traffic filter that provides a graphical interface for the Windows Filtering Platform. It controls inbound and outbound network access for individual programs and services by intercepting and filtering traffic at the kernel level. The project identifies specific binaries using file hashes to prevent spoofing and allows users to define custom firewall rules based on IP addresses, CIDR ranges, and port numbers. It includes a system for blocking operating system telemetry and managing blocklists of known malicious IP addresses. The tool

BPB-Worker-Panel is a control panel designed for deploying and managing VLESS and Trojan proxies hosted on Cloudflare Workers. It functions as a proxy subscription generator and a manager for secure DNS over HTTPS servers and WireGuard configuration provisioning. The project distinguishes itself through network traffic obfuscation capabilities, utilizing packet fragmentation and SNI spoofing to evade detection. It provides specialized administration for Cloudflare Warp and Warp Pro connections, including the ability to optimize endpoints and export WireGuard configurations. The system covers

mosdns is a DNS forwarding server and traffic filter that routes DNS queries to multiple upstream providers. It functions as a rule-based DNS router and a proxy for DNS-over-HTTPS and DNS-over-TLS to ensure secure DNS resolution. The system utilizes a pipeline-based request processing model and rule-based query routing to direct specific domain queries to different upstream servers. It implements pluggable transport layers and forwarding protocols, including HTTPS, TLS, and QUIC, to encrypt traffic and prevent eavesdropping. The project includes capabilities for upstream load balancing to di

uBlock is a browser content blocker and web privacy tool designed to prevent advertisements and tracking scripts from loading. It functions as a network request filter, a DOM element hider, and a script execution controller to manage how web pages load and render. The project distinguishes itself through a combination of network-level request interception and cosmetic filtering. It uses declarative filter lists and pattern-based matching to block trackers and pop-ups, while employing CSS selectors and wildcard entity matching to remove visual components across multiple regional domain variant